Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

aksha said:

Indian Navy to induct Kochi, its 2nd Kolkata-class destroyer on Sept 30.

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COME OCTOBER and Indian Navy will get a shot in the arm with a new anti-submarine warship joining its fleet at the eastern coast in Visakhapatnam.

Named INS Kadmatt, the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette, is now at the final stage of furnishing at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) in Kolkata. GRSE began building the warship in 2011.

“The ship is almost ready and will be commissioned into the Indian Navy sometimes in October this year. There will be a handing over ceremony in Kolkata, followed by the actual commissioning ceremony at the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam about a month later,” GRSE chairman and managing director, Rear Admiral (Retd.) A K Verma told The Statesman on Tuesday.

Kadmatt is the second warship in Project-28 (P28), under which GRSE is building four ASWs for the Navy with 90 per cent indigenous contents and design. The first one ~ INS Kamorta ~ was inducted into the Navy on 23 August last year, and since then has been a major attraction during visits to foreign countries.

“The work on the remaining two ASWs in P-28 ~ Kiltan and Kavaratti~ is also in progress. We will handover them to the Navy in 2016 and 2017, respectively,” Rear Admiral Verma said. All the four ASW corvettes are named after islands in Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshwadweep.

Kadmatt is around 109 metres in length, around 14 metres wide at its maximum bulge and has an approximate displacement of 3,200 tons. Being built at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000-crore, it happens to be a modern warship with advanced stealth features that have very low Radar Cross Section and very low radiated underwater noise.

The ship is equipped with Super Rapid Gun Mounting, Anti-aircraft Guns, Torpedo Launcher, Rocket Launcher and Chaff Launcher as well as early Warning, Navigation, Fire Control Radars, Under-Water Sensors and an integrated Communication facility and Electronic Warfare System.

The Navy plans to deploy Kadmatt as an advance screen for the Carrier Battle Group to counter any submarine threat and it will be a feared platform for lurking enemy submarines and their nemesis within India’s territorial waters. It is expected to play a significant role in Navy’s submarine hunter/killer capabilities.

Kadmatt is powered by four indigenously designed 3,888 KW diesel engines at 1,050 rpm and has an endurance of about 3,450 nautical miles at 18 knots. The ship will be manned by 17 officers and 106 sailors, and can achieve a maximum speed of 25 knots.

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Jeff Head said:

Great!

Here are both of them together, the Kolkata and the Kochi...with a Delhi-class in the middle.

View attachment 18526

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Kalvari, the first of six French- designed Scorpene diesel-electric attack submarines, is likely to leave the construction yard in Mumbai for rigorous sea trials from September 30, bringing it a step closer to induction into the Navy. The submarines are being built under licence at the Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) in Mumbai under the Rs 23,562-crore Project-75. “People are working round-the- clock to complete last-minute preparations. If all goes well, sea trials will begin on September 30,” a top official told HT. Kalvari was floated out of her building dock on April 6. Some systems and equipment have been validated during basic dock trials in the months leading up to the start of complex sea trials, including weapon testing in June 2016. “Joint teams of the Navy and MDL will now conduct specific tests related to systems, equipment, acoustics, safety, and survivability under different conditions of operation in the coming months before declaring Kalvari fit for induction by next September,” said another official.The remaining five boats will be delivered to the Navy by 2020. The 66-metre submarine can accommodate a crew of 31 and dive up to a depth of 300 metres to elude enemy detection. The Scorpene project, plagued by cost overruns and missed deadlines, is important to the Navy as its underwater attack capabilities have blunted over time. India operates 13 ageing conventional submarines and an Akula-II nuclear-powered attack boat leased from Russia.

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Naval versions of India’s ‘Dhruv’ Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) will get folding rotors to accommodate the chopper in tight spaces on board Indian ships.

Work on this modification has been done at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bangalore to make the rotors foldable which will increase the versatility of the helicopter. The Naval ALH Dhruv is currently used as search and rescue (SAR) helicopter which means it has to land on ships’ helicopter platforms, aircraft carriers and be stowed away in narrow spaces.

While the Indian Navy was happy with versatility of the 5.5 helicopter, a problem with the Dhruv was that its rotors did not fold to be fitted on smaller decks of offshore patrol vessels or even frigates of the class of INS Talwar.

The problem was raised by the Indian Navy about six months ago. A source in HAL said, “the problem has been sorted out. HAL representatives visited the naval installation in Vizag and demonstrated these changes that have been made about the foldability of the rotors.”

A navy source says that more than a dozen ALH have been asked to make the rotors foldable and are awaiting delivery. The problem of the Dhruv rotor is that two of its rotors did not fold the way the Indian Navy’s older helicopters such as the Chetaks or Sea Kings did on deck.

But now HAL has cracked the problem. Two of the Dhruv’s rotors fold into the body of the aircraft, while one remains straight outward.

So the Indian navy also is changing the hangar designs and making them longer of new vessels like the INS Sumitra class of OPVs.

The first squadron of the ALH Dhruv had been commission in 2013 primarily for SAR role. However, with the folding blades issues resolved, the ALH looks set for an expanded role within the navy.

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