India commissions its first stealth warship, joins elite club

N C Bipindra
Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI) India on Thursday commissioned
its first indigenously-built stealth warship with
sophisticated features to hoodwink enemy radars and gained
entry into a top club of developed countries having such
capability.
Inducting 'INS Shivalik', the first of the three-ship
Project-17 frigates, at the Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks (MDL),
Defence Minister A K Antony called it a red letter day for the
armed forces.
The 143-metre-long warship, with 6,000-tonne
displacement, has "versatile control systems with signature
management and radar cross-section reduction features." The
other countries having the capability to build stealth
warships are the US, the UK, Russia, France, China, Japan and
Italy.
"It is a red letter day for the Navy, armed forces and
ship building industry of India. We can consider ourselves as
a really potent force and the Navy has to maintain eternal
vigilance since we have a long coastline," Antony said
unveiling the new warship.
"We have to maintain high-level of operational
readiness at all times. Only a professional Navy can meet all
its challenges," he said.
The Navy currently has a 130-warship-strong fleet
which includes an aircraft carrier, 20 landing ships, eight
destroyers, 12 frigates and 16 attack submarines based in four
commands headquartered in Mumbai (Western Naval Command),
Visakhapatnam (Eastern Naval Command), Kochi (Southern Naval
Command) and Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Joint Command).
Shivalik class warships can deal with multiple threat
environment and are fitted with weapon suite comprising both
area and point defence systems. It has sensors for air,
surface and subsurface surveillance, electronic support and
counter equipment and decoys for 'soft kill measures'.
Two more of the Shivalik class -- INS Sayahdri and
INS Satpura -- would be ready for commissioning by November
this year and middle of next year respectively.
"INS Shivalik has the latest stealth features to
outsmart the enemy with low radar cross section, be it of the
hull, infra-red or sound signatures," according to Navy's
Director General for Naval Design Rear Admiral K N
Vaidhyanathan.
"Shivalik is a steep jump in the indigenous design
effort of the Directorate of Naval Design that has since 1954
designed 17 warships of different classes with 80 units built
out of them. Currently, there are four designs from which 11
warships are under construction," he said.

Though the Shivalik project took the Navy nearly 12
years from the drawing board stage to its commissioning,
Vaidhyanathan said new designs for warships the world over
also had taken that much time.
The total indigenous effort accounting for 60 per cent
of the cost is estimated to be Rs 2,300 crore per ship.
Shivalik class is equipped with a judicious mix of
imported and indigenous weapon systems and sensors, including
Barak surface-to-air missiles, 'Shtil' air defence system,
rapid fire guns and basic anti-submarine warfare weapons.
The ship is powered by combined diesel and gas turbine
(CODOG) propulsion system consisting one each of US-origin
LM-2500 gas turbine engine and SEMT Pielstick diesel engine on
each shaft driving a large diameter controllable pitch
propeller.
With better modular habitation and galley facilities
on the ship including an electric 'chappati' (Indian bread)
maker, the features in the warship would ensure that the crew
was more comfortable while sailing.
Shivalik would also be the first warship of the Indian
Navy to provide for separate living rooms for women crew as
and when the Defence Ministry decides to send them on board
battleships. PTI NCB
KAB