FactsPlease
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No matter what we do -- or who will do -- please, do it fast.
Defence ministry, Hindustan Shipyard Ltd ink Rs 19,000 crore deal for 5 fleet support ships
First vessel to be delivered in four years & rest every 10 months. Their induction will significantly enhance blue water capability of Indian Navy, says MoD.theprint.in
Sources in the security and defence establishment said the Indian Navy plans to have at least eight fleet support vessels in operations by 2030 to support its extensive deployment.
Currently, India operates four tankers and the nomenclature now used is fleet support ships. The sources told ThePrint that of the four, INS Jyoti — commissioned in 1996 — will be decommissioned later this decade.
The Indian Navy had, in 2013, initiated a move to acquire five new fleet support ships under the category of ‘global buy’ for meeting its expanding responsibilities over the years.
HSL was selected by the Indian Navy for the project under which it was supposed to tie up with an foreign ship maker to design and build the support vessels in India. Turkey’s Anadolu Shipyard emerged as the lowest bidder in 2019 in a tender issued by the HSL.
In total, seven global companies had responded to the Request for Proposal (RFP) which included Italy-based Fincantieri, Spain’s Navantia, Russia’s Rosoboronexport, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems besides the Turkish shipyard. Given New Delhi’s strained relations with Istanbul, it was the first time that a Turkish shipyard had participated in an Indian defence contract.
Asked about the Turkish shipyard being involved in the project, the defence sources said that this will be indigenously designed and produced. The ship will be designed by the HSL and the Navy’s warship design bureau is not actively involved in the project, they added.
The sources indicated that the Turkish shipyard is not part of the project any longer.
