Warship INS Beas, an advanced guided missile frigate, was commissioned by the Indian Navy on Monday.
The third of the Brahmaputra class guided missle frigate, INS Beas was commissioned at Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd and dedicated to the nation by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash in Kolkata.
The warship, which follows INS Brahmaputra and INS Betwa, will be assigned to the Western fleet. It will be placed under the operational and administrative control of the Western Naval Command.
"This is the last of the 12 warships which marked the commencement of warship building in India with the INS Nilgiri in 1970. The INS Beas also has the highest-ever indigenous content of any warship built in India thus far,' Admiral Prakash said.
The new ship is a "multi-role reincarnation of old Beas, which had earned distinction in Naval history rendering glorious service to the force during 1960-1992," he said.
Built at a cost of about Rs 900 crore, INS Beas has an extensive array of long-range sensors -- radars, sonars and electronic warfare equipment -- which enable it to simultaneously address targets operating on the surface, underwater and in air.
GRSE Chairman and Managing Director Rear Admiral T S Ganeshan said the ship, which has 85 per cent indigenisation, can sustain speeds in excess of 30 knots (about 55 km/ph) and is capable of covering over 4,500 nautical mules without replenishment.
The 125 metre long frigate is equipped with 16 'URAN' surface-to-surface missiles and can carry two advanced light helicopters. It has also been provided with a multi-layered anti-aircraft/anti-missile defence system and fitted with the Barak anti-missile defence system and anti-submarine capability.
The GRSE CMD said the shipyard is scheduled to deliver six more ships by June, 2006. It will also launch two ships by next year, he said.
Hailing the capability of GRSE in producing "most-modern warships like INS Beas," the naval chief said "commissioning of the new ship marks the successful completion of the navy's strategic plan to start a second frigate construction line.
"Today, we have two shipyards in the country capable of undertaking construction of frigate sized warships of considerable sophistication -- the Mazagon Docks on the west coast and the GRSE on the east coast."
He said the navy's ship construction and acquisition programme had gathered the requisite momentum. "Work on the indigenous aircraft carrier is well underway in the Cochin shipyard, while in the Mazagon docks, ships of projects 17 and 15-A are already at an advanced stage of construction. Work on offshore patrol vessels at Goa shipyard is also scheduled to commence in the near future," he said.
The GRSE also had a current order booking from the navy for three landing ship tanks, four fast attack crafts and four anti-submarine warfare corvettes, he said.
