MUMBAI: The Indian Navy’s eastern fleet got more muscle on Saturday with the commissioning of its new stealth frigate INS Satpura. With advanced stealth features to dodge enemy’s radars, it’s packed with potent firepower to strike them hard. The warship, with its first vessel in the series—INS Shivalik—will be deployed in the Eastern Command with Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean Region as the major area of operation.
The warship is the second of its kind to be built in the country at the Mumbai-based Mazagon Dockyard Ltd under Project 17 and would remain the mainstay of the Indian Navy for the first half of the century.
“INS Shivalik has been deployed in the eastern fleet and Satpura will also go there eventually,” a naval official said. The navy for years had the western naval command stationed at Mumbai as its “sword arm” but it has been building its assets in the eastern theatre gradually with rising concerns about the presence of the Chinese navy in the Indian Ocean Region.
The lone aircraft carrier of the navy INS Virat is in the western fleet, and now the force is looking forward to operating two aircraft carriers in both the regions.
The ship, which is the second in its class and the largest of its kind in the world, was inducted into the force by Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma and will be commanded by Captain Sharat. The first ship of the class INS Shivalik was commissioned in the navy last year and the last of the series- INS Shayadari will become operational by next year.
The frigate is conceived, designed and constructed indigenously. A stealth warship is designed to have low signatures so that they remain undetected to enemy electronic sensors of other navies. Its shape is designed to evade detection by radar; it is engineered to give off minimal infrared emissions; and every piece of equipment on board, from engines to toilet flushes, are designed to work silently so that the ship cannot be heard by the enemy’s sonar and acoustic sensors. This stealth will allow the INS Satpura to reach near enemy positions undetected.
Satpura is equipped with state-of-the-art defence against nuclear, biological and chemical attacks. The Atmospheric Control System filters and controls the temperature and humidity of the air coming into the ship, including the air being used by the engines. It removes any radioactive, chemical or biological impurities, thereby protecting the crew and the systems even during a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.
The INS Satpura is equipped with a mix of imported and indigenous weapon systems and sensors, including Barak surface-to-air and Russian Klub cruise missiles, ‘shtil’ air defence system, rapid fire guns, basic anti-submarine warfare weapons and two helicopters.