Nirmala Sitharaman commissions Indian Navy warship, INS Kiltan in Visakhapatnam today

Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman commissioned the anti-submarine warfare corvette, INS Kiltan here in the Visakhapatnam Naval Base.

Built by Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), the INS Kiltan is an anti-submarine stealth warship which has put India on the indigenous make map and brought progress to Indian Navy by leaps and bounds. Formally commissioned by the honourable Defense Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharam here today, the warship is off to a glorious start already. Earlier it was launched in 2013 in Kolkata by Chitra Joshi, the wife of Admiral DK Joshi, the then Chief of Naval Staff.

The Indian Navy warship is named after an island in Lakshadweep and is the third of the four Kamorta-class corvettes commissioned by the Indian Navy. A superior and lethal force to reckon capable of fighting under nuclear, biological and chemical environments.

Must know facts about INS Kiltan –

1. It is one of the first anti-submarine warfare stealth corvettes to be built in India.
2. It is predominantly indigenous in manufacture and the third of it’s class to be commissioned after INS Kamorta and INS Kadmat. The next one to be commissioned is INS Kavaratti.
3. The ship also boasts of the proud legacy of the erstwhile Petya Class ship of same name ‘Kiltan (P79)’ built in the USSR, which had actively participated as Task Force Commander in the ‘Operation Trident’ during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, as per The Quint.
4. It is India Navy’s first major warship to have a superstructure of carbon fibre. It translates into improved stealth features, lower top weight and maintenance costs.
5. A major victory, this ship boasts a low-radar signature.
6. It carries 17 officers and 106 sailors on-board.
7. Loaded with weapons and sensors and prepared well for high seas INS Kiltan armor carries heavyweight torpedoes, ASW rockets, 76 mm caliber Medium Range gun and two multi-barrel 30 mm guns as close-in-weapon system (CIWS) with dedicated fire control systems, missile decoy rockets (Chaff), advanced ESM (Electronic Support Measure) system, most advanced bow mounted sonar and air surveillance radar Revathi. Quite a list there.

Here’s congratulations to our Naval forces on Nirmala Sitharaman commissioning the warship right here in Visakhapatnam. We could not be more proud.