Indian Navy commissions vessel for technical trials

The Indian Navy on Tuesday commissioned a vessel to carry out technical trials of underwater weapon systems.

The indigenously built INS Astradharini was conceptualised by NSTL and built by Shoft Shipyard Pvt Ltd.

The vessel is a replacement of INS Astravahini, another indigenously built Torpedo launch and recovery vessel (TLRV) which was decommissioned recently after almost 31 years in service.

INS Astradharini will be used to carry out technical trials of underwater weapons and systems developed by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), a naval systems laboratory of DRDO, officials said.

The commissioning comes days after the Indian Navy commissioned its latest Kolkata class stealth destroyer INS Kochi.

Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design and built at Mazgaon Dock in Mumbai, the 163-meter-long and 6,800-tonne stealth destroyer has land attack capability and advanced stealth features which make the warship less vulnerable to detection by enemy radar.