‘INS Imphal’, India’s first warship named after a northeast city, to be commissioned on December 26

NEW DELHI: A move that will add teeth to India’s naval fleet,

Indian Navy

is all set to commission its latest stealth-guided missile destroyer ‘

INS Imphal

’ at the naval dockyard in Mumbai on Tuesday in the presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh.
INS Imphal is the first warship to have been named after a city from the northeast. The commissioning of Imphal, thus, underscores the salience and contribution of the city of Imphal, the state of Manipur and the larger northeastern region to national security, sovereignty and prosperity.

This is a befitting tribute to Manipur’s sacrifices and contributions in India’s freedom struggle, the defence ministry said. Upon commissioning, INS Imphal will join the Western Naval Command.

Currently, the Indian Navy operates 132 warships, including 11 guided missile destroyers from three different classes — Kolkata Class, Delhi Class, and Rajput Class. At least 67 ships are under construction of which 65 are in Indian shipyards. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar has recently said, “We are looking at 170-175 ships (in our naval fleet) by 2035.”

INS Imphal was delivered to the Navy on October 20 after completing a rigorous and comprehensive trial programme both in the harbour and at sea. Subsequently, the ship successfully test-fired the extended-range supersonic BrahMos missile in November 2023, a first for any indigenous warship before commissioning, thus demonstrating the Navy’s thrust on combat effectiveness and confidence in its cutting-edge indigenous weapons and platforms.

INS Imphal is a state-of-the-art warship, designed by the Indian Navy’s Warship Design Bureau and built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, with significant contributions from the public and private sectors, including MSMEs, and the DRDO. INS Imphal is the third ship of the Visakhapatnam-class stealth guided missile destroyer. Project 15B (Visakhapatnam class) is the latest in the lineage of Project 15A (Kolkata class) and Project 15 (Delhi class) indigenous destroyers with upgraded capabilities and greater indigenous content.
Measuring 163 metres in length, displacing 7,400 tonnes and with 75% indigenous content, Imphal can rightfully be regarded as one of the most potent warships to have been constructed in India and is a testament to India’s growing shipbuilding prowess in pursuit of the national vision of ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’.

INS Imphal is packed with sophisticated ‘state of the art’ weapons and sensors such as surface-to-surface missile and surface-to-air missiles. The ship’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities are provided by the indigenously developed rocket launchers, torpedo launchers and anti-submarine warfare helicopters. It is equipped to fight under nuclear, biological and chemical warfare conditions and has a high degree of automation and stealth features.
The time taken to build INS Imphal and for her trials is the shortest for any indigenous destroyer.

Imphal

’s keel was laid on May 19, 2017 and the ship was launched into water on April 20, 2019.