Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has signed a contract to construct two multi-purpose vessels (MPV) for the Indian Navy.
Signed with the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD), the overall cost of the contract is estimated to be $116.31m (Rs8.87bn).
According to the contract, the company is required to begin delivery of the multi-purpose vessels from May 2025.
The contract was signed in the presence of vice-chief of the naval staff vice-admiral SN Ghormade and additional secretary and director general acquisition Pankaj Agarwal.
The contract comes under the Government of India’s (GOI) Buy-Indian flagship, and the related construction of the vessels will take place at L&T’s shipyard in Chennai, India.
The two MPVs will perform multi-role support functions, including patrol and maritime surveillance patrol, launching and recovering the torpedoes.
The vessels will be capable of carrying out various missions such as aerial, surface, anti-submarine warfare firing exercises and underwater targets for gunnery.
MPVs will provide cost-effective solutions to serve a wide range of the Indian Navy’s requirements.
The vessels can also tow ships and render various humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations.
In addition, the ships will act as a trial platform for different naval weapons and sensors under development.
The vessels will also provide logistics support for India’s island territories.
According to the MoD, the majority of equipment and systems for the two MPVs are being procured from Indian manufacturers, which aligns with the GOI’s Make in India endeavours.
Recently, the Indian Navy signed a contract with Ultra Electronics to provide an integrated anti-submarine warfare defence suite (IADS).
