Kolkata: It was a red-letter day for Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, when it commenced construction of an Acoustic Research Ship (ARS) being built for the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), a unit of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The Chief Guest at the occasion was Dr Sameer V Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defence (R&D) and Chairman, DRDO. Among the others present were Cmde P R Hari, IN (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE, Dr Chandrika Kaushik, DG (PC & SI), DRDO, Dr D Seshagiri, Director, NPOL, RK Dash, Director (Finance), GRSE, Cdr Shantanu Bose, IN(Retd), Director (Shipbuilding), GRSE, DIG Subrato Ghosh, ICG(Retd), Director (Personnel), GRSE, Abhishek Ranjan, IOFS, CVO, GRSE, and Senior Officials of GRSE & DRDO.
The contract between GRSE and NPOL for the ARS was signed in October 2024. The 93 m long and 18 m wide ARS will be a very advanced platform, that will have a complement of 120 personnel and will be capable of speeds ranging from 4 knots to 12 knots. At top speed, the ship will have an endurance of 30 days or 4,500 nautical miles in a single mission.
The capabilities of the ARS will include deployment, towing and retrieval of various equipment such as acoustic modules, carrying out temporal and/or spatial high-resolution surveys of sound velocity profiles and collection of ocean tides/current information to be used for survey optimisation, design of underwater moorings and offshore deployments.
The research vessel will also carry out meteorological surveys to understand the influence of atmospheric parameters in sound propagation studies and undertake shallow water acoustic reverberation studies. It will also be capable of launching, mooring and maintaining standalone buoys and collecting data from them. Its wide speed range will allow the ship to operate at multiple speed regimes to carry out acoustic systems trials, while maintaining silence.
The ARS will also have a dynamic positioning system that will allow it to maintain position in intact condition up to Sea State 4. The vessel will have diesel-electric propulsion and three (3) deck cranes will be fitted on board to handle research equipment.
GRSE has necessary experience in the construction of research and survey ships. It delivered the first series of Sandhayak Class of Survey Vessels to the Navy in the 80’s and 90’s. In 1994, GRSE delivered the INS Sagardhwani. This is a Marine Acoustic Research Vessel that is still in service. In 2023 and 2024, GRSE delivered the INS Sandhayak and INS Nirdeshak to the Navy. These are the first two vessels of the second series of four Sandhayak Class of Survey Vessels (Large) being built by the shipyard.
On July 16, 2024, GRSE also signed a contract with the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, for construction of an advanced Ocean Research Vessel (ORV).
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Samir V. Kamat, Chairman DRDO, said, “An acoustic research ship is going to be very critical for us to build our underwater domain awareness capability.” He also added, “This ship is a successor to our Sagardhwani, which was also built by GRSE, and I would like to compliment GRSE because Sagardhwani has served us very well for more than 30 years now.”
Cmde P R Hari, IN (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director, GRSE, said, “As a fully diversified shipyard, our shipbuilding products range from complex warships to specialised research vessels like this ARS, Hybrid Platforms, Dredgers, Ferries and Commercial Ships. This is a momentous occasion as we launch ourselves into another prestigious project for our Defence Establishment.”
