INS Visakhapatnam to be commissioned on Nov 18, followed by INS Vela sub

The Visakhapatnam-class shares several sensor and weapon systems with its preceding design, the Kolkata-class (Project 15A) of destroyers.

Published on: Nov 1, 2021, 13:36:36 IST

By Shishir Gupta, New Delhi

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With the global focus on Indo-Pacific, defence minister Rajnath Singh is expected to commission guided-missile destroyer, INS Visakhapatnam, the first of the four of its class, on November 18 in Mumbai to add more teeth to the Indian Navy. The stealth P 15B destroyer was delivered to the Indian Navy on October 28 after all sea checks and trials.

INS Visakhapatnam has been built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders. (File Photo)

It is understood that INS Vela, the fourth out of six INS Kalveri class diesel attack submarines, will also be commissioned before the end of this month most likely by external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar or by outgoing Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh. Both the vessels have been built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders with INS Vela being designed by the French naval group.

According to the Indian Navy, all the four destroyers of the Visakhapatnam class including INS Mormugao, Imphal and Porbandar, will be launched by 2022 with the destroyers adding to the punch of Indian military might and coverage of the Indo-Pacific.

Even though INS Vela is a diesel attack submarine, it will act as sea denial as well as access denial to the adversary. Designed on the Scorpene-class, the Exocet missile-carrying submarine may be fitted with DRDO designed air-independent propulsion technology at a later stage as part of its mid-life refit.

According to the Indian Navy, the P15B destroyers incorporate new design concepts for improved survivability, sea denial, stealth and enhanced manoeuvrability. The stealth features have been achieved through new hull design and the use of radar transparent deck fittings which make these ships difficult to detect. The design around the bridge area appears to be the main design change compared to the preceding Kolkata class of destroyers. P15B ships will be equipped to carry and operate two US MH 60 R multi-role helicopters.

The Visakhapatnam-class shares several sensors and weapon systems with its preceding design, the Kolkata-class (Project 15A) of destroyers: The IAI EL/M-2248 MF-STAR S-band AESA multi-function radar, Thales LW-08 D-band air search radar, BEL HUMSA-NG bow sonar are fitted on both classes. Like Project 15A, Project 15B will be fitted with 32x Barak 8 surface to air missiles (launched from VLS cells) as well as 16 BrahMos anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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