As reported on October 22, 2020, Chief of Army Staff General M.M. Naravane commissioned the Anti-Submarine Warfare stealth corvette INS Kavaratti into the Indian Navy at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam as a combat-ready platform as the ship has completed sea trials of all the systems fitted onboard. It is the last of the four indigenously-built ASW stealth corvettes under Project 28 (Kamorta class), the other three being INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt, and INS Kiltan, commissioned in 2014, 2016, and 2017 respectively.
Salient Features of the Submarine
The submarine is equipped with the following features:
- The ship has state-of-the-art weapons and sensor suite capable of ‘detecting and prosecuting’ submarines, and has been designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house wing, the Directorate of Naval Design. It would enhance Indian Navy’s preparedness.
- It has a credible self-defence capability and good endurance for long-range deployments besides its anti-submarine warfare capability.
- It has up to 90 per cent indigenous content and the use of carbon composites for the superstructure is a commendable feat achieved in Indian shipbuilding.
- Its weapons and sensors suite are predominantly indigenous, which show India’s growing capability in this niche area.
- It was built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, making the nation self-reliant through indigenisation, and thus, accentuates the national objective of AatmaNirbhar Bharat.
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Project 28, approved in 2003, under which four Anti-submarine Warships were to be built indigenously in India by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE). Its objective was to enhance localisation and development of warship construction industry in India.
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Courtesy: NDTV