Kochi, Tuesday, September 21, 2010: The indigenously built Fast Attack Craft (FAC), ‘Kalpeni’, is expected to be commissioned in the Indian Navy in a month, Naval sources said today.

The vessel built at the Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, arrived here yesterday.

‘Kalpeni’ can be used mainly for search and rescue operations, Naval patrol duties, detection and destruction of fast moving craft and other targets, the sources at the Southern Naval Command here said. It can also be used for anti-smuggling operations.

The ship, which has four officers and 40 sailors, is fitted with 30 mm CRN 91 gun built by the Ordnance Factory, Medak along with light, medium and heavy machine guns.

Weighing 320 tonnes, the ship is 52 metre long. Kalpeni belongs to the Car Nicobar class in the FAC series and is the seventh vessel among the 10 similar ships of the same class.

(News Agency)