People are going bonkers here with wild accusations and even wilder theories. Nothing new has happened.
Two unfinished frigates from Russia will be completed and sent to India sans propulsion; we will acquire Ukrainian engines (that are already there in the Talwar class FFGs) and retrofit into these ships.
Two additional ships will be built at the Goa shipyard.
Everyone who is screaming that why not order more Shivalik/Kolkata/17A frigates, the answer is simple: we DO NOT have the space. Mazgaon and GRSE have their hands full with the P28 and P15B classes and in the future with the 17A project.
Goa doesn't have any experience building anything bigger than OPVs and LCUs. This will be a good learning curve for them.
And yes $1 Billion seems too much, but the deal includes upgrade packages for the six frigates already in service. Honestly, the Russians are fleecing us, but we are better off with four more of these babies. There are rumours of a new AESA radar package as well for the whole class (maybe the MFSTAR, maybe something else, don't know anything yet)
No, we don't want FREMM frigates
@Tactical Frog, our 17A FFGs are far better.
@nimo_cn, take your propaganda elsewhere. At the very least, our DDGs and FFGs don't break down in the middle of the ocean. The IN has the confidence to send a single FFG all the way to Pearl Harbor, you guys are so worried about mech failure, you send a flotilla for anti-piracy ops.