Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, today delivered the fourth anti-submarine warfare corvette (ASWC) to the Indian Navy (IN) while the shipbuilding company will invest around Rs 200 crore in the next four years for further capacity augmentation. The GRSE today handed over INS Kavaratti, an ASWC, to the Indian Navy. This is the fourth and last such ASWC that the company handed over while it is also the 104th warship that the company constructed for the Indian Navy.

Earlier, three ASWCs that were delivered are INS Kamorta,INS Kadmatt and INS Kiltan. Speaking on the same, the GRSE chairman and managing director, Rear Admiral V.K. Saxena, IN (Retd.) said: “This was a project of national importance which was conceived and perceived by the Indian Navy. We feel proud of this project since the warship was built with 90 per cent indigenous content. It is also made out of indigenous steel. Earlier, construction involved imported steel which used to further raise the cost but now all navy ships are made out of this indigenous steel.”

“The propulsion and weapon system, sensors and sonar system are all made with indigenous materials. We have also made it with a composite carbon material which helps in weight reduction of the ship and thus enabling it to gather more speed,” he added.

Talking about the projects in hand, he said: “In about 12 months, GRSE has delivered six war ships for Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard. We have an excellent order book of Rs 27000 crore approximately. We have now five more projects in hand. We have delivered nine Landing Craft Utility (LCU) ships to the Navy while the last one will be delivered by April, tentatively, this year. We are manufacturing fast patrol vessels for the Coast Guard and three have been delivered while the other two are in advanced stages of construction and will be delivered by March.”

Saxena highlighted: “GRSE has three units and a good order book now and hence we are mulling capacity augmentation plans. At Rajabagan dockyard, there is a 31- acre area and we are investing Rs 200 crore in the next four years. We want to pave the way for more dry docks. By 2023, we expect GRSE’s building capacity to increase from 20 to 24 ships. We intend to also upgrade our skill set and infrastructure.”

The ASWC, INS Kavaratti, is equipped to fight in nuclear, biological and chemical warfare conditions. It is capable of neutralizing enemy submarines using weapons such as torpedoes, rocket launchers and an integral helicopter. The warship has a maximum speed of 25 knots speed and can accommodate 17 officers and 106 sailors.