NEW DELHI: An improved version of the Shtil missile (Shtil-1) will be the primary weapon for anti-air defence of the latest Russian-manufactured frigate INS Tamal commissioned into the Indian Navy.Describing the latest version of the missile, sources from Russia said, “The Russian Shtil-1 shipborne, medium-range, multi-channel, vertical-launch Surface to Air Missile (SAM) system uses a fundamentally new 9M317ME missile, the latest digital technology and software.”Shtil is a 3-stage launch vehicle that uses liquid propellant. It is the first launch vehicle to successfully launch a payload into orbit from a submarine. The SAM system offers improved performance in comparison with the Shtil-1 variant with an inclined launch of missiles.“The system provides omnidirectional collective defence of ship squadrons and convoys as well as omnidirectional individual defence of the ship carrying the system against attacks by enemy anti-ship missiles, aircraft, helicopters, boats and ships,” the sources said.What makes the missile system a robust weapon is the “interval between missiles’ launches is 2-3 seconds.” Trials of the Shtil-1 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system with 9M317ME SAMs fitted aboard the (Project 11356) frigate Tamal have been successfully completed at a Baltic Sea range before the frigate’s delivery. They involved the participation of its developers from the Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defence Corporation.INS Tamal is the eighth ship that Rosoboronexport transferred to the Indian Navy. Sources term the transfer of the Russian-manufactured frigates to the Indian Navy as being “in line with the main vector of Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation, which is evolving, firstly, on the basis of long-term contracts, and secondly, with an emphasis on localising the production of Russian equipment and weapons at Indian enterprises in accordance with the Make in India initiative.”Kashmir shipborne SAM systems Russia is modernising the older version, Kashmir shipborne SAM systems, delivered to India since the late 1990s and installed on Project 15 Delhi class destroyers.
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