Kolkata-class destroyer
INS Kolkata entering Mombasa, Kenya in September 2016
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Kolkata class |
| Builders: | Mazagon Dock Limited |
| Operators: |
 Indian Navy
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| Preceded by: | Delhi class |
| Succeeded by: | Visakhapatnam class |
| Built: | 2003 - 2015 |
| In commission: | 2014 - present |
| Planned: | 3 |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Active: | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Stealth guided missile destroyer |
| Displacement: | 7,400 t (7,300 long tons; 8,200 short tons) full load |
| Length: | 163 m (535 ft) |
| Beam: | 17.4 m (57 ft) |
| Draft: | 6.5 m (21 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | In excess of 30 knots (56 km/h) |
| Range: | 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Complement: | 40 Officers and 350 Sailors |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 2 × Sea King or HAL Dhruv helicopters |
| Aviation facilities: |
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The Kolkata class (Project 15A) are a class of stealth guided missile destroyers constructed for the Indian Navy. The class comprises three ships – Kolkata, Kochi and Chennai, all of which were built by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in India, and are the largest destroyers to be operated by the Indian Navy. Due to delays in their construction, and a problem found during the sea trials, the initial commissioning date of the first ship of the class had been pushed back from 2010 to 2014. The final ship commissioned was Chennai, in November 2016.
The destroyers are a follow-on of the Project 15 Delhi-class destroyers, but are considerably more capable due to major improvements in the design, the addition of substantial land-attack capabilities, and the fitting-out of modern sensors and weapons systems.
In 1986, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) approved a follow-on class of the earlier Project 15 Delhi-class destroyers. The aim was that the follow-on class would incorporate a higher level of air-defence, land attack, anti-submarine and anti-ship capabilities than the preceding class. However, the Indian Navy did not initially take up the option. By the year 2000, the Indian Navy had redesigned the follow-on Kolkata class to incorporate even higher levels of technology (including modern stealth characteristics) and in May of that year, approval for the construction was given. Concept and function for Project 15A was framed by the navy's Directorate of Naval Design, while the detailed design was developed by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL).
Construction of three Kolkata-class ships was sanctioned by the Government of India in May 2000, and steel for the lead ship was cut in March 2003. Construction began in September 2003 at Mazagon Docks, Mumbai, with an initial expectation that the first of the class would be handed over to the navy by 2010. However, since then the Kolkata class has suffered consecutive delays, slow construction procedures and technical problems which saw the first ship of the class enter service during mid 2014. The delays in the construction programme have been attributed to persistent design changes made by the Indian Navy to incorporate new weapons systems and sensors, failure by a Ukrainian shipyard to deliver the ship's propellers and shafts and the contract later being awarded to a Russian firm, and finally the delay in the delivery of the Barak 8 anti-air missiles, which are still in the final stages of completion with Israel Aerospace Industries and the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
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