INS ''Dhruv'' (A40) is a

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

and missile range instrumentation ship built by

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Hindustan Shipyard Limited Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) is a public sector undertaking shipyard located in Visakhapatnam, on the east coast of India. HSL is a major shipyard in India, with a capacity to manufacture vessels up to 80,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT). The s ...

(HSL). The ship was earlier only known by its shipyard designated yard number as VC-11184. The ship can gather

electronic intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

and will be used to track missile and satellites to aid India's strategic weapons and

anti-ballistic missiles 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 ...

. It will be jointly operated by

National Technical Research Organisation The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) is a technical intelligence agency of India. It was set up in 2004. The agency reports to the National Security Advisor (India), National Security Advisor and to the Prime Minister's Office (I ...

(NTRO),

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 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 development span of ships has remained largely secretive with little information in public domain. The ship reportedly started sea trials in early 2019, and entered service in October 2020 without a public commissioning ceremony. The ship was officially commissioned on 10 September 2021 at Visakhapatnam in the presence of senior officials from the Indian Navy, the DRDO and the NTRO.

Development

The purpose of the ship is to support the development of India's strategic weapons and the

Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme is an initiative to develop and deploy a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect India from ballistic missile attacks. It was launched in 1999 after the Kargil War by the Atal B ...

. The ship can also track strategic missiles and satellites. In addition, it can also gather electronic intelligence. The keel of the ship was laid on 30 June 2014 at

. It is being built under a classified and confidential programme which is directly under the control of the Prime Minister's Office and the National Security Advisor, similar to the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) programme of the Indian Navy. The ship started harbour trials in July 2018 and was expected to undergo sea trials by the end of 2018. , sea trials were ongoing. The ship was delivered to the

in October 2020 quietly meanwhile official induction expected on first half of 2021.

Design and description

The ship cost around and has been designed in India by Vik Sandvik Design India. It has a displacement of more than 10,000 tonnes, length of 175 metre, beam of 22 metre, draught of 6 metre and can attain a speed of 21 knots. It is powered by two imported 9,000 kilowatt combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) configuration engines and three 1200 kilowatt auxiliary generators. The ship will be fitted with a primary X band and a secondary S band

active electronically scanned array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled antenna array in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the a ...

(AESA) radar. In addition, it has a long open deck with ample space for installing multiple missile tracking antennas. It will have a crew complement of 300 personnel and will carry a single helicopter. The ship will also have a special team from

on board.

Commissioning

The ship was commissioned by

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

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 10 September 2021 in

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

. The ship will be jointly operated by

(NTRO),

(DRDO) and the

. INS Dhruv will be under

Strategic Forces Command The Strategic Forces Command (SFC), sometimes called Strategic Nuclear Command, forms part of India's Nuclear Command Authority (NCA). It is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear we ...

(SFC) and based in

Eastern Naval Command The Eastern Naval Command is one of the three command-level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The command is responsible for the all naval forces in the Bay of Bengal and parts of the Indian Ocea ...

of Indian Navy.

Service

INS ''Dhruv'' had its first mission deployment to support Mission Divyastra, the planned test on an

Agni-V Agni-V (Sanskrit: अग्नि; lit. Fire) is a land based nuclear MIRV-capable Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India. The missile has a range of more than ...

missile with

MIRV A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with i ...

technologies. It successfully tracked the test flight on March 11 2024. The project directors will examine the trajectory and other variables of the missile as recorded by the Indian ballistic missile tracker INS ''Dhruv'' to make any operational changes if required.

References

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