INS Mormugao will add strength to India’s blue water capabilities, 75 % indigenisation is an encouraging figure – Commodore Anil Jai Singh (r.)

Terming the state-of-the-art warship INS Mormugao as a perfect example of India’s indigenous capabilities, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on December 18 bolstered his confidence in the remarkable growth in the country’s maritime capability.

Second-of-four Visakhapatnam’-class destroyers, INS Mormugao, indigenously designed by the Indian Navy’s Warship Design Bureau, is equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles besides modern surveillance radar which provides target data to weapon systems.

However, Commodore Anil Jai Singh (r.), Vice President Indian Maritime Foundation, believes all destroyers are designed and armed to take a fight to the enemy either as part of a large formation or as independent Search and Attack units.

“Modern technology has transformed the battlespace into a networked theatre of operations. Ships like these are equipped as effective command and control platforms to shape a networked battlespace to advantage through sophisticated communications, real time data links, multistate sensors etc,” Commodore Anil Jai Singh (r.) told The Quotes.

The keel of Mormugao was laid in June 2015, and the ship was launched in September 2016 by then Defence Minister late Manohar Parrikar. The Visakhapatnam class has largely maintained the hull form, propulsion machinery, many platforms equipment and major weapons and sensors from the Kolkata class to benefit from series production.

However, it incorporates advanced stealth features and a higher degree of automation, and its sleeker hull design and the radar-transparent deck fittings make the vessels difficult to detect. The ship has around 75 per cent indigenous content.

Commenting on its indigenisation of the ship, Cmdre. Singh said that the Navy has been at the forefront of promoting indigenisation and self-reliance for many decades, and its success in shipbuilding can be gauged by the commissioning of as sophisticated a destroyer as this.

“75 per cent is a very encouraging figure but certain critical technologies are still imported which form the cutting edge of a warship. It is these that we must focus on. Secondly, just developing an indigenous capability is not enough. It must be better than what the adversary has if victory in war is to be assured,” adds Cmdre. Singh (r.).

While the defence minister termed the INS Mormugao as a significant enhancement in India’s maritime capabilities and claimed it one of the world’s most technologically advanced missile carriers, Cmdre. Singh feels all major modern warships are built to fight in an NBC environment (nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare scenarios).

“INS Mormugao will be a very valuable addition to the Navy’s blue water capabilities but is not some revolutionary game changer. Perhaps in time, as India develops more sophisticated weapons with hypersonic technologies etc, these ships will be armed with them and wil become game changers in the contemporary maritime battlespace,” concludes Cmdre. Singh (r.).