Goa Shipyard Bids For Indian Navy's Patrol Vessel Program

Indian Navy has received proposal from Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) to construct offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) armed with missiles.

“We have submitted a proposal to the Indian Navy that all the future OPVs should be developed with the missile on board that will give more combat muscle to the vessel,” GSL’s Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Rear Admiral (retd) Shekhar Mital told PTI today.

If fitted with missile the pricing of the vessel goes up only by ten per cent, Mital added.  Any kind of missiles can be fitted for these OPVs he said on the sidelines of ongoing “Make in Goa” held jointly by GSL and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

“We can even have Brahmos on the vessel. Basically, the technology would be surface to surface, which is ship to ship missiles. It won’t be surface to air missiles,” the CMD said.

The GSL currently has order of six OPVs for Indian Coast Guard, Two for Sri Lankan Navy, Two for Mauritian Coast Guard. “The price negotiations have also been completed for five more OPVs for the Coast Guard,” Mittal added.

The proposal of fitting missiles on OPVs will not include those vessels which are already under construction or whose price negotiations are done. “If Navy approves, we can do it for the future orders,” he added.