Navy’s battleship Visakhapatanam to be launched Sunday
16 Apr 2015
The Indian Navy will launch its new 'Kolkata Class' destroyer, INS Visakhapatnam, on Sunday. It is claimed to be 65-per cent indigenous, with even some of the weapons systems made domestically,
The new destroyer will enhance the Navy's capability to operate in nuclear, biological and chemical atmosphere. It will be launched from the Navy's dock in Mumbai. However, it will be fully operational only in 2018.
The ship is the first of the four follow follow-up orders for Kolkata class warships. Its total cost is a little over Rs29,600 crore.
"Kolkata Class did not have a full-fledged Total Atmosphere Control System (TAC). The TAC system provides you with the capability of operating in a fall-out region, be it a nuclear, chemical or biological almost endlessly...Because the complete air being taken inside is through nuclear, biological and chemical filters except in the machinery compartment," Rear Admiral A K Saxena, director general (Naval Design) told reporters in Delhi.
