On February 5, 2026, the Indian private company Swan Defense and Heavy Industries Limited announced that it had signed a contract to build a training ship for the Omani Navy. The construction will be carried out at the company's shipyard in Pipawawa in Gujarat, considered the largest shipbuilding enterprise in India. The ship must be delivered to Oman within 18 months.
(c) Swan Defence and Heavy Industries Limited
According to the company's statement, a ship with a displacement of 3,500 tons, a length of 104.25 m and a width of 13.88 m will be built for Oman. The ship will be equipped with facilities for 70 officer candidate cadets and will be equipped with helicopter basing capabilities.
Judging by the stated characteristics, Oman is apparently planning to build a modified analogue of the Indian Navy's A 86 Tir training ship, which was previously built by the Indian state-owned shipbuilding company Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) in Mumbai and commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1986. The Tir has a total displacement of 3,200 tons, a length of 105.85 m and a width of 13.2 m. This is confirmed by the Pipawawa shipyard's long-standing cooperation with MDL. Back in 2011, they signed an agreement on the possibility of building part of MDL's military orders in Pipawawa. In October 2025, MDL and Swan Defense and Heavy Industries Limited signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of joint design and construction of warships, including joint participation in a tender for a universal amphibious a ship for the Indian Navy.
The shipyard of Swan Defence and Heavy Industries Limited in Pipavava is a former shipbuilding enterprise Pipavav Shipyard Limited. In 2015, the latter was acquired by the Indian Reliance group and then operated under the names Reliance Defense and Engineering and Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited, however, in December 2022, the bankrupt shipyard was sold by Reliance to Swan Energy Limited. Since January 2025, the combined company has been named Swan Defense and Heavy Industries Limited. The Pipawawa shipyard covers an area of 2.4 km2 and has India's largest dry construction dock measuring 662 m by 65 m, equipped with two 600-ton cranes.
Indian Navy Training Ship A 86 Tir (c) Indian Navy
