India manufactured first warship named MCGS Barracuda is to be exported to Mauritius in December 2014. The off-shore patrol vessel was developed by the State-owned, Kolkatta based Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE). GRSE is a mini-ratna PSU functioning under the Ministry of Defence.
“This was the first warship export order for any domestic shipyard. We are going to handover the Mauritius Offshore Patrol Vessel (MOPV) Barracuda to the Mauritius delegation in Kolkata on December 20,” GRSE’s Chairman and Managing Director A K Verma reported.
MCGS Barracuda (First India’s warship export to Mauritius) has been valued at a cost of $58.5 million. The 1,350-tonne offshore patrol vessel (OPV) is under sea trials currently. The offshore patrol vessel measures 74.10 m in length and 11.40 m in breadth and which has the capacity to move at a maximum speed of 22 knots. GRSE had signed the contract for the supply of offshore patrol vessel to Mauritius in 2011.
It is capable of carrying out multi-purpose roles such as anti-piracy operations, search and rescue, anti-smuggling and anti-drug surveillance among others. It will also equipped with a pollution control suit which can be used to deal with oil-spills.
India has gifted several warships to nearby smaller Indian Ocean countries such as Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius. It has already sold used vessels, such as a Sukanya-class OPV that in the operation of the Sri Lankan navy. GRSE is in final stage of designing a series of 140-tonne Fast Patrol Boats for the Vietnam Navy. Indian Government has also offered a line of credit to Vietnam for that order.
GRSE is also bidding for Phillipines’s frigates order worth Rs 2,000 crore and is short-listed for INR 600 crore worth petrol boat project for Vietnam. The miniratna PSU has 16 orders in its books amounting to INR 10,000 crore from the Indian Navy.
Since 1961, GRSE had built 92 warships and 700 vessels for the Indian Navy and police force for coastal surveillance. GRSE has won Governance Now PSU award for 2014 in the Category of Strategic Turnaround.