Navy’s first shallow water craft launched
Ships to be capable of full-scale surveillance of coastal waters
INS Arnala, Indian Navy’s first anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft (ASWSWC), being built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd, was launched by Rasika Chaube, Financial Advisor (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, at the Larsen & Toubro shipyard in Kattipallu, Tamil Nadu, yesterday.
This is the first of eight such ships being built by GRSE for the Navy. Eight more ASWSWC are being built by Cochin Shipyard Ltd.
The first ship will be completed and delivered well within schedule. So will be the others, adding necessary punch to the Navy’s capability to patrol coastal areas where enemy submarines could be lurking.
Incidentally, GRSE became the only defence public sector unit (DPSU) shipyard in India to be honoured with the Raksha Mantri’s Award 2022 for designing the most silent ship. This silent ship was the ASWSWC that was launched.
Combat ready
Though smaller in size as compared to anti-submarine warfare corvettes of the Kamorta Class built and delivered to the Navy by GRSE earlier, these 77.6-metre-long and 10.5-metre-wide vessels pack a punch.
These ships will be capable of full-scale subsurface surveillance of coastal waters as well as search and attack operations. They will also be capable of carrying out coordinated anti-submarine operations with aircraft. These ships will have combat management systems on board and will be armed with lightweight torpedoes as well as anti-submarine warfare rockets. These ships will have a complement of 57 personnel, including seven officers.
Their three water jets (fitted to marine diesel engines) will provide greater manoeuvrability and a maximum speed of 25 knots. The greatest advantage is that these vessels will require a draft of only 2.7 metres, allowing them to access the coasts easily in search of subsurface threats.
Commodore P.R. Hari, IN (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE, said during his address that when the ship is delivered to the Navy, it will have 88 per cent indigenous content.