Kolkata. 18 February 2020. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd., (GRSE) delivered Yard 3020(Kavaratti), to the Indian Navy. The ship is the 104th Warship built and delivered by GRSE since its inception in 1960 and is the Last in the Series of 04 Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes (ASWC) under the Project 28.
“Kavaratti” was handed over by Rear Admiral VK Saxena, IN (Retd.), Chairman & Managing Director, GRSE to Cdr. Sandeep Singh, Commanding Officer (Desig) of the ship, in the presence of Cmde. DK Goswami, CEO, Chairman, D448 Eastern Naval Command, Shri S S Dogra, Director (Finance), Cmde. Sanjeev Nayyar, IN (Retd), Director (Shipbuilding) and Cmde. P R Hari, IN (Retd), Director (Personnel) and other Senior Officials of Indian Navy and GRSE.
The frirst three ships of the series, INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt & INS Kiltan were delivered earlier and now form an integral part of Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy. The P 28 Class of ships strengthens the Indian Defence System and is the shining Armor in the “Make in India” programme.
The first 03 Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes built by GRSE have been creating waves across the world since their induction to the Indian Navy,having participated in several Overseas Operations and International Maritime Exhibitions at Malaysia, Singapore and other countries including International Fleet Reviews. The 3rdAnti-Submarine Warfare Corvette, INS Kiltan recently participated in the prestigiousExercise Malabar 2019, an endeavor to strengthen India-Japan-US Naval Cooperation and enhance inter – operability. With 90% Indigenous Content, equipped to fight in Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare conditions, featuring the integration of a host of weapons and sensors, the P 28 Class of ships is yet another milestone in the journey towards self – reliance and Make In India. These Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes have catapulted the Indian Navy into the Elite Club of building Stealth Ships. The “X” form of the Hull and Super Structure gives very Low Radar Cross Section and special design of propulsion system minimizes Radiated Underwater Noise. The Stealth features make the ships almost invisible to the enemy both above and below the sea surface.
The Kamorta class of Corvettes are designed to be equally effective in the littorals as well as in the deep oceans. These class of ships have been designed as an extremely versatile ASW Platform capable of neutralizing the enemy submarines using her indigenous weapons like Torpedoes, Rocket Launchers and integral Helicopter. The ship has a displacement of 3250 tonnes, length of 109 M and width of 12.8 M.The ship has a maximum speed of 25 Knots, with an endurance of over 3400 NM at 18 knots speed and can accommodate 17 officers and 106 sailors.
Some of the special features incorporated in these ships for the first time in the country include the following:-
- Special High Strength Warship Grade Steel Type DMR 249A Indigenously developed and has been used for shipbuilding for the first time in the country on these ships.
- Kavaratti and INS Kiltan are the first two major warships to have the unique feature of Superstructure made of Carbon Fiber Composite Material. It is for the first time in the country that such composite material is being integrated with steel hull of a ship and GRSE is the first shipyard in the country to have successfully achieved this task.
- Over 90% Indigenous Content and hence a major step towards achieving self-reliance in the state of the art warship design and construction.
The journey of delivering “Kora Class” Missile Corvettes way back in the 1990s to the delivery completion of the four Anti – Submarine Warfare Corvettes gives GRSE the exclusive edge in construction of these Frontline Corvettes for the Indian Navy.
GRSE currently has a strong order book position of over Rs 27, 000 crore under which there are a total of 18 warshipsat various stages of construction. GRSE touched a key milestone with the delivery of 06 warships in 12 months (Mar 19-Feb 20). With the delivery of Kavaratti, the company has Five Shipbuilding Projects that are under way viz., Four Projects of the Indian Navy and One of the Indian Coast Guard. GRSE is aggressively bidding for the new Request for Proposals (RFP) that have been issued by Ministry of Defence and is exploring possibilities for Export to friendly countries for its Warships and Pre-fabricated Steel Bridges.The shipyard has been recently awarded with the ICC PSE Excellence Award (2017-18) for “Operational Performance Excellence” and 16th National Award for “Excellence in Cost Management” in the category of Medium Public Sector Manufacturing Companies. In Jul 19, GRSE was also recognised as one of the “Next Fortune 500 Companies of India”.
GRSE continues to sail on a growth trajectory with incorporation of latest technologies (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learningand Data Analytics) in various areas of operations to improve internal efficiencies & profit margins.
