The mega block assembly
of the hull blocks of Ship No. 20, the Technology Demonstration Vessel (TDV)
being built for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has
begun at the Cochin Shipyard, marking a major milestone in the construction of
the ship.
S. Christopher, Chairman of DRDO, launched the
assembly. The vessel, with a length of 118.4 metres, width of 20 metres, draft
of 7.1 metres, and having a steel weight of approximately 3,900 tonnes, was
contracted in August 2015.
The vessel will have a rare capability to track
the full flight of future long-range naval missile systems. The contract for
the construction of the vessel worth Rs.365 crore was signed between the yard
and the end-user in August 2015.
The ship would have an array of secret sensors and
radars with undisclosed capability to track flight of long-range missiles
during test-firing and probably more.
“The DRDO and the Navy are in the forefront of
indigenisation of maritime systems and several new naval missiles of varying
range are being developed at the moment. Equipped with sensors, the ship will
be deployed at sea to track the full flight path of longer range missiles that
are under development,” said a top official.
Just as the DRDO is jointly developing the
long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM), also called Barak 8, with the
Israel Aerospace Industries, naval weapons development in India is set for a
huge leap with the ‘K’ series of submarine-launched missiles such as K-15 and
K-4.
To be fitted on board the Arihant-class of submarines,
the K-15, a.k.a B-05, missile is said to have a range of over 720 km while the
bigger K-4s will have an operational range of 3,500 km. Missiles with longer
ranges are also being talked about, pointed out a source.
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