Brahmaputra - class frigate The " Brahmaputra " class frigates ( " Type 16A " or " Project 16A " ) are guided - missile frigate s of the Indian Navy , designed and built in India . They are an enhancement of the " Godavari " class , with a displacement of 3850 tons and a length of 126 metres . Although of similar hull and dimension , internally , the " Brahmaputra " and " Godavari " classes have different configurations , armaments and capabilities . 3 ships of this class serve in the Indian Navy . The class and the lead ship , INS " Brahmaputra " , are named after the River Brahmaputra . Subsequent ships of the class , INS " Betwa " and INS " Beas " are also named for Indian rivers . History . In 1986 , the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs ( CCPA ) decided to diversify India ' s warship building capability , and start an alternate production line to the Godavari class frigate s that were built at Mazagon Dock Limited ( MDL ) in Bombay . 3 additional Godavari class frigate s were to be built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers ( GRSE ) in Calcutta . After a transfer of technology from MDL to GRSE , production was to start in 1988 , with deliveries between 1993 and 1996 . However , as the production was about to commence , the Indian Navy ' s requirements were revised , which led to frequent changes in the design . The re - designed ship , christened Project 16A , had its General Arrangement Drawings finalized only in Sep 1994 . Design . The basic design of the ship was proposed by Indian Navy ' s Directorate of Naval Design . The detailed design development was undertaken by GRSE . The ships were originally designed to be fitted with the Trishul SAM , but in 2001 , the decision was made to deploy the Barak SAM . The ship is propelled by 2 BHEL " Bhopal " 15000 BHP steam turbines . Times of India reported on 7 September 2005 , that INS Betwa became the first Indian warship to successfully integrate indigenous combat data systems , with a wide variety of foreign / Indian weapons and sensors on board . While INS Brahmaputra was the first warship to be equipped with the BEL combat data systems , it is INS Betwa that has validated the indigenous technology platform . Captain C S Murthy , CO of INS Betwa , stated that the integrated systems have been successfully tested to an extreme . The anti - submarine warfare officer of INS Betwa , Lieutenant Commander Sharad Parti , stated , " The EMMCA system gives commanders on the ship a consolidated tactical picture . It adds to the ship ' s maritime combat power . " Commodore R P S Ravi , Director of the Maritime Warfare Centre in Mumbai , stated that it was a significant achievement for the Navy that indigenous data systems would be used for target evaluation , weapon selection and target engagement . Construction . The construction of these vessels at GRSE was slowed down due to a combination of design changes , labor problems , delays in equipment availability and integration problems with the Trishul SAM . This caused severe delays to the commissioning date of INS Brahmaputra . The vessel was laid down in 1989 as a part of the Godavari Class . After the new design for Project 16A was finalized in Sep 1994 , the ship was finally commissioned on 14 April 2000 . Armaments . The vessels are designed for a crew of 350 ( including 40 officers + 13 aircrew ) . The vessels feature a Bharat RAWS - 03 S - band radar using a DA08 antenna for air / surface search . The air search radar is a Bharat / Signaal RAWL - 02 ( PLN 517 ) D - band radar using a LW08 antenna . They use a One Decca Bridgemaster , BEL Rashmi ( PIN 524 ) I - band radar with a ZW06 antenna for navigation . The ships are provided with a Bharat HUMSA ( Hull Mounted Sonar Array ) , a medium - frequency , active panoramic search and attack sonar . They also use a Thales ( Thomson Marconi Sonar ) Sintra towed array sonar . The Brahmaputra class is armed with sixteen 3M - 24E ( Kh - 35 Uran or NATO : SS - N - 25 Switchblade ) AShMs , housed in four quadruple KT - 184 launchers , angled at 30° , two on either side of the bridge superstructure . Equivalent to the Harpoon Block 1C AShM , these missiles have active radar homing ( ARH ) out to a range of 130 km at 0 . 