Images of India’s next-generation destroyer, the P-18, have been leaked online. The images reveal a sleek, modern design with a powerful weapons suite. The P-18 is expected to be equipped with a variety of anti-ship, anti-aircraft, and anti-submarine missiles, as well as a powerful gun and torpedo armament. The destroyer is also expected to be equipped with a sophisticated radar and electronic warfare suite. The P-18 is a major step forward for the Indian Navy, and it will give the navy a significant edge in the region.

The Indian Navy released a video showing a yet not officially confirmed design that caused a lot of buzz in the Indian Twitter scene as it is most probably the successor to the current in production INS Vishakhapatnam class destroyer also known as P-15B. This rumored design has been designated P-18 per speculation and the video below just gave us a face for the name.

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Here are some interesting screenshots.

Boy, she is a big ship and here are my quick notes on what is fairly obvious about her.

• She is BIG! By Indian destroyer/ frigate standards, she could be well over 11,000-12,000 tonnes.
• She has atleast 72 VLS cells on her bow and 48 amidships for a total of 120 cells which is massive compared to total 48 cells on INS Kolkata and INS Vishakhapatnam class destroyers.
• The radar looks like an MF-STAR but massively on steroids.
• The aft mast is devoid of any secondary radar, another departure from the Delhi lineage both Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam follow.
• India is planning to order upto 10 NGD + NGF (Frigate), hope they build on this class and field it in numbers.
• One Burke-esque 5in gun on the bow, two smaller possibly 75mm guns amidships.
• Torpedo launchers aft of the main radar mast.
• Enclosed RHIB storage.

To be honest, I am hyped for this. The Americans and the South Koreans have their big VLS destroyers, needed for BMD and offensive capabilities. Japan has just confirmed that it is building a few 20,000 tonne destroyers for its own navy. Now India has all but confirmed about going big with her future ships. All this to confirm that the Chinese Type 055s wont be unmatched in its vicinity.