Kora (Type 25A) Class

Image © Mrityunjoy MazumdarImage © Mrityunjoy MazumdarINS Karmukh fires a Kh-35 Uran anti-ship missile from a KT-184 launcher. Image © Indian NavyINS Kora sails slowly, but steadily through serene waters. Image © Indian NavyUp Close and Personal with the AK-176 76mm main gun of INS Kora. Spitting 120 rounds a minute, the gun certainly is a force to reckon with. Image © Joris Janssen LokINS Kora at Abu Dhabi's Port Zayed harbour, during the IDEX exhibition. The four quadruple tubes seen in the image are the KT-184 launchers which house the 3M-24E AShMs. Image © Joris Janssen Lok

A rough sketch of the P25A Class corvette

Vessel Type: Missile Guided Corvette.

Names & Pennant Numbers with laid down, launched & commission dates:
INS Kora P61; Laid Down - 10 Jan 1990, Launched - 23 Sep 1992, Commissioned - 10 August 1998.
INS Kirch P62; Laid Down - 31 Jan 1992, Launched - 05 Oct 1995, Commissioned - 22 January 2001.
INS Kulish P63; Laid Down - 04 Oct 1995, Launched - 19 Aug 1997, Commissioned - 20 August 2001.
INS Karmukh P64; Laid Down - 27 Aug 1997, Launched - April 2001, Commissioned - 04 February 2004.

Structure: Similar to the Type 25 Class corvette, except that the 3M-24E AShM has replaced the P-20M AShM. All these vessels have fin stabilisers and full air conditioning.

Displacement: 1350 tons full load.

Dimensions: Length - 91.1 metres.
.................Beam - 10.5 metres.
.................Draught - 4.5 metres.

Main Machinery: 2 diesel motors with 14,400 hp and 2 shafts; cp props.

Maximum Speed: 25 knots.

Maximum Range: 4000 miles at 16 knots.

Complement: 134 (incl. 14 officers) on INS Kora
..................120 (incl. 20 officers) on INS Kirch
..................119 (incl. 09 officers) on INS Kulish
..................
106 (incl. 10 officers) on INS Karmukh
*The ship's complement have been generated from press reports at the time of their commissioning.

Radar: Air; One MR 352 Pozitiv-E (NATO: Cross Dome) radar (range - 70n miles; 130 km).
.........Navigation; One Bharat 1245 radar at I-band frequency on P61.
.........................One BEL Rani radar at I-band frequency on P62.
.........IFF; One Nikhel-K (NATO: Square Head) system.
.........Fire Control; Refer to 'Weapons' sub-section.

Combat Data System: Bharat Vympel IPN-10.

Helicopter Capacity: Has a helicopter pad in the aft of the vessel, which carries the HAL Chetak. To be replaced by the  HAL Dhruv in due course.

Weapons: The Kora 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 30º, 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 Garpun-Bal (NATO: Plank Shave) fire control radar, mounted atop the bridge. This 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.

For air defence, two shoulder-launched Strela-2M (SA-N-5) SAM launchers are used. The Strela-2M has manual aiming with IR homing to 3.2n miles; 6 km at Mach 1.5 with a 1.5 kg warhead. Maximum altitude is at 2500 metres (8000 feet). Reportedly, INS Kulish is armed with two shoulder-launched Igla (SA-16) SAM launchers.

P61 is fitted with one AK-176 76mm gun with 85º elevation, 120 rounds a minute to 8n miles; 15 km and two 30mm AK-630 gatling guns with 85º elevation, 3000 rounds a minute to 2 km. The fire control is provided by two MR-123 (NATO: Bass Tilt) radar operating at H/I-band frequency. P62 and P63 both have one 76mm Otobreda Super Rapid gun, in an elevated gun mount, with a firing rate of 120 rds/minute and two 30mm AK-630 gatling guns with 85º elevation, 3000 rds/minute to 2 km. Fire control is provided by the Lynx GFCS which controls both the 76mm Otobreda and the two AK-630 gun mounts. The Russian Oventus EO system is also used for fire control.

Countermeasures: One Bharat Ajanta P Mk.II intercept is used in the ESM (Electronic Support Measures) role. Four PK-10 chaff launchers and two NPOL (Naval Physical & Ocenographic Laboratory) designed towed torpedos are used for decoy purposes.

Comments: These vessels were intended to replace the ageing Petya II Class corvettes. The first two were ordered in April 1990 and latter two in October 1994. The Type 25A vessels were to be fitted with the indigenous Trishul SAM, marking the entry of the missile into naval service. However these vessels have no evidence of the missile on board and instead use shoulder-launched SAMs. INS Kirch was laid down in 1992 at GRSE and then towed to Mazagon Docks in 1996. She cost the exchequer approximately 240 crores.