The Indian Navy today commissioned INS Kavaratti, an indigenously-built Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvette at Visakhapatnam port city.
“It is noteworthy that the ship will be commissioned as a combat-ready platform as the ship has completed sea trials of all the systems fitted onboard,” the Navy said in its statement Wednesday.
The ship was designed by the Indian Navy's in-house organisation, Directorate of Naval Design (DND), and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.
It is the last of four ASW vessels being constructed under Project 28. Previously built ships under this project are INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt and INS Kiltan. Ships of this class have a displacement of 33,000 tonnes, with a span of 109m lengthwise and beam of 13.7m. They can achieve a speed of 25 knots.
The ships have up to 90% indigenous content and uses of carbon composites for superstructure. They come armed with anti-submarine rockets and torpedoes, medium and close-in weapons. The Project 28 ships are also capable of carrying an integral ASW rotorcraft.
The vessels are fitted with an indigenous surveillance radar Revathi. The ships’ sensor suite is capable of "detecting and prosecuting" submarines.
Plans are afoot to buy surface-to-air missile systems for all four vessels. The deal will include about 150-odd missiles and a Request for Proposal (RFP) under the ‘Buy (Global)’ category was issued last year. Each of these systems will have a command and control system, a two-way data link and a launcher for a particular number of missiles.