The Visakhapatnam-class (Project 15B) are guided-missile destroyers built for the Indian Navy by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, an evolutionary upgrade of the preceding Kolkata-class with improved stealth shaping, higher automation, and greater indigenous content. Four ships were built — INS Visakhapatnam, INS Mormugao, INS Imphal, and INS Surat — with the class completed when Surat, the final ship, was commissioned on 15 January 2025.[1]
Project 15B was sanctioned as a follow-on to the Kolkata-class, retaining a broadly similar hull form to reduce design risk while incorporating lessons learned from the earlier class’s protracted construction timeline. The Navy and MDL used the P-15B programme to demonstrate faster, more predictable delivery than Project 15A had achieved, with INS Visakhapatnam commissioning roughly six years after being laid down, and the class’s fourth and final ship following within about a decade of the lead ship’s launch.[2]
INS Visakhapatnam was commissioned on 21 November 2021, followed by INS Mormugao (laid down 2015) in 2022, INS Imphal in December 2023, and INS Surat — the final ship of the class — on 15 January 2025, completing the four-ship programme.[1] The staggered but comparatively steady delivery schedule across four ships was viewed within the Navy as evidence of maturing indigenous warship-building capability at MDL.
An estimated 72 percent of the Visakhapatnam-class’s components are indigenously sourced, a marked increase over the roughly 59 percent achieved on the Kolkata-class and just 42 percent on the older Delhi-class, with some key systems exceeding 75 percent indigenous content.[3] This progression across three successive destroyer classes is frequently cited by the Navy and Ministry of Defence as a benchmark of India’s growing self-reliance in complex warship systems.
The class incorporates more advanced stealth shaping than the Kolkata-class, with further reductions in radar cross-section through revised superstructure angles and internal weapon stowage, alongside a significantly higher degree of automation intended to reduce crew workload and manning requirements.[4] The ships displace approximately 7,400 tonnes at full load and carry a complement of around 300 personnel, including about 50 officers — a lean crew relative to the ship’s size and weapons fit, reflecting the automation improvements.[5]
Visakhapatnam-class ships are equipped with the IAI EL/M-2248 MF-STAR S-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) multi-function radar, a Thales LW-08 D-band long-range air-search radar, and the indigenous BEL HUMSA-NG bow-mounted sonar for anti-submarine detection, all integrated through an indigenous combat management system.[4]
The class carries sixteen BrahMos supersonic anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles capable of speeds up to Mach 3, complemented by a medium-range surface-to-air missile system (Barak-8/MRSAM) in vertical launch cells for area air defence, a 76mm super-rapid gun mount for surface and air engagements, indigenous torpedo tube launchers, and anti-submarine rocket launchers for close-in underwater threats.[1]
Like the Kolkata-class, the Visakhapatnam-class uses a combined gas-and-gas propulsion arrangement delivering speeds in excess of 30 knots, giving the roughly 7,400-tonne destroyers the range and endurance needed for sustained blue-water operations across the Indian Ocean Region.[5]
As the Navy’s newest and most capable indigenous destroyers, the four Visakhapatnam-class ships serve as principal air-defence escorts for India’s carrier battle groups and as independent strike platforms in their own right, given their heavy BrahMos armament. All four ships are distributed across the Eastern and Western fleets to provide balanced destroyer coverage on both seaboards.[2]
While retaining a similar hull and overall weapons fit to the Kolkata-class, the Visakhapatnam-class represents a refinement rather than a wholesale redesign — improving indigenous content, automation, and stealth incrementally while avoiding the systems-integration risks that caused years of delay on Project 15A. Analysts have described the P-15A/P-15B pairing as a case study in iterative indigenous warship development, each class building on the lessons of its predecessor.[2]
With Project 15B now complete, the Navy’s next-generation destroyer requirement is expected to be met by the under-development Project 18 class, envisioned as a larger, more capable successor incorporating further stealth, automation, and potentially all-electric propulsion, drawing on the design and construction experience accumulated across the Delhi, Kolkata, and Visakhapatnam classes.[2]
| Type | Guided-Missile Destroyer |
| Displacement | ~7,400 tonnes (full load) |
| Crew | ~300 (incl. ~50 officers) |
| Speed | 30+ knots |
| Indigenous Content | ~72% (by component) |
| Strike Armament | 16 × BrahMos cruise missiles |
| Air Defence | Barak-8/MRSAM VLS |
| Radar | EL/M-2248 MF-STAR, Thales LW-08 |
| Ships | Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal, Surat |
| Builder | Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited |