Workers watch as INS Visakhapatnam, the first Indian Navy P15-B stealth destroyer, is launched in Mumbai yesterday.
DPA/New Delhi
The Indian Navy launched an indigenously built stealth destroyer into the sea from Mumbai’s Mazagaon dock yesterday, a defence ministry spokesman said.
The 163m ship with a displacement of 7,300 tonnes would be called INS Vishakhapatnam when it is inducted into the navy most likely in July 2018 after sea trials, spokesman Sitanshu Kar said.
The ship is the first in a project to build four such destroyers at an estimated total cost of Rs296bn ($4.7bn).
The ships would have significant indigenous content and had incorporated new design concepts for improved survivability, stealth and manoeuvrability, Kar said.
The INS Vishakhapatnam would be equipped with long-range surface-to air missiles jointly developed by Israel and India.
