INS 'Delhi' arrives at Colombo port in Sri Lanka to promote cooperation between navies

Indian Navy’s INS Delhi the first indigenously designed and built guided missile destroyer arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It came to Colombo on 1st September 2023 and the ship is on a two-day visit that coincides with the visit of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh to Sri Lanka.

INS Delhi is the lead ship of her class of guided missile destroyers. It was built at Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai and commissioned into the navy on 15th November 1997 and this class is amongst the largest warships to be designed and built in India. In 2009, this ship led the Indian Navy task force to deployment in Europe, and during this deployment, the task force participated with the Royal and French Navy in an exercise Konkan-09 with the Royal Navy off the coast of the UK and Exercise Varuna -09 with the French navy off the coast of France.

Indian Navy’s ship INS Delhi visit to Sri lanka

Indian naval ship INS Delhi is on a visit to Sri Lanka and arrived in Colombo. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to host the Hon'ble President of Sri Lanka Mr Ranil Wickremsinghe along with prominent dignitaries onboard INS Delhi on 02nd September, 2023. As part of India’s ‘Arogya Maitri’ initiative to provide quality medical supplies to friendly countries, the defence minister will hand over state-of-the-art medical bricks that have been indigenously developed under project BHISHM onboard INS Delhi.

The visit of the ship aims to strengthen navy-to-navy ties to bolster bridges of friendship between India and Sri Lanka. The crew of INS Delhi would be closely interacting with the personnel of the Sri Lankan Navy, both through professional engagements to enhance interoperability and by creating environmental and health awareness through a beach clean-up drive and a yoga session. This ship also remains open to school children and other local visitors.

At the IPKF memorial, the Indian contingent would also place a wreath in honour of the martyrs. INS Delhi was launched in November 1997, and Captain Abhishek Kumar is currently in charge. This spacecraft has recently received an upgrade and contains the most modern armaments and sensors. This makes it a formidable platform that is capable of undertaking all facets of maritime operations on land, sea and air.

Training exercises are scheduled to be held onboard involving personnel from both the navies. During its three-day stay, the crew will participate in several programmes organised by the Sri Lankan Navy, to promote cooperation and goodwill between two navies. The crew are expected to visit some of the tourist attractions across the country and will also be opened for school children and local visitors.

It also includes several weapons and sensors. In 2020 it was going under maintenance and upgrades. The KH-35E Uran missiles will be replaced by Brahmos missiles. The Shtil-1 air defence system will replace the 9K-90 Uragan with Fregat M2EM Radar replacing the Fregat MAE and electronics warfare systems will be upgraded to Elora MkII with Kavach Decoy launchers.