Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will today commission an indigenously-built anti-submarine warfare stealth corvette INS Kiltan into the Indian Navy at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam.The commissioning ceremony will be attended by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba and a host of other dignitaries.
A Navy statement said, this is the third of the four Kamorta-class corvettes being built under Project 28. INS Kiltan has been designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house organisation Directorate of Naval Design and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers in Kolkata.
The statement said, INS Kiltan portrays the growing capability of the Indian Navy. It also said the country is becoming self-reliant through indigenisation, thus, accentuating the national objective of Make in India.
INS Kiltan is the latest indigenous warship after Shivalik Class, Kolkata Class and sister ships INS Kamorta and INS Kadmatt to have joined the Indian Navy’s arsenal.
It is India’s first major warship to have a superstructure of carbon fibre composite material resulting in improved stealth features, lower top weight and maintenance costs, the statement added.
The ship derives its name from one of the islands in Aminidivi group of the strategically located Lakshadweep and Minicoy group of islands.
The ship also boasts of the proud legacy of the erstwhile Petya Class ship of same name ‘Kiltan (P79)’ built in the USSR, which had actively participated as Task Force Commander in the ‘Operation Trident’ during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.