Sitharaman to commission INS Kiltan into Navy on Oct 16

VISAKHAPATNAM: An indigenously-built anti-submarine warfare stealth corvette INS Kiltan will be commissioned into the Indian Navy by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Naval Dockyard here on October 16.

According to a Navy statement released here today, this is the third of the four Kamorta-class corvettes being built under Project 28.

The commissioning ceremony will be attended by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba and a host of other dignitaries.

Designed by the Indian Navy's in-house organisation Directorate of Naval Design and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) in Kolkata, INS Kiltan portrays the growing capability of the Indian Navy, it said.

The country is "becoming self-reliant through indigenisation, thus, accentuating our national objective of 'Make in India'," the statement said.

INS Kiltan is the latest indigenous warship after Shivalik Class, Kolkata Class and sister ships INS Kamorta and INS Kadmatt to have joined the Indian Navy's arsenal wherein a plethora of weapons and sensors have been integrated to provide a "common operational picture", it said.

It is India's first major warship to have a superstructure of carbon fibre composite material resulting in improved stealth features, lower top weight and maintenance costs, the statement added.

The ship hosts a predominantly indigenous cutting-edge weapons and sensors suite which includes heavyweight torpedoes, ASW rockets, 76 mm caliber Medium Range gun and two multi-barrel 30 mm guns as close-in-weapon system (CIWS) with dedicated fire control systems, missile decoy rockets (Chaff), advanced ESM (Electronic Support Measure) system, most advanced bow mounted sonar and air surveillance radar Revathi, it said.

The ship in the future would also be installed with short range SAM system and carry an integral ASW helicopter, it added.

The ship derives its name from one of the islands in Aminidivi group of the strategically located Lakshadweep and Minicoy group of islands.

The ship also boasts of the proud legacy of the erstwhile Petya Class ship of same name 'Kiltan (P79)' built in the USSR, which had actively participated as Task Force Commander in the 'Operation Trident' during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the statement added.