The Indian Navy’s programme to build four world-class anti-submarine corvettes is gaining more momentum as international shipbuilders will be bidding to participate in the project. The programme to build these stealthy corvettes comes under ‘Project 28’ initiated by the Indian Navy.
The anti-submarine corvettes in Project 28 are being built by the state-owned Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and international bidders will be invited to bring in technology to build a major part of the corvette including the entire superstructure with lightweight composites. The Ministry of Defence will shortly issue tenders to three experienced global players including Kockums of Sweden, a subsidiary of Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems (TKMS), Greek shipbuilder Intermarine and the Korean Kangnam Corporation.
The superstructure which the international bidders will build with lightweight composites will enable the ship to be more stealthy and stable since it will reduce the weight of the ship. The superstructure is the upper part of the ship that rests on the hull and a crucial part of the shipbuilding project.
Sources indicated that India can use the composite superstructure for the third and fourth ships of Project 28.
Currently, the first corvette is already 90 per cent completed and 80 per cent of the superstructure is ready for the second corvette.
The current dilemma being faced is the pricing of the corvettes under the Project 28 for which orders were placed in 2003. Since then, GRSE has been working on Project 28 and by now, significant cost overruns have escalated the price of the corvettes under Project 28. Under the earlier Letter of Intent (LI) by the Indian Defence Ministry, the price was $560 million for the four ships of Project 28 ($40 million per corvette). As of now, it has reached $1.4 billion ($350 million per corvette). The Indian Defence Ministry is in a tight spot and will have to pay the amount since the cost of the first ship of Project 28 was to determine the real cost of Project 28. However, the Defence Ministry will make the commencement of production date of March 2006 to compensate for the delays caused by specification changes.
The main cause of delay has been the stringent standards of stealth for every piece of equipment on board set for the suppliers. Hence, they have struggled to develop engines, transmission, air-conditioning and power-generating systems. Since the Indian Navy has indicated that the machinery must work silently and that the majority of parts must be sourced or produced locally, GRSE is finding it tough to live up to the Navy’s expectations. The Indian Navy has clearly indicated that no compromise will be made in terms of standard for Project 28.
The corvettes under Project 28 will be the Indian Navy’s new anti-submarine warfare (ASW) surface combatant for the 21st century and will be completed by 2012. The corvette will weigh a 2500 tonnes and will be armed with stealth-mounted guns, the latest electronic warfare suite which, together with other key operational equipment and is shielded using stealth technology incorporated into the design of the bulwarks. The structure of the ship would be such that it would cut down noise drastically to prevent it from getting detected by enemy submarines whilst it will be able to detect enemy submarines and destroy it.
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