Anti Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft

The ASW-SWC corvettes are anti submarine warfare vessels ordered for the Indian Navy from Cochin Shipyard (CSL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE). They are in the 700 ton range and will replace the Abhay-class corvette currently in service.

History
The Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD) cleared the acquisition of 16 shallow water anti-submarine vessels, to replace Russian-built Abhay-class corvettes commissioned in 1989 and 1991.

In June 2014, under the “Buy and Make India” initiative, the MoD issued a tender to local private sector shipyards, including Larsen & Toubro, ABG Shipyard,  Pipavav Defense and Offshore Engineering,  Goa Shipyard Ltd. and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers. Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers was selected as the winners of the $2.25 billion program. The vessels will be armed with torpedoes, rockets and two 12.7 mm machine guns in remote weapon stations. They are designed to be able to hunt for submarines in shallow waters. They will have a complement of 7 officers and 50 sailors.

In October 2017, CSL and GRSE emerged has the L1 and L2 bidders respectively. They will manufacture 8 ships each.