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Sentinels of the seas: India is making offshore patrol vessels war-ready

Current generation of Coast Guard vessels, likely to be in service for several decades, remains under-armed

Indian navy, defence, ship, INS, COASTGUARD

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For navy planners, the phenomenon of sea-borne terrorism has changed the rationale of OPVs

7 min read Last Updated : Dec 21 2020 | 6:10 AM IST

Last Tuesday, the Indian Coast Guard commissioned the eighth ship of an order of 11 Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) that Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) is constructing. Simultaneously, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is delivering another seven OPVs of the so-called Vikram class from its Kattupalli shipyard in Tamil Nadu.

These OPVs have two things in common. First, they are designed to patrol long distances, with endurances of 5,000-6,000 nautical miles (10-11,000 km). Second, for such large combat vessels — they are both about 100 metres long and displace over 2,000 tonnes — they are very lightly armed. Each carries just one 30-millimetre

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