The Indian Navy is set to receive a major boost on the seventh anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack when INS Kadmat, an anti-submarine warfare corvette, will be added to its fleet of warships.
Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design, the warship is the second in its class of four ASW corvettes being built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, the state-run defence manufacturer, under Project-28 (P28) for the Indian Navy. The GRSE will hand over INS Kadmat to the Navy at its Fitting Out Jetty on Thursday.
Chief Staff Officer (Technical) Rear Admiral Narayan Prasad of the Eastern Naval Command, Naval Officer In Charge (West Bengal) Commodore Ravi Ahluwalia and GRSE chairman and managing director Rear Admiral (Retd) A.K. Verma are scheduled to attend the event. On Wednesday, Commo-dore Ahluwalia told this newspaper, “There is a lot of indigenous features in INS Kadmat, an ASW corv-ette, which is required by the Indian Navy for its operational activities. The Navy feels this warship will add boost its capability.”
INS Kadmat is the second naval warship which has been built in the country with indigenously developed special grade high-tensile (DMR249A) steel produced by the Steel Authority of India. Its hull encompasses the bulk of sensors and weapon systems which are also indigenously manufactured.
The second ASW corvette will be based at Vishakhapatnam, the ENC headquarters. It will also participate in the International Fleet Review from February 5 to 8 next year in a fleet of around 40 Indian Navy warships.
Meanwhile, the Indian Coast Guard (North East Region) will kickstart its coastal security exercise off the West Bengal coast in the Bay of Bengal from Thursday to check the preparedness and coordination between different agencies during an emergency. Its spokesperson Avinandan Mitra said, “The exercise will continue till November 27. This is the second time it is going to be held in a year with the help of the Indian Navy, Kolkata Port Trust and Marine Police and fisheries department of the West Bengal.”
