Second indigenous stealth frigate to be inducted today

Built at Mazgaon Docks under project 17, the second indigenous Shivalik class stealth frigate — INS Satpura — will be inducted by the Indian Navy on Saturday.

Built at Mazgaon Docks under project 17, the second indigenous Shivalik class stealth frigate — INS Satpura — will be inducted by the Indian Navy on Saturday.

HT Image

The lead ship of this category INS Shivalik was commissioned into the Navy in April, 2010. The 143 metre-long warship, with 6,000-tonne displacement, has versatile control systems with signature management and radar cross-section reduction features.

Like the lead ship, INS Satpura has the latest stealth features to outsmart the enemy with low radar cross section, be it of the hull, infra-red or sound signatures, said Navy sources.

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 sub-surface surveillance, electronic support and counter equipment and decoys for soft kill measures.

One more of the Shivalik class — INS Sahyadri — would be ready for commissioning by next year.

The other countries having the capability to build stealth warships are the US, the UK, Russia, France, China, Japan and Italy.

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).