INS Udaygiri and INS Himagiri marks the first occasion when two frontline surface combatants constructed at two different shipyards were commissioned simultaneously.
The navy's need for shallow water anti-submarine craft stems from the peculiar nature of the Arabian Sea bed, which is extremely shallow even tens of nautical miles from the coast.
Kavaratti has state-of-the-art weapons and sensor suite capable of detecting and prosecuting submarines.
The fast interceptor craft delivered can patrol the coastline at a scorching speed of 45 knots.
Time and cost overruns are endemic to most Indian warship building projects. A central reason is the Indian Navy's operational assessment that it is better to get a warship late and ov
Kavaratti will be commissioned before end-2019 -- three years later than contracted.
'The Raksha Mantri's day at sea'/
Designed and built by state-run Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata, INS Koswari is a highly manoeuvrable craft and ideally suited for deployment along the coast, a defence release said.
The warships will be armed with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles which can reach targets 295 km away.
India's largest warship builders -- Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai; and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Kolkata - have prevailed over the Indian Navy's objections. MDL and GRSE will divide between them the entire order for seven improved stealth frigates, code-named Project 17A.The Navy was insisting that the first two frigates of Project 17A be built abroad, so that MDL and GRSE could learn how to build ships using new modular methods that are preferred by European shipyard
These next generation ships can patrol the oceans for three or four months compared to the navy's current patrol boats, which can be at sea for a maximum of 45 days.
Warship building projects worth at least Rs 630 billion have ground to a standstill. The defence ministry has halted tendering in wait for a government decision on whether to allow, or to exclude, Anil Ambani's shipbuilding firm from those contracts.
The navy wants to spend Rs 40,000 crore on INS Vishal, a choice the army and air force oppose. This is as much about turf as about funding. explains Ajai Shukla.
Still, there remains a worrying shortfall of frigates, which are the navy's workhorses. 'We need to have at least 24 frigates,' says a senior admiral. 'Currently we are 10 short.'
The Indian Navy is constrained by its lowest budgetary allocation since 2011-2012, reveals Ajai Shukla.
'An ASW corvette without towed array sonar and an ASW helicopter is nothing more than a feeble joke,' says a retired navy commodore.
The navy's plan to build three Russian Talwar-class frigates has a less than wholesome odour.
The Long Range Surface to Air Missile jointly being developed by India and Israel is an answer to potential threats from Pakistan's anti-ship missile.
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