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| INS Jalashwa (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI
NEW DELHI — The Indian Navy has floated a US $2.6 billion domestic tender for construction of four landing platform docks (LPDs) and bids were sent to domestic shipyards, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering, and ABG Shipyard.
A senior Navy planner said the service will select a winning design based on the low bidder. State-owned Hindustan Shipyard Ltd. (HSL) then will build two LPDs based on that design and the winning company will build two.
This will be India’s first attempt to build the 20,000-ton vessels.
“The Indian Navy is in dire need of modernizing its amphibious capacity and enhancing its sea lift capability. Given its large island assets and the fact that India is emerging as a security provider and guarantor in the Indian ocean region [which has many island nations], the need of amphibious assets cannot be understated. The addition of four LPDs is hence an instrument in the fulfillment of India’s growing strategic role,” said Probal Ghosh, senior fellow at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation
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