The steel cutting ceremony was carried out by Commodore V Ganapthy, Warship Production Superintendent of the Indian Navy. These are the 4th and 5th in a series of 8 vessels.
GRSE already proceeded to a steel cutting ceremony earlier this year – on July 14, 2021 for two other ASWSWC ships.
For the record, an RFP was issued by the Indian Navy to Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU) shipyards and Indian Private Shipyards in April 2014. Later, contracts for sixteen Anti Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft ships have been signed in 2019 with Cochin shipyard and GRSE, charged to build eight ships each with a delivery rate of two ships per year. The future ships will replace the Abhay-class corvettes in service since the 1980s with the Indian Navy.
According to a GRSE statement, the ASWSWCs will have a displacement of 750 tons, a maximum speed of 25 knots and will complement a crew of 57. The vessels will be capable of “full scale sub surface surveillance of coastal waters, SAU and Coordinated ASW operations with aircraft. In addition, the vessels shall have the capability to interdict/destroy sub surface targets in coastal waters”. They will also be capable to perform search and rescue operations, as well as aircraft monitoring and minelaying.
