Cochin Shipyard Limited has won the tender for six Indian Navy Next Generation Missile Vessel (NGMV) tender. Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), Goa Shipyard Limited, Larsen &Tubro and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) were the other bidders. The tender was floated in July 2019.
“We would like to inform that at the meeting held today at the Ministry of Defence, New Delhi, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) has been declared as L1 in the tender floated by the Indian Navy for construction of 6 nos. of Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMV) and the estimated total order value is around Rs. 10,000 crore,” informed the company release to the stock exchanges.
These missile corvettes are of 1,500-tonne class and will be armed with Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, which can reach targets 295 km away. The vessels will use stealth features, making them hard to detect. These vessels will be far more potent than the Vidyut class missile boats (Russian OSA 1 class) which devastated the Karachi Port during the 1971 war.
NGMVs can operate within 2,800 nautical miles and a sustained economical speed and 1,000 nautical miles at maximum speed. The maximum speed of the vessel is about 35 knots (about 65 kmph) and the maximum sustained speed is about 25 knots (46 kmph). These vessels are designed to operate at a low speed of about 10 knots for at least eight hours continuously.
The vessel is roughly the size of Saryu class patrol vessel but with different weapon systems. NGMV’s are expected to carry about 8 or more surface-to-surface missiles (SSM). Since it is expected to operate in distant ranges, it is being provided with a Point Defence Missile System (PDMS), a gun, a fire control radar, and an electro-optical (EO) sight and a chaff system.