India has come a long way since the license production of Leander Class Frigates, and it is a matter of great pride that today we have the capability to design and build any kind of warships including an Aircraft Carrier. It has been an arduous journey beginning with small auxiliary ships to destroyers and stealth frigates, full of learnings in , also full of constraints but the journey has been reasonably successful one. The Corps of constructors ( now known as the Directorate of Naval Architecture ), which was formed in 1954 with 12 officers has now grown to a strength of more than 350 uniformed officers and is the largest pool of trained and experienced Naval Architects in the country. Today the Indian Navy can proudly claim to be the only Uniformed service in the world having in house capability to design their man of war.

Till date, the Indian Navy has developed about 20 types of designs ranging from small crafts to destroyers to Air craft Carrier to which about 100 ships have been built. The next logical step taken by the Navy was to build on the existing strengths in ship design and construction and venture into more challenging projects using new concepts and latest technologies with more emphasis on increased indigenous content. The staff requirements for new shipbuilding projects were framed accordingly taking these factors into account, which paved the way for design of new class of destroyers, frigates, corvettes and our first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier.
Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC)
Warship building is a complex process. Unlike the commercial ships of merchant marine, a warship, in addition to float and move, has to perform the ‘fight’ role in hostile sea environment. And design of an aircraft carrier adds another dimension of aviation which among other things require systems for Aircraft launch and recovery operations. In any warship the payload around which design is developed is weapons and sensors. But in case of an aircraft carrier, the payload is the aircrafts( both the fixed and rotary wing) and the design revolves around these. Also , building of an aircraft carrier requires huge resources in terms of manpower, finances, infrastructure and technology. Decision to build an aircraft carrier therefore takes time and the design of the ship is finalized after several iterations considering geo political scenario, threat perceptions and economic conditions. The finalization of IAC also went through similar iterations as brought out in the succeeding paragraphs.
The Sea Control Ship (SCS)
The idea of an indigenous aircraft took shape in 1979-80, when the Directorate of Naval Design (DND) prepared a concept design of a ‘Helicopter Carrier’ based on the hull form of a merchant ship , MV Harshavardhan. Subsequently, in 1985, Outline Staff Requirements (OSRs) were formulated for a Sea Control Ship (SCS) of approximately 35,000 tons, with Short Take-off but Vertical Landing (STOVL) facility for aircraft operations. The concept design was prepared by DND along with the French company DCNS with two options, one with a ski jump and the other with two conventional catapults for assisting Take off and arrested Landing of aircrafts. This ship, the SCS, was to be 250 metres (m) long and 56 m in beam (width) displacing about 37000 tons.However, the severe resource crunch faced by the nation then constrained the Indian Navy in taking this concept design study further.

Air Defence Ship (ADS) – a Scaled Down Carrier
Notwithstanding the fate of SCS, the Directorate of Naval Design (DND) continued evolving alternate designs and in 1991 came up with a carrier in the form of ADS displacing only 16000tons , capable of carrying 14 aircrafts and helicopters.ADS design was further modified to include the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) in the aircraft complement which required the ship’s length to be increased by 15 meters.The iterative designing by naval designers, continued till 1998 when the blueprint for the ADS was evolved based on the anticipated induction of the naval version of the LCA (LCA ‘N’). This ship was to displace 24,000 tons and was designed with a ski jump to operate Sea Harriers and the LCA.
Development of Mig-29K
In late nineties the Russians developed the ship-based version of MiG-29, called the Mig-29K ( K stands for Karabal in Russian, meaning ship). The DND therefore converged its design to the Short-Take-Off-But-Arrested-Recovery (STOBAR) option, wherein the launch was to be from a ski jump but recovery with the help of arrester gear. These requirements dictated an optimum launch runway of 200 m with an overall length of 255 m and 37500 tons displacement of ADS.
Nomination of Shipyard
Nomination of Cochin Shipyard Limited to build the IAC was based on the availability of the required infrastructure and dry dock facilities and also their well known shipbuilding capabilities demonstrated in merchant ships.

