TSAMTO, June 7. On June 6, the Ministry of Defense of India announced the approval by the Defense Procurement Council (DAC) of a project to purchase eight new-generation Corvette-class ships.
As reported by the resource Navaltoday.com, The Defense Procurement Council, chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, granted "approval of the need to purchase" (AoN – Acceptance of Necessity) eight next–generation corvettes (NGC - next-generation corvettes) for an estimated amount of 360 billion. rupees (about 4.6 billion US dollars).
According to officials, the corvettes will be universal platforms for performing various tasks, including surveillance missions, escort operations, deterrence and support of "surface action groups" (SAG), search and rescue, and coastal defense.
In addition, it is reported that the corvettes will be built according to a new national project using the latest shipbuilding technologies.
For reference:
Also at the DAC meeting, a new military program worth 763.9 billion was approved. Rupees ($9.8 billion) for digitalization of Coast Guard facilities in the "Purchase (Indian)" category. Within the framework of this project, a secure national network will be created, providing for the "digitization" of operations of ground and aviation forces, logistics, finance and personnel.
On the part of the TSAMTO, we recall that the Indian Navy Shipbuilding Department in early October 2016 published a request for information within the framework of the project for the supply of six next-generation corvettes (NGC), which were supposed to be built at Indian shipbuilding enterprises and put into service starting from 2023. The purpose of publishing the request was to complete the development of the ship specification.
As reported in 2016, multipurpose corvettes with a length of 120 m should be single-hulled vessels, and equipped with a hangar to accommodate one helicopter. The maximum speed must exceed 27 knots, cruising range – 4000 nautical miles, autonomy – 14 days. The crew of the ship will be 158 people.
The ship's armament should include at least eight anti-ship missiles, a medium-caliber artillery system, a set for combating submarines, including GAS, torpedo tubes, false targets and an anti-submarine helicopter. The air defense component will include a near-range defense system, as well as a ship-based air defense system.
The ship's detection kit will include a surface target detection radar, an aerial target detection radar, a multifunctional threat detection and warning radar, and a passive infrared target search and tracking system (IRST). It was also assumed that electronic warfare, radio intelligence and satellite communications were available.
The initially announced wide range of weapons of the ship allowed at the time of publication of the request for information to assume that the Indian Navy, in accordance with global trends, is moving from the use of specialized corvettes to the purchase of multifunctional ships. It is not yet known what specifications are presented to the ships approved for purchase at the current DAC meeting.
