New navy warship INS Mormugao to be launched on Sep 17

The navy’s latest destroyer, to be named INS Mormugao on commissioning, will be launched on September 17.

The Rs 7,000 crore warship, made under Project-15B, will have advanced stealth features and surface-to-air as well as cruise missiles, but is unlikely to have the crucial towed array sonar – an essential sensor to detect submarines – for now.The INS Mormugao is likely to be inducted into service by 2020.

The first ship under P-15B INS Visakhapatnam would be commissioned in 2018.In 2011, the government sanctioned the construction of four destroyers under Project-15B at a cost of Rs 29,700 crore, allowing the navy to enhance the indigenous component in these warships.

“In the P-15B ships, the extent of indigenisation has gone up to 68% from P-15 (Delhi class) ships, where the indigenisation was about 42%,”



said Vice Admiral GSPabby, controller, warship production and acquisition at the naval headquarters, here on Wednesday.

With a displacement of 6,670 tonnes and 149 metres long , the new destroyer will have a maximum speed of 30 knots and an endurance of 4,000 nautical miles.The weapon package has been further upgraded from its predecessors.

Pabby said Israeli (Barak) surface-to-air missiles were successfully fired from a similar class of warships (Kolkata class). The missile systems, however, have not been integrated in these ships as there are some technical issues. 

MDL is also negotiating the cost of the missile system along with MF STAR radar. Two more similar ships are under construction at the MDL.