Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman commissioned the indigenously built anti-submarine warship INS Kiltan at the Eastern Naval Command in Vishakhapatnam on Monday.
India's first Scorpene-class submarine INS Kalvari to be commissioned in July-August
The commissioning of the INS Kiltan comes just a few days after the Indian Navy decided to commission the first of the six Scorpene-class submarines – INS Kalvari — which was also entirely built in India.
Here are seven things to know about the INS Kiltan:
1) INS Kiltan is the latest addition to India's collection of indigenously made ships after Shivalik class, Kolkata class and sister ships INS Kamorta and INS Kadmatt.
2) Kiltan gets its name from one of the islands in Aminidivi group of the strategically located Lakshadweep and Minicoy group of islands. Interestingly, it also shares its name with the USSR- built Petya Class ship Kiltan (P79), which served as the Task Force Commander in 'Operation Trident' during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.
3) According to an official statement, INS Kiltan is India's first major warship to have a superstructure of carbon fibre composite material giving it improved stealth features, lower top weight and maintenance costs.
4) Kiltan comes as yet another boost to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make in India initiative.
"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 at the event, which was also attended by Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Naval Command H S Bisht and other senior officers.
5) This indigenous warship, which is the third of the four Kamorta-class corvettes has been designed by the Indian Navy's in-house body, the Directorate of Naval Design under Project 28.
6) This latest addition , which also became the first major warship to have undertaken sea trials of all major weapons and sensors as a pilot project, is equipped with modern ammunition. It has heavyweight torpedoes, ASW rockets, 76 mm calibre 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) and advanced Electronic Support Measure system to boast about.
7) INS Kiltan will also be installed with a short range SAM system and carry an integral ASW helicopter in the near future.
