NEW DELHI. In a major boost to India’s maritime combat capabilities and indigenous defence manufacturing, the Indian Navy is advancing plans for three ambitious warship acquisition projects valued at up to ₹1 lakh crore. Comprising next-generation guided-missile destroyers, advanced stealth frigates, and massive large surface combatants, these upcoming vessels are set to form the core of India’s future surface fleet.
Top defence sources reveal that the projects are currently undergoing intensive internal consultations and technical planning before officially entering the formal defence acquisition process. Once cleared, this initiative will mark one of the single largest investments in indigenous naval shipbuilding under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat framework.
The first and financially largest component of this expansive modernisation drive is Project 15C. Under this programme, the Navy plans to construct four cutting-edge guided-missile destroyers at an estimated cost of approximately ₹50,000 crore. Building upon the legacy and operational successes of the existing Kolkata-class (Project 15A) and Visakhapatnam-class (Project 15B) destroyers, the Project 15C vessels will feature drastically overhauled configurations.
They will be equipped with advanced sensors, upgraded weapon arrays, state-of-the-art electronic warfare suites and heavily enhanced air defence systems to counter contemporary hypersonic and drone threats. The Ministry of Defence is expected to issue the formal Request for Proposal (RFP) within the next year, with construction slated to begin roughly three years later following rigorous design approvals.
The second initiative, designated Project 17B, focuses on the acquisition of six highly advanced stealth frigates at an estimated cost of ₹40,000 crore. To streamline construction timelines and maximise national industrial capacity, the government plans to split the manufacturing contract equally between India’s premier public-sector shipyards.
Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) will build three of the frigates, while the remaining three will be constructed by Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE). The RFP for Project 17B is projected to be issued in about 18 months, with actual steel-cutting and construction initiating approximately four years later.
Standing out as the most complex and strategically ambitious of the trio is Project 18A, described by defence officials as the Navy’s next-generation Large Surface Combatant (LSC) programme.
Under Project 18A, India intends to build six gargantuan warships displacing between 14,000 and 15,000 tonnes – making them some of the largest non-carrier combat vessels ever designed or built in the country.
These heavy surface combatants will possess unprecedented missile strike ranges, comprehensive area missile defence caps, flagship-level command-and-control infrastructure and massive fuel and supply endurance tailored for sustained deployment in far-flung ocean expanses.
Given the sheer technological complexity of developing a 15,000-tonne combatant from scratch, Project 18A remains in its early conceptualisation phase. The RFP is anticipated in the next three years, with actual construction targeted to commence in roughly eight years.
This colossal fleet expansion comes at a critical juncture as India moves to maintain a decisive qualitative edge in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) while systematically expanding its operational footprint across the wider Indo-Pacific.
Faced with mounting maritime security challenges, the protection of vital global sea lines of communication, and India’s growing role as a primary net security provider in the region, the Navy has long advocated for a larger, heavily armed and highly survivable surface fleet.
By anchoring these multi-billion-crore programmes within domestic shipyards like MDL and GRSE, the mega-deal ensures that India’s strategic naval shielding will be entirely designed, forged and deployed from the home soil.
