Yard 12706 (Imphal): Third Stealth Destroyer of Project 15B delivered to the Indian Navy

Yard 12706 (Imphal), the third Stealth Destroyer of Project 15B Class Guided Missile Destroyer build at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) was delivered to the Indian Navy(IN).

• The ship was designed by the Indian Navy’s Warship Design Bureau (WDB).

Key People:

The acceptance document was signed by Sanjeev Singhal, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of MDL and Rear Admiral Sanjay Sadhu, Chief Staff Officer(CSO) (Technical) Western Naval Command (WNC).

• The document was signed in the presence of Commanding Officer (Designate) Captain K K Choudhury, MDL Directors, Warship Overseeing Team, Mumbai(WOT – MB) and Navy personnel.

About Yard 12706 (Imphal):

i.The  INS Imphal’s keel was laid on 19 May, 2017 and it was launched into water on 20 April, 2019. The time taken for Imphal’s construction and testing is the shortest for any indigenous destroyer.

ii.Imphal, constructed using Indigenous Steel DMR 249A, is one of the largest Destroyers constructed in India, with an overall length of 164 meters and displacement of over 7500 Tons.

iii.Imphal has approximately 75% indigenous content.

Arms:

i.The ship is armed with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors

• ‘Barak-8’ Medium Range Surface to Air Missiles
• Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missiles supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited(BEL), Bengaluru, Karnataka
• BrahMos Surface-to-Surface Missiles by BrahMos Aerospace, New Delhi, Delhi
• Indigenous Torpedo Tube Launchers by Larsen & Toubro(L&T), Mumbai Maharashta,
• Anti-Submarine Indigenous Rocket Launchers by L&T
• 76mm Super Rapid Gun Mount Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited(BHEL), Haridwar, Uttarakhand.

ii.It is also fitted with indigenously developed anti-submarine weapons and sensors, including the hull-mounted sonar Humsa NG, heavyweight torpedo tube launchers, and ASW rocket launchers.

Note: Among the P15B ships, Imphal is the first ship to be fitted with upgraded Brahmos missiles having dual role capability of Long Range and Land Attack.

• It is capable of achieving speeds in excess of 30 knots (56 km/h).

Automation:

The ship is highly automated, along with digital networks such as the

• Gigabyte Ethernet-based Ship Data Network (GESDN)
• Combat Management System (CMS)
• Automatic Power Management System (APMS) 
• Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS)

Project 15B:

i.The contract for four ships of Project 15B was signed on January 28, 2011, a follow-on of the Kolkata class (Project 15A) destroyers.

• All these ships are being built at MDL.

ii.With an indigenous content of 72%, the P15B Class Destroyers surpass their predecessors, the P15A (59%) and P15 (42%) Class Destroyers

iii.The four ships of the Project are named after major cities from all four corners of the country, such as Visakhapatnam(Andra Pradesh), Mormugao(Goa), Imphal(Manipur) and Surat(Gujarat).

Recent Related News:

On 10th July 2023, Spain’s shipbuilder Navantia and engineering major Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), India signed an ‘Teaming Agreement'(TA) in Delhi to jointly bid for a Rs. 43,000-crore (4.8 billion euros) project to build 6 advanced diesel-electric submarines for the Indian Navy.

About Indian Navy: 
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS)– Admiral Radhakrishnan Hari Kumar
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
Founded– January 26, 1950