Indian Navy committed to 'Make in India': Navy chief

The Indian Navy is firmly committed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" project, with 48 ships and submarines being built in the country's shipyards, navy chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan said here on Tuesday.

Speaking at the launch of the fourth and last anti-submarine warfare corvette named "Karavatti", he said "self-reliance and indigenisation" were the blueprints the Indian Navy was firmly anchored to.

The navy was making efforts to raise the indigenous content so as to make warships completely in India, said the navy chief.

"Karavatti", made at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), has over 90 percent indigenous content.

GRSE chairman and managing director Rear Admiral A.K. Verma (retd.) said for the first time in the country, the superstructure of the corvette has been built of carbon fibre composite material.

Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh was the chief guest on the occasion, while the ship was launched by his wife Manita Singh.

The minister lauded the contributions made by GRSE, Kolkata in meeting the growing requirements of the navy.

Admiral Dhowan acknowledged the "excellent work" done by the yard for contributing towards achieving the Indian Navy's dream of transforming itself from a "Buyers Navy" to "Builders Navy".

GRSE is building four ASW Corvette class of ships under P-28 Project. The basic design for these ships was developed by navy's directorate of naval design and the detailed design was made by the in-house design department of GRSE. INS Kamorta, the first ship of the series, was commissioned on August 23, 2014 at Visakhapatnam.

The ship is now an integral part of the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy.

The ASW corvette - 109 metre long with a displacement of 3,200 tonnes- is a most modern warship, with advanced stealth features having very low radar cross section and very low radiated underwater noise.

The ship has a maximum speed of 25 knots, with an endurance of over 3400 NM at 18 knots speed, and is designed to accommodate 17 officers and 106 sailors.