Responding to a starred question raised in the recently concluded session of the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister A.K. Antony provided a comprehensive overview of the indigenous warship building projects. He stated that the indigenous aircraft carrier, formerly known as air defence ship, under construction at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), is scheduled to be launched by December this year, as 75 per cent of hull work has been completed. Additional work on outfitting, installation, setting to work, testing-tuning, etc of systems and equipment would be progressed post-launching, and the ship is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2013.

Commenting upon the availability of indigenous substitutes, he said, now Indianmanufactured superior grades of warship quality steel conforming to stringent specifications is available within the country, which will reduce our dependence on foreign countries. He further added that with the increasing infrastructure, skill-sets and experience, indigenous aircraft carrier sized ships can be built at CSL.

Giving an overview of the warship building projects, he said that the major indigenous warship building projects of the Navy running behind schedule are; Project-15A, Project-17 and Project-28. The cost escalation in these projects has been about 225 per cent for Project-15A, about 260 per cent for Project-17 and about 157 per cent for Project-28.

The main reasons contributing towards cost escalations of P-15A are delay in supply of warship building quality steel by Russia, escalation due to increase in expenditure towards services of Russian Specialists on account of inflation during the build period, impact of wage revision due from October 2003 and finalisation of cost of weapons and sensors.

The main reasons contributing to cost escalations for P-17 are delay in supply of quality steel for warship-building by Russia; delay in acquisition of weapon equipment from Russia; and delay in finalisation of propulsion equipment in view of complex combined diesel and gas (CODAG) arrangements introduced for the first time in the stealth frigates. In addition, air-conditioning system for this project was procured from York Marine Systems, UK, which has been functioning satisfactorily on the first two ships of P-17. However, in case of Project-28, it was tendered on competitive basis and the order was placed on York India Ltd.

For P-28, Navy was using D40S/B-quality high tensile strength steel for construction of warships. However, due to high cost of import, indigenously developed DMR 249A steel was decided to be used on P-28 ships. There was however delay in the development of indigenous steel and associated complexities related to development of new weld consumables and welding techniques. The delay in identification of suitable propulsion package to meet the stealth requirement of ships and delay in development of indigenous weapons and sensors also resulted in cost escalation.

He informed the Lok Sabha that ‘acceptance of necessity’ for acquisition of six submarines under Project-75(I) has been accorded by the Defence Acquisitions Council. The proposal is being progressed. Cost details would be available on finalisation of contracts.

On the refit and modernisation works on board INS Vikramaditya (former Admiral Gorshkov), he said that the works are progressing in an earnest manner. Consequent to signing of supplementary agreements in March 2010, the Russian side has increased the pace of work, manpower and material resources considerably for the project. A majority of the equipment and systems have been installed onboard the ship. The delivery of the ship is scheduled in December 2012.

Setting the ball rolling for creation of infrastructure for new generation vessels, the Defence Minister formally commissioned the first and second phases of Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) Infrastructural Modernisation Project on May 21, 2011. The commissioning of the GSL’s ambitious infrastructural modernisation project at the cost of Rs. 400 crore (approx $89 million) will enhance its infrastructure by adding two repair berths, transfer area and ship-lift piers in addition to the ship-lift facility.

Ship-lift system, the first of its kind in defence shipbuilding yards in the country, was inaugurated by the Defence Minister, while laying the foundation stone for the third and fourth phases of GSL’s modernisation project. The commissioning of the ship-lift facility is synchronised with the launching of the third in the series of naval offshore patrol vessels indigenously designed and being built by GSL for the Indian Navy.

This planned modernisation programme of GSL is aimed at creating new facilities and infrastructure while augmenting the existing facilities in order to achieve the qualitative and quantitative objectives of building and delivering quality ships at competitive cost with shorter construction periods, increased capacity, product mix and shortened delivery times. The modernisation plan at the cost of Rs. 800 crore ($178 million), aims at creating capacity at the GSL for production of cutting-edge technology warships. The modernisation programme once fully completed will result in a substantial augmentation of GSL’s capacity to fabricate/construct steel, aluminium and glass reinforced polyester hull vessels to nearly three times the existing capacity.

Landing Craft Utility for the Indian Navy

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) will be building eight specialised assault vessels called landing craft utility (LCU) for the Indian Navy. The Cabinet Committee on Security has cleared the proposal for acquisition of eight LCUs for around Rs. 2,300 crore ($511 million). The first LCU is expected to be delivered in three years. The LCUs will enable easier transportation of troops and heavy weapon systems over long distances. The new LCUs will replace the existing fleet of six amphibious boats already in service and will be based at the country’s only Tri-service theatre command, the Andaman and Nicobar Command.

The government is also understood to have finalised the acquisition of four amphibious warfare ships called landing platform docks for around Rs. 16,891 crore ($3.75 billion). These will be built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Visakhapatnam, which was acquired by the Ministry of Defence last year, as the fourth defence shipyard and private shipyards in collaboration with a foreign manufacturer.

Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels with Private Shipyard

Pipavav Shipyard Limited has successfully concluded and signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence for design and construction of five naval offshore patrol vessels for the Indian Navy, at the cost of Rs. 2,975 crore (about $0.6 billion). The Pipavav Shipyard Limited has the singular honour of being the first shipyard in the private sector to enter the naval warshipbuilding programme of the country.

The shipyard has approved plans to convert its existing wet basin into second dry dock to enhance its capabilities to build as well as repair warships for the Indian Navy, as also for the export market. The shipyard is poised to emerge as an integrated defence company in addition to its other activities.

Cadets’ Training Ships

ABG Shipyard Ltd has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence for the construction of two Cadets’ Training Ships, at the cost of Rs. 970 crore. The primary role of the ships is to impart basic training to the naval cadets and trainees, in addition to carrying out other supplementary roles of disaster relief, search and rescue operations, etc. The ships are also designed to carry light helicopters. The ships will be approximately 110 metres in length and will be designed to achieve a maximum speed of 20 knots.