INS Dhruv, India's first nuclear-missile tracking ship, has launched today. For the first time in India's history, the vessel has the ability to track nuclear missiles at a long distance. In case of missile attacks from Pakistan and China, INS Dhruv will provide early warning. VC-11184 is the code designation of the satellite and ballistic missile tracking ship.

It has a length of 175 metres, beam of 22 metres, draught of six metres and can attain a speed of 21 knots. It is powered by two imported 9,000 kilowatts combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) configuration engines and three 1200 kilowatt auxiliary generators.

The 10,000 tonnes vessel is known to play a key role in advancing India's presence in the Indo-Pacific region, the daily added. The ship, built by the Hindustan Shipyard in collaboration with the DRDO and NTRO, is commissioned from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The INS Dhruv is equipped with the DRDO developed state-of-the-art active scanned array radar or AESA that can scan monitor spy satellites watching over India as well as monitor missile tests in the entire region.  In addition, data from the ocean beds can be used for research and to find enemy submarines. A spy satellite will also be detected by the INS Dhruv in the seas. This has given Indian Navy the power to keep a close eye on the entire region, from the Gulf of Aden to the South China Sea via Malacca, Sunda, Lombok, Ombai, and Wetar straits.

INS Dhruv will also help in monitoring the flight trajectories and telemetry data of the Agni land-based missiles and 'K' series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles launched by India during trials.

Given that China has moved to sea-based military doctrine with huge investments in long-range aircraft carriers, warships and submarines, the latest Indian ship will help India’s electronic intelligence-gathering spy agency, the NTRO, to project threat to India in real-time.

Due to China's and Pakistan's nuclear ballistic capabilities and land disputes with India, the INS Dhruv promises the Indian Navy to strategize its military operations across all three dimensions of naval warfare - subsurface, surface, and aerial. As a result of the introduction of the Dhruv vessel, India has joined the elite list of countries, which currently includes France, the US, the UK, Russia, and China that possess and operate such ships.

Image source- firstpost