During Indian defense minister Rajnath Singh’s recent visit to Moscow, New Delhi was offered Russian minesweepers, which would be built in India, in case the deal fructifies.
The Indian navy is currently in urgent need of new generation minesweepers to replace 12 Pondicherry-class ships. On November 6, Russian side offered its Project 12701 Alexandrit-E ships under a transfer of technology (ToT) pact with India’s Goa Shipyard Limited.
The hull of the minesweeper is made of monolithic fiberglass formed by vacuum infusion. The 890-ton minesweeper is designed to provide mine protection of naval bases, coastal sea areas, to detect and destroy mines of all kinds, to provide mine protection for ships, exclusive economic zones, to carry out mine reconnaissance, and also to lay minefields. Read More…
