All you need to know about INS Kochi: India’s Warship

The Navy had commissioned a new Warship the INS Kochi, largest ever warship built in India. Commissioned by the Defense Minister Manohar Parikar, INS Kochi is the second Indian Navy Kolkata class destroyer. It has undergone sea trials and has been commissioned on September 30 2015. Destroyers are only second to the aircraft carriers and in terms of raw combat and have high value in the sea.  The INS Kochi will make the 10^th destroyer in the India’s combat fleet.

The Admiral of the Navy suggested that it will add more teeth to the Indian Navy and will empower the navy in the Indian Ocean Region. Moreover, it makes our faith stronger in the indigenous ship building in India and the Make-in-India concept.

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Reasons to expand the India’s Naval Defense:

India being surrounded by three sides with sea has to have a huge Navy with high combatting capabilities. Moreover, India’s need to spread its naval ships must not be restricted only to the Indian Ocean Region; instead we should be planning to expand its region. Moreover, there are over 120 warships at any given time in the Indian Ocean Region, and with China growing its power in the Indian Ocean in order to safeguard its energy supplies passing through IOR, India can’t afford to stay loose. Who knows when China can use its influence in the sea against India?

Moreover the power of India in terms of other naval capabilities is quite low. While India is doing well in surface combatants but there has to be a lot improvement to be done in terms of submarines and helicopters. There is an acute shortage of submarines, helicopters and minesweepers. India has only 13 old conventional diesel electric submarines and one nuclear powered boat on lease from Russia.  On the other hand China has 5 nuclear and 51 conventional submarines in its underwater fleet. It also has five JIN-class nuclear submarines armed with long-range ballistic missiles. Pakistan too had ordered eight more conventional submarines from China to add to its tally of five.

The challenge ahead of the Indian government is to promote more indigenization in its naval capabilities so that it can produce more and it costs less to them. But the defense ministry is still nowhere close to issuing the tender for Project-5-India to build six advanced submarines, with both land attack cruise missiles and air-independent propulsion for greater underwater endurance, at a cost of around Rs. 80,000 crore.  It will at least take 10 years for the first of these submarines to roll out. The ongoing project to create six French Scorpene submarines at MDL is also running four years behind the schedule, with the first boat to be delivered by September 2016 at the earliest.  Hence, it is important for government to increase its capability at least in terms of surface attacks.

The Capabilities of INS Kochi:

Designed by the Navy’s in-house organization, directorate of naval design the 7,200 tones monster ship spans 164 meters in length and 17 meters at the beam.  Moreover, it is constructed by Mazagon Dock Ship builders LTs in Mumbai. It is propelled by four gas turbines and designed to achieve speeds in excess of 30 knots (55.56 Km/hr). The ship has a complement of about 40 officers and 350 sailors.  Moreover, there has been a special preference given to ergonomics and habitability while creating the living space in the ship.

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Moreover, the ship has many salient features in terms of its combat and stealth facilities.  The ship has many lethal weapons which include vertically launched missile system. Also, it can be loaded with Bhramos supersonic cruise missile, Long range surface to air missile system, Anti-sub torpedoes and rockets and 76mm and 30 mm guns. Moreover, it has enhanced stealth features achieved through shaping the hull and use of radar-transparent deck fittings. A bow mounted sonar dome has been introduced to enhance the sonar acoustic performance.

The ship also is one of the few warships of the world and the second in the India Navy to have Multi Functions Surveillance and threat Alert Radar to provide target data to Long Range Surface to Air Missile system.

So, the 4000 crore destroyer is the 10^th destroyer of the India’s combat fleet. The first of its class INS Kolkata was commissioned last year in August, while the third is going to be commissioned by the end of 2016 which will be INS Chennai. It is even bigger than the ongoing Rs. 29,644 crore projects to build four stealth destroyers at MDL, with the first INS Vishakhapatnam is in for delivery by 2018-19. It adds to the grand plan of Navy to extend its warship capabilities to 200-warship force and 600 aircraft and helicopters by 2027 to ensure that it can guard countries geo-strategic interests through the IOR and emerge as the world’s center of gravity.
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About the Author:  Pranav Nikam is an Electrical and Electronics engineer who is working in a renowned MNC in Chennai. He likes to work out in gym, do photography and play badminton. Through his articles he wants to spread awareness among other defence aspirants.