The Ministry of Defence on Friday (25 March) signed a contract with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for acquisition of Two Multi-Purpose Vessels (MPVs) for Indian Navy at an overall cost of Rs 887 crore under “Buy-Indian” category, said an official release.

The contract was signed in the presence of Vice Admiral S N Ghormade, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and Pankaj Agarwal, Additional Secretary and director general acquisition.

Delivery of vessels is scheduled to commence from May 2025, the Defence Ministry said in a release.

The MPVs will be the first of its kind platform, constructed to provide a cost-effective solution to meet a variety of requirements of Indian Navy, according to the ministry.

These vessels, to be built by L&T shipyard at Kattupally (Chennai), will perform multi-role support functions such as maritime surveillance and patrol, launching or recovery of torpedoes and operation of various types of aerial, surface and underwater targets for gunnery or ASW firing exercises, the ministry said.

These vessels would also be capable of towing ships and rendering Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR) support with limited hospital ship capability. They will also act as trial platform for naval weapons and sensors under development, support platform for ISV & salvage operations, and to provide logistics support for our island territories, it said.

The ministry said that this contract will further boost and encourage active participation of Indian Shipbuilding Industry in consonance with the “AatmanirbharBharat” initiatives of the Central government.