India's first indigenous anti-submarine warship commissioned

Visakhapatnam: India's first indigenous stealth anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kamorta was Saturday inducted into the navy.

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley commissioned the warship, the first in a series of four planned corvettes, at the Naval Dockyard here.

The first Indian Navy ship built with carbon fibre reinforced plastic, INS Kamorta was designed at the Directorate of Naval Design.

The frontline warship is equipped with an array of anti-submarine warfare, anti-air and anti-surface weapons and sensors.

INS Kamorata can carry short-range surface-to-air missiles and Active Towed Array Decoy System. It can also carry an integral anti-subamrine warfare helicopter.

Jaitley said more than 90 percent of the ship was indigenous, and added that the government was promoting indigenous manufacturing in defence.

"In recent months, amongst the various initiatives that the government has undertaken is indigenous manufacturing of our defence deployment," Jaitley said.

The minister assured support for the ailing Hindustan Shipyard Ltd, a defence public sector undertaking in Visakhapatnam.