India’s first indigenously built offshore patrol vessel handed to Coast Guard

OPV Vikram, the first-ever defence vessel to be entirely built in a private shipyard, was handed over by Larsen and Toubro (L&T) to the Indian Coast Guard, ahead of the March 2018 delivery schedule.

The vessel was indigenously developed in-house at L&T’s Kattupalli shipyard. Its entire design and construction processes have undergone dual certification from American Bureau of Shipping and Indian Registrar of Shipping.

Key Highlights

• OPV Vikram is the first of the seven vessels for which Ministry of Defence had awarded Rs 1,432 Cr contract to L&T in March 2015.

• The vessel is equipped with modern weapon and state-of- the-art radar systems.

• It would mainly be deployed for day and night surveillance patrol, search and rescue and in pollution response operations in exclusive economic zones of the country.

• It will be inducted into service by April 2018 after completion of extensive trials of equipment and machineries.

Main Features of OPV Vikram

• The vessel is 97 metres long, 15 metre wide and has 2,140 tonne displacement capacity.

• It has a range of 5,000 nautical miles and can reach speed of up to 26 knots (One knot = 1.852 km/hr).

• It is equipped with state-of-the-art radars, navigation and communication systems capable of operating in tropical conditions.

• At least 60 per cent of the ship’s components have been sourced from domestic suppliers.

• Besides this, the ship is fitted with one 30 mm automatic gun and two 12.7 mm gun with fire control systems.

• It also has an integral twin-engine helicopter and backend helipad that enhances its operational, surveillance, search and rescue capabilities.

Further, Larsen and Toubro had also undertaken the construction of medium "refit and repairs" of ships for the Navy and the Coast Guard. Currently, INS Darshak, a Naval survey vessel, is undergoing refit at the Kattupalli shipyard.

Till date, Larsen and Toubro have delivered six refit defence ships including the largest logistics tanker ship INS Jyoti from the shipyard.

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Current Affairs 2017