9 Mach , with a 145 kg warhead . All 16 Urans can be ripple - fired in 2 - 3 second intervals . Fire control is provided by a BEL Aparna ( modified Garpun - Bal FC , NATO : Plank Shave ) radar . The Garpun - Bal FC radar combines active and passive channels and in the active target designation mode , it operates in X - band ( I / J - band ) and can handle up to 150 targets at ranges between 35 – 45 km , although it is possible to obtain ranges of more than 180 km in wave - guide propagation conditions . The passive channel operates in the ESM mode searching for pulse and CW signals , and accurately identifying the bearing of hostile emitters from a built - in classification library of up to 1 , 000 signatures . The maximum range of the passive channel is over 100 km depending on the frequency . The shoulder - held Igla - M ( SA - N - 10 ) SAM launcher was used as a stop - gap measure aboard INS Brahmaputra at launch , until the ship was retro - fitted with the Israeli Barak SAM system , with fire control provided by an EL / M - 2221 STGR radar . INS Betwa and INS Beas were commisssioned with these systems deployed . One OTO Melera Super Rapid 76mm main gun , for use against ship and shore targets , with 65 rds / min to 4 . 4n miles ; 8 km . Four multi - barrelled 30mm AK - 630 Gatling guns on either beam , to shoot down incoming anti - ship missiles , with 5500 to 6000 rds / min to 2 . 5 km . Fire control for these five gun mounts are provided by two BEL Shikari ( based on the Contraves Seaguard ) opto - electronic trackers that operate in the I - and Ka - bands . Either of the Shikari trackers can control all five gun mounts or any combination thereof . Good minimum ranges , for the 76mm gun , have been largely achieved by advanced software . Six 324mm ILAS 3 ( 2 triple ) tubes with Whitehead A244S anti - submarine torpedoes , with active / passive homing to 3 . 8n miles ; 7 km at 33 knots with a 34 kg shaped charged warhead . Can also fire the AET anti - submarine torpedo , a locally produced version of the A244S . The weapons - control radar is a BEL Shikari , BEL Aparna , RAN and RAWS - 03 . A BEL Ajanta Mk . 2C is used as the EW ( Electronic Warfare ) suite . A media report , dated 5 May 2007 , stated that the ELLORA Electronic Support Measures ( ESM ) system is fitted aboard INS Beas and the other two vessels in the class will also feature this ESM system . The ELLORA is an indigenous development by the Defence Electronics Research Laboratory ( DLRL ) . The vessels are also fitted with two chaff / flare launchers , featuring long and medium range deceiver chaff . Features two Graesby G738 Towed Torpedo Decoy systems or the indigenously developed BEL Towed Torpedo Decoy . The ' Super Barricade ' chaff launcher is also installed . Vessels feature BEL ' s EMCCA ( Electronic Modular Command & Control Applications ) Action Information Organisation ( AIO ) system with 10 multi - function consoles using Barco MPRD 9651 display linked with a LAN ( Large Area Network ) . The system is capable of C3I and threat analysis and all tactical data can be integrated onto one display if necessary . The EMCCA system is an intra - naval AIO package made by Bharat Electronics Ltd . The vessels also feature an Indian - developed data link and Inmarsat communications ( JRC ) . These frigates can operate in all environments , including those contaminated by nuclear , chemical or biological fallouts . Depending on operation requirements , two Sea King Mk . 42B anti - ship and anti - submarine helicopters can be embarked or a combination of the HAL Chetak and a Sea King Mk . 42B is usually embarked . The latter is equipped with a surface search radar , dunking sonar and can carry two Sea Eagle AShMs or a combination of depth charges and AS - 244 anti - submarine torpedoes . The Sea King Mk . 42B helicopter can fly 400 km around the vessel and is equipped with a data link to download target data to the combat information centre , based on the indigenous Bharat Shikari ( Hunter ) combat data system , in the operations room . Bharat Shikari is a derivative of the Italian IPN series of combat data systems , but integrating Western , Russian and Indian weapons and sensor systems .