India commissions indigenously built stealth warship INS Shivalik

Mumbai: India on Thursday commissioned its first indigenously-built stealth warship, INS Shivalik, which boasts of sophisticated features designed to beat enemy radars. India now joins a select group of nations which can boast of such capability.

Media briefing onboard INS Shivalik

'INS Shivalik' is the first of the three-ship Project-17 frigates and it was commissioned at the Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks (MDL) by defence minister AK Antony. The defence minister  called it a red letter day for the armed forces.

"It is a red letter day for the Navy, armed forces and ship building industry of India. We can consider ourselves as a really potent force and the Navy has to maintain eternal vigilance since we have a long coastline," Antony said.

The 143-metre-long warship, with 6,000-tonne displacement, has "versatile control systems with signature management and radar cross-section reduction features."

The Navy currently has a 130-warship-strong fleet which includes an aircraft carrier, 20 landing ships, eight destroyers, 12 frigates and 16 attack submarines based in four commands headquartered in Mumbai (western naval command), Visakhapatnam (eastern naval command), Kochi (southern naval command) and Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar joint command).