Indigenous stealth frigate, INS Satpura, to be commissioned today
20 Aug 2011
Mumbai: The second indigenous Shivalik-class stealth frigate, the INS Satpura, will be inducted by the Indian Navy on Saturday. Built at Mumbai's Mazgaon Docks Ltd under Project 17, the 142.5 metre-long warship, with a 6,200-tonne displacement, has versatile control systems with signature management and radar cross-section reduction features.
The lead ship of this category, INS Shivalik, was commissioned into the navy in April, 2010.
The frigate was due to be commissioned by Indian defence minister AK Antony, but there may be a change of plans because of ongoing civil unrest in Delhi.
"Conceived and designed by the Indian naval design team, the Satpura will be the mainstay frigates of the force for the first half of the 21st century," naval sources said.
The next warship of the class INS Sahyadri is also expected to be inducted into the Navy in next six to eight months around the time when the INS Teg, a Talwar-class follow-on ship under construction in Russia.
Each ship is priced upwards of Rs2,500 crore.
