INS ''Anvesh'' (

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

: अन्वेष; lit. ''Search''), is a

missile range instrumentation ship A tracking ship, also called a missile range instrumentation ship or range ship, is a ship equipped with antennas and electronics to support the launching and tracking of missiles and rockets. Since many missile ranges launch over ocean areas for ...

(also termed as a ''Floating Test Range'' (FTR)) built for the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

. The ship is a project of the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, head ...

(DRDO) and built by

Cochin Shipyard Limited Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) is the largest shipbuilding and maintenance facility in India. Cochin Shipyard is part of a line of maritime-related facilities in the port-city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. The shipyard builds platform sup ...

(CSL). The ship was conceived to serve as a sea-based platform for India's ballistic missile defence program and consists of 4 Ship Launch System (SLS) VLS for the same purpose. The Phase II of the BMD envisages intercepting and destroying enemy missile up to range of 5,000 kilometers by

kinetic force In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the form of energy that it possesses due to its motion. In classical mechanics, the kinetic energy of a non-rotating object of mass ''m'' traveling at a speed ''v'' is \fracmv^2.Resnick, Robert ...

with the FTR allowing live testing of the

interdictor An interdictor is a type of attack aircraft or tactical bomber that operates far behind enemy lines, with the express intent of air interdiction of the enemy's military targets, most notably those involved in logistics. Interdiction Inter ...

missiles and not computer simulations.

Design

INS ''Anvesh'' was designed b
Vik-Sandvik Design India Pvt Ltd
("VSDI"). It has a length of 118.4 m, 20 m width and 7.1 m draft and having a steel weight of approximately 3,900 tons. The ship incorporates

LRDE Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) is a laboratory of the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), India. Located in C.V. Raman Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka, its primary function is research and development of ra ...

Long-Range Multi Function Radar (LRMFR) which will be used by Indian naval ships in future as Fire control radars for Ballistic Missile Defence. The 6 metre Active

Antenna Array An antenna array (or array antenna) is a set of multiple connected antenna (radio), antennas which work together as a single antenna, to transmit or receive radio waves. The individual antennas (called ''elements'') are usually connected to a s ...

Unit (AAAU) for the radar was built b
Astra Microwave Products Ltd.
the first of which would be delivered in latter half of 2023. The LRMFR is an S-band radar system which is intended to replace the

EL/M-2248 MF-STAR The EL/M-2248 MF-STAR is a GaN based multifunction active electronically scanned array naval radar system developed by IAI Elta for maritime installation on warships. It is capable of tracking both air and surface targets and providing fire co ...

radar used by the Indian Navy as the primary naval radar of the next generation of naval ships. The functions of LRMFR includes acting as

Fire Control Radar A fire-control radar (FCR) is a radar that is designed specifically to provide information (mainly target azimuth, elevation, range and range rate) to a fire-control system in order to direct weapons such that they hit a target. They are sometim ...

(FCR) for

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

systems onboard ships and to track

ballistic missiles A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typica ...

. The vessel equipped with

electro-optical Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propaga ...

missile tracking,

S-band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the convention ...

radar tracking, telemetry devices apart from a launch pad, control and mission control center, for testing its Phase II of

Ballistic Missile Defence An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to destroy in-flight ballistic missiles. They achieve this explosively (chemical or nuclear), or via hit-to-kill kinetic vehicles, which may also have self-maneuvering. Tact ...

(BMD) interceptor missiles. The Phase II of the BMD envisages intercepting and destroying enemy missile up to range of 5,000 kilometers by kinetic force with the FTR allowing live testing of the

missiles and not computer simulations. The missile launch system consists of 4 Ship Launching Systems (SLS) in the aft section which rests at 0° when not in used but the alignment is changed to 90° during test launches. The SLS was developed by Electropneumatics & Hydraulics Pvt Ltd. The ship has other specialised systems like damping tanks, missile integration and checkout bay, data processing room and mission control center. It is also equipped with a 15 ton crane and A-frame for cargo handling in the aft section. It is also designed to test radars, sonars, telemetry equipment and propulsion. The configuration of the installed power generation is Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP). The output is 14 MW which is produced by diesel generators powering steerable contra-rotating propulsion thrusters.

Construction

The construction of the then-DRDO Technology Demonstration Vessel was awarded to the

(CSL) by the

DRDO The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, headqu ...

, India's premier agency for R&D in defence, in August 2015. The original contract for the construction of the vessel was with

Bharati Shipyard Bharati Defence and Infrastructure Limited (formerly Bharati Shipyard Limited) is one of the largest shipbuilding companies in India. History Bharati Shipyard Limited (BSL) was founded in 1973 in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra by Prakash C. Kapoor and ...

, but time overruns forced by the yard's poor finances led to termination of the contract. Subsequently, the Cochin Shipyard won the bid to execute this project. Steel plate cutting of the vessel was started on 10 August 2016. Dr. S Christopher, chairman, DRDO and Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, launched the mega block assembly of hull blocks of the ship (Ship No. 20) on 27 January 2016 at CSL. The ceremonial event of commencement of Mega Block Assembly of hull blocks of Ship No. 20, the Technology Demonstration Vessel, being built for the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Government of India was held on 27 January 2017 at CSL. It was reported that the ship will commence the sea trial in September 2021 and will be commissioned by the end of 2021.

Commissioning

The ship had been quietly commissioned by National Security Advisor

Ajit Doval Ajit Kumar Doval, Kirti Chakra, KC (born 20 January 1945) is an Indian bureaucrat and spymaster, who is currently serving as the National Security Advisor of India since 2014. A retired Indian Police Service officer of the Kerala cadre, he had p ...

on 11 March 2022. A photo of the commissioning ceremony has been made public for the first time in the Indian Navy Song 2022: 'Hum Taiyyar hain'.

Service history

The first missile test onboard INS Anvesh was carried out on 21 April 2023 off the

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

coast. The missile tested was an Advanced Air Defence (AAD) or ''Ashwin'' Ballistic Missile Interceptor. The missile included India in the list of countries who have developed naval

BMD BMD may refer to: Organisations *Bangladesh Meteorological Department * BMD Group, an Australian civil engineering company * Botswana Movement for Democracy, a minor right-wing populist opposition party in Botswana * Civil registration or General ...

systems.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anvesh (A41) Missile range instrumentation ships Maritime vessels related to spaceflight Research vessels Research vessels of India Rockets and missiles Signals intelligence Defence Research and Development Organisation

Design

Construction

Commissioning

Service history

See also

References