The third anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette for the Indian Navy, designed under Project-28 by the Directorate of Naval Design (Surface Ships Group) and being built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), was launched on March 26. Admiral D.K. Joshi, Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear Admiral (Retd) A.K. Verma, Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE, senior officials from the Ministry of Defence and armed forces, and West Bengal administration were present while the ASW corvette was launched by the Navy Chief’s wife Chitra Joshi. The ship has been christened after INS Kiltan, a former Soviet Union origin Petya class light-ASW frigate.

As a result of relentless pursuit of national strategy of self-reliance by the Indian Navy and the defence shipyards, the third ASW corvette has achieved about 90 per cent indigenous contents in the manufacturing at GRSE. The ASW corvettes under this programme integrate latest stealth technology and INS Kamorta, the first of the class, is expected to be commissioned shortly this year. The remaining three ships under the project will be delivered by 2016. The fourth ship of Project-28 is scheduled to be launched in 2014. Lauding efforts of GRSE in detail designing of the ship, the Navy Chief singled out its technological landmark, as being the first ship in the country built with a composite superstructure. The superstructure made of carbon fibre composite material has been successfully integrated with the main hull of the ship. The hull of the ship is built with warship grade high tensile indigenous steel. Besides reducing the top weight, it will provide improved stealth features and reduce life-cycle maintenance costs.