India then had thirteen destroyers in service and a proposal for ten to twelve Project 18 ships. At roughly 13,000 tons and 144 vertical-launch cells, the design would be far larger and more heavily armed than the Project 15 lineage. Future air-defence and strike requirements can therefore produce cruiser-scale ships that navies still classify as destroyers. Construction had not begun, so the figures describe an evolving proposal rather than settled in-service capability.
Notable Point · 13:10-14:21
Project 18 reaches cruiser scale
India's planned Project 18 destroyers illustrate how modern missile capacity is pushing the destroyer label toward cruiser-scale ships.