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| INS Kamorta ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Credits- Indian Navy) |
In continuation of our series "Make In India", today we feature Kamorta class Corvette. She is the first of a new class of corvettes designed and built in India with high level indigenous content. Built as an Anti Submarine warfare corvette, Kamorta is highly capable and a real force multiplier.
Kamorta class corvettes are the Indian Navy's next-generation anti submarine warfare platform, built under Project 28. They are being built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. All the four corvettes are planned to be handed over to the Indian Navy by the year 2017.
Project 28 is the primary project for driving localisation and developing the warship construction industry in India. The aim with this project is to stipulate unprecedented standards while providing opportunities to Indian vendors to develop expertise with the technology. The project, driven by the Navy's Directorate of Naval Design, has been delayed by two years with a cost overrun from the originally estimated INR28 billion (US$440 million) to Rs. 70 billion (US$1 billion), primarily to meet this goal.
The order for the first four corvettes was placed in 2003, with construction commencing on 12 August 2005.
Design:
The basic design for Project 28 was specified by the Indian Navy's Directorate of Naval Design, with the detailed design by GRSE.[4] The design includes many stealth ship features, including reductions in acoustic signature and vibration of the vessels.
Displacing around 3,400 tonnes and a length of around 110 meters, these vessels will have a very high percentage of Indian made equipment – either designed indigenuously or built under license through technology transfer agreements.
The DMR 249A hull steel is produced by SAIL (Steel Authority of India Limited). The main machinery is raft mounted to reduce acoustic and vibration signatures. Each gear unit and the associated engines will be mounted on a common raft. The vessel will feature automated control and battle damage systems. The Project 28 vessels use diesel engines built by Pielstick of France. DCNS supplied the noise-suppressing raft-mounted gearbox for CODAD propulsion. Wärtsilä India will deliver the low-vibration diesel alternators to power the on-board electronics. Other signature management control features are built in to combat the ship's infrared signature, radar cross-section, noise and magnetic outputs. Two independent interconnected switchboards optimise redundancy and reliability.
It was announced on 21 December 2006 that GRSE awarded France's DCNS a contract to provide a comprehensive engineering package of raft mounted Propulsion Power Transmission Systems (PPTS) for the four corvettes. Under the contract, DCNS will deliver four propulsion packages (consisting of eight reduction gear units on cradles and either thrust blocks) to GRSE. The company will also provide support to GRSE for the mechanical integration of the propulsion plant. DCNS is partnering with Walchandnagar Industries Limited, to provide the raft mounts and other components, including thrust blocks and systems auxiliaries. The first propulsion package was delivered in 2008, with the remaining three to follow at the rate of one per year until 2011.
The armament is to include a license-built Otobreda 76 mm Super Rapid gun in a stealth mount and a weapons layout similar to what is found on the Talwar-class and Shivalik-class frigates including two Larsen & Toubro built derivatives of the RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launcher, as well as Larsen & Toubro torpedo launchers. Revati, the naval variant of the DRDO-made Central Acquisition Radar (CAR), is a confirmed sensor aboard the vessel. Hangar and aviation facilities will also be standard features.
The ships also includes an integrated ship management system (ISMS) from L-3 MAPPS which combines an integrated platform management system and bridge management system into a single integrated system.
Four ships are being built under the class with 8 more to follow in Project-28 A with improved sensors and weapon systems.
The importance of this class of ships is not only their indigenous development but the fact that they are designed to be the foundation for the establishment of an entire eco-system for the development and building of warships.
This ship in letter and spirit commemorates and takes forward the motto "Make in India" . May this class and the ships to follow rule the seven seas with the flag of India flying high.
JAI HIND
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