Kolkata. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), a Miniratna Category 1 and a leading warship building company in the country under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), delivered ICGS Annie Besant, second in the series of five Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) to the Indian Coast Guard, on November 5.
With the delivery of the current petrol vessel, the total number of GRSE-built ship reaches to 101, which have so far been delivered to Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Mauritius Coast Guard as the customers of the Miniratna DPSU.
The Protocol of delivery and acceptance was signed between Rear Admiral VK Saxena, IN (Retd.), Chairman & Managing Director, GRSE and Commanding Officer of the vessel, Commandant (JG) Sunny Deo, in the presence of DIG Sudhir Sahani, TM, Principal Director (Material); Cmde PR Hari, Director (Personnel) and Cmde Sanjeev Nayyar, IN (Retd), Director (Shipbuilding) and other senior officials of GRSE and Indian Coast Guard.
The FPV is a medium range surface vessel with a length of 50 m, width of 7.5 m and displacement of around 308 T and is capable of operations in the maritime zones of India. These powerful, fuel-efficient platforms are designed to perform multipurpose operations like patrolling, anti-smuggling, anti-poaching and rescue operations.
The vessel is designed for a maximum speed of 34 knots with an endurance of more than 1500 nautical miles. She is equipped with 03 main engines of MTU make and built up at GRSE with advanced control systems, ‘Water Jet’ units and an ‘Integrated Bridge System’ integrating all communication and navigation systems. The ship is also fitted with 40/60 gun as main armament and will also have improved habitability features with fully air-conditioned modular accommodation for 35 personnel. The entire design of these FPVs has been developed in-house by GRSE as per requirements specified by Indian Coast Guard.
The FPV designs which are exclusive to GRSE are an improvisation on the Inshore Patrol Vessels (IPVs) built by the Shipyard for the Indian Coast Guard, few years ago. Over the years, GRSE has established capabilities for in-house design and shipbuilding and has made significant contributions to the indigenous warship construction program in India. The Design R&D Unit of GRSE, has been recognized by Dept. of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India.
GRSE currently has a strong order book position of around Rs 27,400 crore under which there are a total of 22 warships at various stages of construction. The shipyard has been recently honoured with the ICC PSE Excellence Award (2017-18) for “Operational Performance Excellence” and 16th National Award for “Excellence in Cost Management” in the category of Medium Public Sector Manufacturing Companies. Presently, the company has six projects that are under way viz., five projects of the Indian Navy and one of the Indian Coast Guard.
GRSE is aggressively pursuing the new request for proposals (RFPs) that have been issued by MoD. GRSE has responded to the RFPs for two Pollution Control Vessels (PCVs) and eight Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) for Indian Coast Guard. GRSE is also preparing response to RFPs for construction of 12 Air-Cushion Vehicles (ACVs) for Indian Coast Guard & Indian Army and the major project for construction of six New Generation Missile Vessels (NGMVs) for Indian Navy.
GRSE continues to raise its bar higher in the sphere of maritime engineering excellence. Continuous research and innovation, excellent product quality, lean thinking and a strong corporate structure powered by an outstanding human capital, promises a great future for GRSE.
