the 6th and last of the Godavari-brahmaputra line is finally complete. She is perhaps the
last IN warship with steam plant , all the rest have gas turbines-diesels now.
per Harry, the Kashins and this class each have 24 cells of Barak.
New missile frigate to bolster Navy’s strength
By Rajat Pandit/TNN
New Delhi: The Navy is now all set to add more punch to its “blue-water’’ capabilities by inducting a spanking new guided missile frigate, INS Beas, armed with a lethal mix of foreign and indigenous weapon and sensor systems.
The 3,600-tonne INS Beas will be commissioned into the Navy, which sees it as “a versatile and effective instrument of India’s foreign policy’’, at Kolkata later this month.
Capable of covering 4,500 nautical miles without replenishment, the frigate will help the Navy to strengthen its role as a “potent maritime force’’ capable of tasks ranging from “destruction of enemy’’ and deterrence to “coercive’’ and “peace’’ diplomacy.
“INS Beas will be the third and the mostadvanced Brahmaputra class frigate to be built in India,’’ navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash told The Times of India.
“It’s equipped with the very capable ‘Humsa’ underwater sonar and ‘Ellora’ electronic warfare systems. Built indigenously, they are among the most advanced systems of their kind in the world,’’ he added.
Ellora will be used as a “soft kill’’ option to electronically jam hostile missiles and other airborne threats. The “hard kill’’ measures, in turn, will include the Israeli ‘Barak’ anti-missile defence system, a 76-mm super-rapid gun and four multi-barrelled 30-mm guns.India, incidentally, had earlier acquired nine Barak systems and 200 missiles, at a cost of around Rs 1,500 crore, and is now negotiating for some more. With a 10-km range, Barak can engage incoming Harpoon and Exocet missiles, launched from platforms like P-3C Orion aircraft and Agosta-90B submarines which Pakistan has.
“For long-range engagement of surface targets, INS Beas has 16 Uran surface-to-surface missiles capable of hitting targets 130 km away,’’ said an officer.
With Indian warships also likely to resume patrolling of the Malacca Straits, one of the major global trade routes, the Navy wants to ensure its force-level does not fall short of 140 warships. After the 9/11 terror attacks, Indian warships had provided “escort’’ to over 20 American and other coalition ships across Malacca Straits between April and September 2002.
This Indian operation, code-named “Sagittarius’’, is seen as a move to strengthen Indo-US relations, as well as build friendly relations with other Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Rapid deployment of warships for tsunami relief operations also showed the Navy was capable of operating much beyond its shores. At present, while two Indian warships are in Britain, four are in South Africa. Some more, including aircraft carrier INS Viraat, will soon head for South-East Asia.
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