INS BETWA

INS BETWA

An indigenously built naval frigate, INS Betwa (F39) was being dry docked and put through a thorough check owing to an anomaly reported in its sonar dome which lies at the very bottom of the ship. While the cause behind this incident was not clear, it was revealed that the issue was a 'minor one' which cropped up at the time of periodic checks which the ship was undergoing.

• Class                          Brahmaputra class guided missile frigate
• Displacement              3850 tons full load
• Length                         126.4 metres
• Beam                           14.5 metres
• Draught                       4.5 metres
• Propulsion                   Two Bhopal turbines with 30,000 hp, two 550 psi boilers and two shafts
• Speed                          In excess of 30 knots (60 km/h)
• Range                          4500 miles at 12 knots (20 km/h)
• Complement               440-450 (incl. 40 officers + 13 aircrew)
• processing systems      Air/Surface; 1 x Bharat RAWS-03 radar at S-band frequency using a DA08 antenna
• Armament                   16 x Kh-35 (SS-N-25 Switchblade) AShMs (4 x quadruple KT-184                                                          launchers)3 x 8 Barak SAM VLS system,1 x OTO Melera Super Rapid                                                       76mm main gun
•                                   4 x 6-barrelled 30mm AK-630 Gatling guns,6 x 324mm ILAS 3 (2 x triple tubes)                                         with Whitehead A244S anti-submarine torpedoes
• Aircraft carried           2 helicopters,2 Sea King Mk.42B or a combination of the HAL Chetak and a Sea                                      King Mk.42B