Kolkata, July 11 (IANS): India's first fully indigenously built major warship, the anti submarine warfare (ASW) corvette INS Kamorta will be handed over to the navy by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. (GRSE) here Saturday, a defence statement said.
The super-sophisticated frontline warship will be formally handed over by GRSE chairman and managing director, Rear Admiral (retd) A.K. Verma to the Indian Navy at a brief ceremony at GRSE's fitting-out jetty.
INS Kamorta, first in its class of four ASW corvettes being built by GRSE for the Indian Navy, is the first Indian naval warship ever built in the country with almost 90 percent of indigenous content, a defence ministry release said.
It is also the first naval warship built in the country with indigenously developed special grade high-tensile (DMR249A) steel produced by Steel Authority of India. The hull of the ship encompasses the bulk of sensors and weapon systems that are also indigenously manufactured by various Indian industries.
The ASW corvette brings to fruition a significant project in India's pursuit for self-reliance in indigenous warship building, bringing closer home the navy's quest to be a "Builder's Navy" as well as a true "Blue-water Navy" with ships and submarines designed and built within the country.
Designed by Directorate of Naval Design (DND), the successful construction of ASW corvettes with advanced stealth features also bears testimony to GRSE's growing capabilities in building state-of-the-art naval combatants comparable with the best in the world, the release added.