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What is the news?
The first ship ‘Visakhapatnam’, of the four Project-15B ships was delivered to the Navy recently. It is state-of-the-art stealth guided missile destroyers, being built at the Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL).
More about the “Visakhapatnam” ship
The overall indigenous content of the project is approximately 75% including weapons systems like medium range SAMs, torpedo tube launchers etc.
The design of the ships has been developed in-house by the Directorate of Naval Design. These ships are equipped with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and long range Surface-to-Air missiles (SAM).
What is Project 15B and its significance?
The project 15B ships are a follow-on of the Kolkata class (Project 15A) destroyers (INS Kolkata, INS Kochi and INS Chennai).
The four ships are:
– Visakhapatnam
– Mormugao
– Imphal
– Surat.
These ships feature enhanced stealth features over the earlier class which make it difficult to detect and also feature significant advances in automation and networking.
These ships are propelled by four gas turbines in Combined Gas and Gas (COGAG) configuration.
Significance: Destroyers like the P-15B class shall play an important role in the larger oceans of the Indo-Pacific, making the Indian Navy a potent force.
The guided-missile Destroyers are deployed for various responsibilities like escort duties with the Carrier Battle Group to protect the Naval fleet against any air, surface, and underwater threats.
These modern warships shall also give an extended Indo-Pacific capability to the Indian Navy against an ever-growing fleet of Chinese submarines.
Source: This post is based on the article “Navy takes delivery of warship” published in The Hindu on 1st November 2021.
