The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) made further progress on several offshore patrol vessel (OPV) programmes in February 2020.
The sixth Vikram-class offshore patrol vessel built for the Indian Coast Guard, Vajra. (L&T)
On 28th of the month, the service commissioned ICGS Varad (40), the fifth of seven 98 m Vikram-class OPVs built by Larsen and Toubro Shipbuilding (LTSB), at its Kattupalli shipyard near Chennai.
The commissioning comes two days after the sixth vessel in the same programme, Vajra , was launched at the same facility.
The Vikram class has an overall length of 98.2 m, a beam of 14.7 m, and a draft of about 3.6 m. The 2,900-tonne vessel is powered by a pair of MTU 20V 8000 M71L engines driving two Schottel propellers for a top speed of 26 kt.
Meanwhile, the service took delivery of Sachet , the ninth 105 m Sankalp-class OPV, from Goa Shipyard Limited, on 24 February. It has a beam of 13.62 m, a draft of 3.72 m, and a displacement of 2,400 tonnes.
Like the Vikram class, the Sankalp class is powered by two MTU 20V 8000 M71L diesels coupled to two WIL model 1MG-103W/1PTO gearboxes driving two licence-built Wärtsilä propellers for a maximum speed of 25 kt.
Sachet is the first in a third batch of five Sankalp-class OPVs that was contracted in August 2016. The batch is also referred to in India as the Samarth class Flight II. The vessel was laid down in March 2017 and launched in February 2019.
With the delivery of Varad and Sachet , the ICG’s OPV strength now stands at 23 hulls.
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