A technical audit by DCNS also confirmed the Shipyard’s capability to build a carrier of the intended parameters. The thrust for indigenisation has resulted in almost 75 % equipment of IAC being sourced from Indian manufacturers ( both from public and private sectors) including main propulsion and various auxiliary machinery, fittings and control systems. Even the steel used for construction was developed by Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) Hyderabad and produced by Steel Authority of India(SAIL). This Development eliminated the dependence for steel on other countries for building of warships, as today all the warships under construction are being built with different grades of indigenous steel.
The Finalized Carrier
In its final shape, the IAC will have a length of 260 m and maximum beam of about 60 m. The ship is 18 storeys high from keel to top. The steel used in the hull itself (about 21,000 Tons) can create 3 Eifel Towers.The flight deck covers an area roughly the size of two football fields. The ship can generate 24 Mega Watt of Power ( sufficient for a colony like RK Puram). The cabling length alone is close to 2300 Km. If we were to stretch it out we could cover the distance from Delhi to Bangalore. She would have two take-off runways and a landing strip with three arrester wires, and would be capable of operating aircrafts with STOBAR as well as a range of helicopters. The Carrier has been designed with a very high degree of automation for machinery operation, ship navigation, and survivability. With completion of new Vikrant ,the Indian Navy will not only extend its reach of naval operations but will also facilitate creating a mature eco-system for future shipbuilding.
Project 15A (Kolkata Class Destroyers)
After the highly successful design of Delhi class destroyers three follow on ships of Kolkata class i.e Kolkata , Kochi and and Chennai were built and delivered by MDL in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. The underwater hull and propulsion of these destroyers were retained same as that of the Delhi class, however the weapons and sensors underwent complete change. These ships were one of the few warships of that time in the world to have multi functional conformal array surveillance radar which also provided target data to weapons. These ships were also equipped with vertical launch capable Surface to Air and Surface to Surface missiles.While the ships of Delhi class had both Soviet and Western design features, the indigenous content in Kolkata Class underwent a quantum jump. Large number of major equipment including weapons were developed indigenously for these ships which included Rocket launchers and Torpedo launchers , Combat management system, Foldable hangar doors and Helo traversing system, Close in weapon systems, Boat Davits, Automatic Power Management system, Energy Distribution Centers and Bow mounted sonar. The stealth features of Kolkata class ships were enhanced compared to Delhi class by shaping of hull geometry suitably and use of radar transparent deck fittings as well as use of TACS( Total Atmosphere Control System).

P28 (ASW Corvettes )
Four Anti Submarine Corvettes of Project 28 ships have been indigenously designed with contemporary global standards of structures, stealth and automation with maximum indigenous equipment and material.All four ships Kamorta, Kadmat, Kiltan and Kavaratti were ordered on GRSE and all of them have been delivered between 2014 and 2020. These ships have 90% indigenous content. The ships have been constructed with indigenously developed special grade high tensile steel. Superstructure of last two ships of the project has been made of composite material first time on a Indian Naval ship to improve stability. The weapon suit of the ship will be capable of engaging ships, aircrafts and shore targets besides having sound Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) capability. The ships are also capable of deploying a helicopter adding considerable punch to the ship’s Anti Submarine warfare capability. The stealth features of Project 28 ships have been enhanced by using a full beam superstructure with contemporary X hull form and optimal sloping geometry to reduce Radar Cross Section or the visual signatures. Indigenously developed Infra Red Signature Suppression devices have been fitted in Engines’ exhaust to reduce thermal signatures. The ships’ hull form is highly efficient with excellent sea keeping and maneuvering characteristics .
To reduce the noise level CODAD ( combination of diesel and diesel) propulsion has been used and mounted on a raft. The ship is also provided with operator friendly Total Atmosphere Control system (TACS) to enable operations during a nuclear, chemical or biological fall out with improved habitability and fully air-conditioned modular accommodation.
Project 15B( Visakhapatnam Class Destroyers)
Having built the destroyers of Delhi class and Kolkata class, Indian Navy planned to boost it’s Fire power significantly by ordering four additional destroyers of 7400 tons. These are follow on of Kolkata class and designed by DND under project 15B, to be built by MDL. The Key design improvements in these ships include Integrated Platform Management system (IPMS) and Integrated Communication System both being developed indigenously. The ships have been designed to improve Survivability, Sea keeping, Stealth and maneuverability. While the hull design has been retained same as that of Kolkata class the stealth features have been improved by shaping of hull and use of radar transparent deck fittings, plated masts and canted bull work at all exposed locations.

