Larsen and Toubro Ltd. (L&T) announced on Tuesday that its precision engineering systems business vertical has secured a ‘significant’ order from Hindustan Shipyard to construct two fleet support ships for the Indian Navy. L&T defines orders in the range of Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore as ‘significant’. The company informed that the Indian Navy would be the end user of the vessels. Earlier in August 2023, the Indian Navy entered into an agreement with Hindustan Shipyard (HSL) to design and build five fleet support ships (FSS).
FSS are specialised naval vessels that provide material support and logistics to the naval task force at sea. The ship will be over 220 meters long and have a displacement of around 45,000 tons, making them among the largest vessels in the Indian naval fleet.
L&T will build two fleet support ships at its new greenfield shipyard at Kattupalli near Chennai on the east coast of India. The company stated that the shipyard is the most modern in the country, designed in-house and built to globally benchmarked technological practices.
The company stated that the ships are being constructed in domestic shipyards, which aligns with the government’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). To ensure timely delivery, the ships will be built simultaneously by both yards.
“This collaborative approach in shipbuilding will serve as a cornerstone for achieving strategic national objectives of rapidly enhancing the Indian Naval fleet while driving economic activity and technological advancement in India’s maritime domain,” L&T said.
In little over a decade from the receipt of L&T’s first defence shipbuilding order in March 2010, the company has in-house designed, constructed and delivered more than 70 defence vessels, exemplifying its ‘Make in India’ capabilities, with the remarkable achievement of delivering most of these vessels either ahead or on schedule, the company claimed through a press release.
Team BharatShakti
