Kolkata, March 17 (IANS) The INS Himgiri, the second in a series of Advanced Stealth Frigates being built for the Indian Navy by Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd in Kolkata, is nearly complete.
The INS Himgiri is the first of three such warships being built by the GRSE.
The GRSE on Monday announced that the INS Himgiri – which will be armed with Brahmos anti-ship and anti-surface missiles and Barak-8 surface-to-air missiles, completed her Contractor Sea Trial (CST) on March 3. The INS Androth, the second in a series of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts (ASW SWCs) being built by GRSE, also completed her CST on the same date, the GRSE announced.
The smaller, but heavily-armed ASW SWCs are also being built by shipyards in India for the first time. They have been designed and equipped to detect and destroy underwater threats, close to the coast. These multi-purpose vessels can carry out other tasks as well and be part of fleet operations in the deep sea.
The INS Himgiri is the largest warship being built by the GRSE. In fact, these Project 17 Alpha class Frigates, with a displacement of 6,670 tons each, are the largest frigates to have been built in India. The first one in the series, INS Nilgiri, built by the Mazgaon shipyard, was commissioned into the Navy on January 15 this year by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
“A CST is considered the final stage of construction, when a vessel’s seaworthiness is tested. Several factors, such as speed, manoeuvrability, and the performance of on-board equipment are checked. In this case, senior officials from GRSE, Indian Navy and classification societies were on board both warships to monitor their performances,” a senior GRSE official said.
The CST for INS Arnala – the first of the ASW SWCs – was also successfully completed recently and she will be delivered to the Navy shortly. It was for the INS Arnala that GRSE bagged the Raksha Mantri Award 2022 for designing the ‘most silent ship’.
–IANS
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