L&T launches first OPV ICG Vikram made for Indian Coast Guard

By Sangeeta Saxena

Kattupalli.27October2017. It was the spirit of celebration which greeted everyone who entered Larsen & Toubro’s port near Chennai. Men in white from the Indian Coast Guard thronged the area and a bedecked ship was the cynosure of all eyes.

The occasion was the launch of the first Offshore Patrol Vessel, ICG Vikram a 100% in-house design made by an Indian private sector for Indian Coast Guard and L&T the manufacturer gave the world the first look with pride and in record time. L&T launched the first of a series of seven OPVs for the ICG.

Indian Ministry of Defence in March 2015 had awarded L&T to design and build seven OPVs for an order value of Rs. 1432 Crores. The first OPV has to be handed over to ICG within 36 months from signing of the contract subsequent vessels at intervals of 6 months. The afloat phase has begun, post which will be the harbour trials followed by sea trials and Vice Admiral B Kannan (Retd), MD & CEO L&T Shipbuilding hopes to give ICG a new year gift by handing over the OPV before the stipulated date. The construction of multiple OPVs is progressing ahead of schedule and all are planned to be delivered ahead of the contracted delivery dates.

JD Patil, Whole Time Director (Defence Business) and Member of Larsen & Toubro Board, in an exclusive to ADU said that this was the eight launch in this calendar year by L&T and of the 54 interceptor boats for the Indian Coast Guard, of which 20 have already been delivered and rest are expected to be supplied in a year’s time, in addition to the OPVs being built for them.

“ We are also building a floating deck for the Indian Navy, to be positioned near Andaman Nicobar Islands and it is also designing a landing platform dock to carry helicopters, which would be helpful for rescue and emergency operations. We are expecting to get a contract from the Indian Navy on this,” he added. Referring to the indigenisation percentage on the OPV he informed that the engines and propellants along with some other parts are imported whereas all the engineering systems are Indian making the ship 80-85% indigenous.

OPVs under the project are long range surface ships, capable of operation in maritime zones of India, including island territories with helicopter operation capabilities. Their roles include coastal and offshore patrolling, policing maritime zones of India, control & surveillance, anti-smuggling & anti-piracy with limited wartime roles.

“L&T has now showed that it can use the state-of-the-art digital technologies, match India’s steps in the Make-in-India march by maximising indigenous equipment & system, developing a pool of skilled man power, managing a complex supply chain and finish construction much ahead of schedule. This gives us the confidence to take up the same jobs from navies and coast guards of the world and we plan to market our abilities to prospective users. ” said, Vice Admiral B. Kannan (Retd) in an exclusive chat with ADU.

The vessel that is 97m long, 15m wide, has 3.6m draught, 2140 T displacement with a range of 5000 NM is built for attaining sustained speeds of up to 26 knots. The entire design and construction processes have undergone dual certification from American Bureau of Shipping and Indian Registrar of Shipping and the project is being overseen by the Indian Coast Guard’s resident team at Kattupalli shipyard.

The OPV was launched by Jyoti Murthy wife of Additional Director General of Coast Guard, VSR Murthy, PTM, TM., and was named Vikram in the presence of JD Patil, Whole Time Director (Defence Business) and Member of Larsen & Toubro Board, Vice Admiral B Kannan (Retd), MD & CEO L&T Shipbuilding, and a host of other dignitaries.

S.N. Subrahmanyan, CEO & Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro, congratulating this feat said, “this launch is a reaffirmation of our credentials in the ship building space as this is our third major mandate form the Indian Coast Guard under relationship that began with a contract for 36 Interceptor Boats followed by a repeat contract for 18 more Interceptor Boats. It is also heartening to note that our team has overcome all challenges to remain ahead of contractual schedules for all the mandates. 34 of those Interceptors Boats have already been delivered well ahead of contractual delivery schedule and remaining boats have been constructed and ready for delivery. The timely launch of the first OPV following that of the Floating Dock (FDN-2) for Indian Navy in June 2017, reaffirms our ability to execute and deliver multiple complex projects on time. With a favourable policy environment and government’s thrust on ‘Make in India’, we expect our contribution in indigenous Defence manufacturing to grow manifold in the coming years.”

Additional Director General of Coast Guard, VSR Murthy, PTM, TM.informed that ICG was very satisfied with what they were getting fro L&T and felt that its contribution to making the fourth largest Coast Guard in the world a force to reckon is great. “Aviation units of ICG according to him will see an expansion very soon when a helicopter unit will be raised in Pondicherry and a fixed wing one at Tuticorin. The ship fleet strength of Coast Guard will go up to 200 by 2022. Seventy ships are under construction in six shipyards. Coast Guard currently has 130 ships and 62 aircraft,” Murthy added.” The OPV has new features like an integrated Control Management system, Pollution Control Unit, traversing gear and ability to take on combat roles in defense when need arises, thereby making it the stat-of-the-art, he said.