India orders next-gen corvettes for $5.7b under broad naval modernization push

NEW DELHI — In a major push to strengthen its naval capabilities, India signed a $5.7 billion contract with domestic companies Monday to build eight next-generation, corvettes that will undertake anti-submarine, anti-surface and coastal defense operations.

The new ships will gradually replace a fleet of aging single-role corvettes.

India’s efforts to upgrade its maritime strength include plans to acquire six advanced submarines through a partnership with Germany and base 26 French Rafale Marine aircraft aboard its aircraft carriers.

The Defense Ministry said the corvettes will be equipped with state-of-the-art capabilities, including advanced missiles, weapons and sensor suites enabling them to undertake missions across the air, surface and sub-surface domains.

The ministry said the project marks a “significant milestone in India’s indigenous warship design and construction capabilities” because it is the first project in which the ships will be designed by the Indian Navy and built in domestic, state-owned shipyards.

Designed as high-speed, stealth combatants, five of the corvettes will be built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and three by Goa Shipyard. The vessels would have a length of 127 meters, a beam of 17.6 meters, a deadweight tonnage of 4,950 and a maximum speed of 26 knots, according to GRSE.

The corvettes will carry medium-range anti-ship, medium-range surface-to-air missiles and 324 mm torpedo tubes.

The induction of these ships will enhance the Indian Navy’s operational capabilities in safeguarding maritime trade routes, conducting anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare operations, strengthening coastal defense, and undertaking littoral combat operations according to the Defense Ministry.

With about 90% of India’s trade moving through maritime routes and a coastline stretching more than 11,000 km, protecting sea lanes and coastal waters is an important security priority for the country.

The corvettes are part of a wider push by India to bolster its naval strength amid China’s expanding presence in the Indo-Pacific and Pakistan’s deepening military cooperation with Beijing.

Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Dinesh Tripathi, said in February that India aims to become a navy with 200-plus ships by 2035. The navy currently has 145 ships and submarines.

That expansion includes plans to acquire six advanced submarines under an approximately $8 billion deal with Germany.

The German ambassador to New Delhi, Jasper Wieck, said in September that the proposed deal to build six next-generation conventional submarines has been set on the German side. “In terms of the documents, it has already been finalized and the German side has agreed to it. It is now up to the Indian side to complete and conclude its internal processes,”  Wieck told reporters.

The proposed program involves German shipyard TKMS collaborating with Indian state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. to build the vessels in India. The submarines will be equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) technology, allowing them to remain underwater for longer periods than conventional diesel-electric submarines and making them particularly suited to patrols in the strategic waters of the Indo-Pacific.

Meanwhile, on Oct. 29, a Rafale Marine fighter jet also landed for the first time on India’s newest aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, marking a successful carrier compatibility trial.

The trial comes 18 months after India signed an approximately $7.5 billion contract with France to acquire 26 Rafale Marine aircraft, comprising 22 fighters and four trainer aircraft.

“The ongoing trials mark the first steps towards operationalization of the aircraft in the Indian Navy,” the Indian Navy said.

The Rafales already operate from French aircraft carriers, but their compatibility with the Indian ship’s different launch and recovery arrangements needs to be tested.

The French Rafales will join the Navy’s existing Russian MiG-29Ks and bring modern multirole strike capability to both of its carriers.