Launching the country's first Anti Submarine Warfare Corvette (ASWC) for the Indian Navy at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) Limited here on Monday, M.M. Pallam Raju, Union Minister of State for Defence, said three more such P-28 Corvettes will be launched by the GRSE by 2015.
Pointing to the completion of the Rs. 560 crore modernisation programme of the GRSE scheduled for 2011, Mr. Raju said the dock's building capacity will be boosted manifold as it could then manufacture frigates.
“The current value of the book of orders for the GRSE is Rs. 8,000 crore, but once the orders for the P-17 frigates starts coming in within two years, the book of orders will increase to Rs. 24,000 crore… once there is greater infrastructure, bigger ships will be built here,” he said.
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Named Kamorta, after an island in the Andaman Sea, the ASWC is indigenously built and is designated as a frontline warship with anti-submarine warfare capabilities and a very low signature of radiated underwater noise.
The ASWC Kamorta will be docked at the Eastern Naval Command.
Hoping that large private houses will come forward to invest in the shipbuilding sector along with the Ministry of Defence on a public-private partnership mode, Mr. Raju said around 6,000 small and medium private companies have already participated in giving “vertical expertise” to the defence public sector.
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West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said the State government has placed an order for 13 high-speed boats that are used during natural calamities with the GRSE, and is also mulling purchasing portable double-line steel bridges from it.
Mr. Raju said these boats will be delivered within the coming three to four months.