India’s newest weapon: Made-in-India anti-submarine warship INS Kiltan inducted

INS Kiltan 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 Indian Navy inducted its newest anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette on Monday, boosting the force’s capability to detect and target hostile vessels and to provide protection to Indian warships.

Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman with Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba and other dignitaries at the commissioning ceremony of INS Kiltan into the Indian Navy, at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam on Monday. (PTI Photo)

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman commissioned the indigenously built INS Kiltan into the navy at the Naval Dockyard at Visakhapatnam in the presence of navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba.

“INS Kiltan strengthens our defence system and will be a shining armour in our ‘Make in India’ programme as it is totally built here,” Sitharaman said on the occasion.

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 (COP), an official release said.

It is the navy’s first major warship to have a superstructure of carbon fibre composite material imported from Sweden, resulting in improved stealth features and lower weight and maintenance costs. INS Kiltan is 100 tonnes lighter than the previous corvettes.

INS Kiltan is also the first major warship to have undertaken sea trials of all major weapons and sensors as a pilot project prior to delivery by the shipyard to Indian Navy. It is ready to be operationally deployed.

The ship gets its name from an island in the strategically located Lakshadweep and Minicoy islands.

(With inputs from PTI, Vishakhapatnam)