The INS Vela is the fourth submarine of the first batch of six Kalvari-class submarines for the Indian Navy. It is the country’s fourth Scorpene-class submarine, which was delivered to the Indian Navy earlier this week after more than two years of sea trials.

The latest addition to the fleet is to be commissioned on Thursday by the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh The ship will enhance the Indian Navy's capability, the Defence Ministry said.

The Vela is also the fourth submarine of Project-75 — a programme by the Indian Navy that envisaged building six Scorpene-Class attack submarines.

Features of INS Vela

It is a diesel attack submarine, which is designed to act as a sea denial as well as access denial warfare to the adversary.

It is capable of offensive operations across the entire spectrum of naval warfare including anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying and area surveillance.

It has a length of 67.5 m (221 ft), a height of 12.3 m (40 ft), an overall beam of 6.2 m (20 ft) and a draught of 5.8 m (19 ft). It can reach a top speed of 20 kn (37 km/h) when submerged and a maximum speed of 11 knots (20 km/h) when surfaced.

It is powered by four MTU 12V 396 SE84 diesel engines, has 360 battery cells (750 kg each), for power and has a silent Permanently Magnetised Propulsion Motor. The hull, fin and hydroplanes are designed for minimum underwater resistance and all equipment inside the pressure hull are mounted on shock-absorbing cradles for enhanced stealth.

Designed on the Scorpene-class, the Exocet missile-carrying submarine may be fitted with DRDO designed air-independent propulsion technology at a later stage as part of its mid-life refit.

The submarine has been slotted to join the Submarine fleet of the Western Naval Command.

Vela is the fourth Submarine of the Kalvari-class vessels in various phases of construction and induction, and has completed most of its trials and is combat-worthy and ready to take on operational tasking.

With inputs from agencies

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