Defence Minister Sitharaman commissions INS Kiltan

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New Delhi : INS Kiltan (P30), third Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes built under Project 28 (Kamorta Class) was commissioned into the Indian Navy by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at an impressive ceremony held at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on October 16, 2017.

Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral HCS Bisht, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral VK Saxena (Retd), CMD, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) Limited, Kolkata, Commodore MB Kunte (Retd) first Commanding Officer of erstwhile Kiltan and a host of other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.

The event marked the formal commissioning into the Navy of the third of the four ASW Corvettes indigenously designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house organisation, Directorate of Naval Design and constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited, Kolkata, according to a PIB release. On arrival at the Naval Jetty, Defence Minister Sitharaman was received by Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Chief of the Naval Staff. She was given a Guard of Honour. Welcoming the gathering, Admiral Sunil Lanba stated that the evet marks yet another milestone in our journey of indigenous warship building.

Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the Indian Navy, M/s GRSE, other Indian PSUs and a host of small and medium scale industries, which have contributed towards building this fine ship. She emphasised that the Navy’s relentless pursuit of self-reliance through indigenisation is highly appreciable and this has helped the Indian Navy to seamlessly transform from a Buyer’s to a Builder’s Navy. She said that the addition of INS Kiltan to the naval fleet is a reaffirmation of this transformation. She said that we need to benchmark our shipbuilding practices to international best practices and produce quality ships in a shorter time frame and at competitive costs, according to the PIB release.

Regarded as a very prestigious acquisition, INS Kiltan is one of the most potent warships to have been constructed in India