INDIA

Navy to acquire four more Kolkata class destroyers

Senior Indian Navy sources said on March 17 that “The Defence Acquisition Council has last month given in-principle approval to the Navy’s proposal for construction of four new Kolkata class destroyers.” The sources added that Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks Ltd. (MDL) would soon receive the follow-on orders for the four ships.

      Their construction, under Project 15B, will begin as soon as MDL completes building the first three Kolkata class destroyers under Project 15A, which started in September 2003. The seven Kolkata class destroyers are expected to join the fleet at one-year intervals from 2010.

      Powered by four Ukrainian Zorya M36E gas turbines, each of the 6,800t warships will be capable of speeds of more than 30kts. They will carry two helicopters and mount a Nagin active towed array and Humsa-NG hull-mounted sonar, both manufactured by Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL). Each destroyer will also be equipped with a Thales Nederland LW08 long range volume search radar, built under licence by BEL.

      Armament will include: 16 vertically launched BrahMos supersonic, 290km-range  cruise missiles; 48 vertically launched Barak 8 long-range Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs), jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the Indian Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO); four AK-630 30mm Gatling guns; two triple anti-submarine torpedo tubes; and two anti-submarine rocket launchers.