The ships are packed with an array of state of art weapons and sensors from diverse sources, with significant indigenous.The indigenous content on these ships is likely to go up to 75% with use of indigenous steel and many equipment including weapons and sensors developed by Indian industry either with their in-house expertise or through Transfer of Technology (TOT)from foreign firms. For example Surface to Air and Surface to Surface missile systems are being developed through TOT and Joint Venture respectively. Four ships are likely to be delivered between 2021-2025.
Project 17A ( Nilgiri class Stealth Frigates)
Project 17A stealth Frigates are the follow on of Project 17, the Shivalik class Frigates . A total of seven ships are being built, four by MDL which is also performing the role of the lead shipyard and balance three by GRSE. These ships although said to be follow on of P17 but have substantial differences in design from the parent class. Most of the weapons / sensors on P17 came from Russia , however the same on P17A have been substituted by indigenous and western systems. The ship size has also been enlarged by a 4.5% Geo symmetric expansion. The combat capability of these ships will be much superior with fitment of higher caliber Gun, upgraded versions of vertically launched supersonic surface to surface missile systems , long range surface to air missile systems and indigenously developed torpedo launchers and rocket launchers. Many new technologies and construction methodologies are being used on P17A to reduce the build period. These include use of Virtual Reality Lab ( VRL) to arrive at optimal layouts of highly congested compartments in a virtually immersed environment and to reduce rework onboard ship as well as Product Life cycle Management which uses the concept of digital twin or duplicating the ship digitally. As for as ship construction is concerned , first time integrated construction is being used in warshipbuilding where in a large amount of outfitting will be done in the more conducive environment of the work shop in modular blocks and these blocks will then be assembled on the slipway. The other shipbuilding concept which is being used in this project is Parallel construction in which multiple blocks will be simultaneously manufactured in different geographical locations and then consolidated at MDL.P17A ships when delivered will not only be superior in combat capability and technology and have higher indigenous content but will also set new benchmarks of shortened build periods.
Frigates of 1135.6 Project
To meet the urgent requirement of frigates the Indian Navy procured three Frigates of Talwar class in 2002-2004. These ships were based on the Russian design of Project 1135.6, much smaller than P17 frigates and with limited stealth features. Most of the material and equipment on these ships were of the Russian origin. After observing their satisfactory performance in Indian conditions, three more frigates of same design were ordered under Teg class .

Since project 17 frigates were to be delivered in 2010-12 and all Leander class frigates were gradually getting decommissioned, the Navy decided to fill the gap by procuring four more ships of 1135.6 design with two being built in Russia and two in India at Goa Shipyard Limited(GSL). These ships though designed by Russian design bureau will have about 60% indigenous content and delivered by 2026-27. With rolling out of two frigates by GSL , India will have another line of production for small frigates.
Way Ahead
As for as warship building is concerned the seeds of Make in India were sowed in early sixties itself. India has certainly crossed the learning phase and is now fully equipped to build all types of warships and auxiliary ships for domestic use as well as for export. While MDL’s hands were full with production of weapon intensive platforms , the GRSE , GSL and HSL took up construction of smaller ships such as Survey vessels, ASW shallow water crafts, Diving vessels, Offshore Patrol vessels, Fast Patrol vessels etc. Some of the private shipyards also started shipbuilding activities and orders were placed on them for less weapon intensive platforms. However except L&T none of them have been able to sustain operations.The way ahead is to use the combined capacity and experience of our public sector and private shipyards to build ships/ boats not only for Indian Navy and Coast guard but also for Army, Marine police as well as for the commercial world. Export of ships , of which all shipyards have previous experience , needs to be progressed aggressively for supply of warships to friendly countries and auxiliary ships globally. This will help in creating volumes for our materials and equipment and make it more cost-effective for Indian Shipbuilding to be competitive in the global market.
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R. Adm. AK Saxena (retd.) |