GRSE to ready its first stealth frigate by 2023

Defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), which is building three of the seven stealth frigates under "Project 17A", on Wednesday said the first ship will be ready by 2023.

The Project 17A-class frigate is a follow-on of Shivalik-class frigates, entailing indigenous construction of seven stealth frigates.

The Cabinet Committee on Security earlier in February cleared the Rs.50,000 crore project under which four of the ships would be constructed at Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai and three in GRSE.

"Once the final design is ready, the construction at GRSE will begin after three years and the first ship will be ready by 2023," Rear Admiral A.K. Verma, GRSE's chairman and managing director, told media persons here.

"The rest will come at one-year intervals and within ten years all the ships would be ready. We would be working in close collaboration with both the Indian Navy as well as MDL," added Verma.

Estimated at Rs.20,000 crore, he said it was the highest-ever order received by GRSE.

Talking about its financial performance, Verma said the turnover of the company has almost trebled from Rs.573 crore in 2007-08 to approx Rs.1,665 crore in 2014-15.

The shipbuilder, which made India's first warship export to Mauritius, is also participating in the global tender for construction of two frigates for the Philippine Navy.

Verma said the GRSE is currently constructing 15 ships for the Indian Navy including three Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes, eight Landing Craft Utilities and four Water Jet Fast Attack Crafts.