Tushil
Tushil is a “stealth frigate”. Frigate means a warship with mixed armament (weapons). It is heavier than a destroyer. Tushil in Sanskrit means Protector shield. It was built by Russia.
About Tushil
Tushil is the seventh Indian Navy Frigate. The other six are INS Talwar, INS Trishul, INS Tabar, INS Teg, INS Tarkash and INS Trikand. It was launched in October 2021. It was launched at the Yantar shipyard of Kaliningrad located in Russia. It belongs to the P1135.6 class. P11356 is Project 11356. It is also called Talwar class. The Talwar class frigates are built by Russia for Indian Navy. Tushil is one of the two ships that Russia agreed to build for India in 2016. The name of the other ship is INS Tamala. The agreement was signed between Goa Shipyard Limited of India and Russia to build these ships. The Tushil is capable of meeting all the three dimensions of air, surface and sub surface. It has the potential to carry both Indian and Russian weapons and sensors. It can be deployed in both littoral and blue water. Littoral water means close to the shore. Blue water means in the sea, that is, at deeper levels. The Tushil is equipped with Indian equipment such as Sonar System, Surface to Surface missiles, surface surveillance radar, ASW system and communication suite, gun mounts and surface to air missiles.
Technical Details of Tushil
Tushil can accommodate antisubmarine helicopters. It has vertical missile launcher. It has a surface search radar and air search radar. Also, it has a fire control system that is capable of detecting fire till a range of 60 kilometres. It has APSOH hull mounted sonar. APSOH is Advanced Panoramic Sonar Hull. It helps in passive listening and active ranging. It carries RPK-8 system (Russian made). RPK-8 is a rocket launcher used in anti-submarine warfare. Its firing range is between 600 metres to 4,300 metres. Tushil also carries a Close-in Weapon System (CIWS). It is a point-defence weapon system. It is used to destroy short range incoming missiles. Also, the CIWS is capable of destroying enemy aircrafts. The ship runs from the power generated from a gas turbine power plant. The power plant has two engines. Each engine runs at 6,700 kilowatts, that is, 9000 horsepower. The reverse running capacity of the engines is 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kilowatt).
