Navy's frigate induction plan hit by US ban

India’s plan to induct newly-built Shivalik stealth frigate in the Navy this year may be hit with the US Administration halting the warship’s gas turbine engines supplier from operationalising the contract.

Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks Ltd (MDL) built the warship fitted with two LM 2500 gas turbine engines and was readying it for sea trials in a couple of months when the bad news from General Electric (GE) came as a shocker for the Indian public sector undertaking shipyard, Navy sources said here today.

Interestingly, LM 2500 is the engine Navy chose for its Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) currently under construction in Cochin Shipyard and for which the keel laying was done by Defence Minister A K Antony in the last week of February this year.

The GE communication, sources said, indicated that it could take up to three months for the matter to be resolved with the new Obama dispensation, which was currently reviewing its military relations with several countries.

Not just with India, GE was instructed to halt work with even US allies such as United Kingdom and Australia, sources said.

However, the Navy’s top brass, putting up a brave face, claimed the US ban would not impact its Shivalik project, codenamed P-17, under which a series of three guided missile frigates are to be built, with the other two being named Sahayadri and Satpura.

“The US ban will not affect our plans of delivery of the Shivalik frigate, as we have asked Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to procure and supply the GE engine,” a senior Navy officer said.

“How HAL would handle the US ban, we cannot say. But the Indian aeronautical giant is obligated to get the engines operationalised on time,” he added.

Asked if the IAC’s construction plans would be affected if the ban on GE continued for a longer period, the officials said it would not, as the warship was expected to be ready for float only by December 2010, by when the engine would be required.

“Of course, the LM 2500 engines for IAC too are being procured through HAL. So we do not foresee any problems in this regard,” the officer added.

However, the US ban on GE does not necessarily restrict India’s options on the engine front, sources said, pointing out that there were an Italian and a German company, which supplied and handled the same engine type, which could be approached for help with the Shivalik frigates and the IAC.

The LM 2500 gas turbines are required by Shivalik frigates for short bursts during combat manoeuvres to provide it extra power, while their normal operations are powered by Pielstick diesel engines.

The government has approved building of four new destroyer warships to bolster the Navy’s strength. The follow-on orders for the new destroyers would be placed with Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) soon, top Navy sources said here today.

“The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has last month given in-principle approval to the Navy’s proposal for construction of four new Kolkata Class destroyers,” sources said. Codenamed “Project 15B”, the new warships would be built after the MDL completed construction of the first three destroyers of the Kolkata Class under “Project 15A”.

To be built with advanced stealth features, the four new warships will have land attack capabilities and would be fully indigenous. “In all, the Navy has would have seven Kolkata Class destroyers,” sources noted.

Currently, the Navy has three Delhi Class destroyers in its service and the Kolkata Class destroyers are expected to join the Navy one each every year beginning with 2010.

The MDL had begun construction of the Kolkata class ships beginning September 2003.