Reliance Defence bags Rs 916 cr contract from Coast Guard

By OEM Update Editorial January 30, 2017 6:06 pm IST

Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL), a wholly-owned arm of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra), has signed a Rs. 916 crore contract with Defence Ministry for design and construction of 14 Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) for Indian Coast Guard.

FPVs are medium range, high speed vessels primarily utilised for patrol within Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), costal patrol, anti-smuggling, antipiracy, search and rescue operations. It also supports front line warships in the hour of need.

“RDEL emerged winner through a competitive bidding process undertaken by Defence Ministry with participation from almost all the private sector and public sector shipyards namely, L&T, Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE),” the company said in a statement. It adds that this is the first time, a private sector shipyard has been awarded a contract to design and build such class of ships for Indian armed forces. RDEL will be developing the design in-house.

Reliance Shipyard with the largest dry-dock of the country has successfully mastered the block-construction technique through unique ‘modular construction technology’ for building large ships for both commercial usage and Navy, the statement said.

“The shipyard with state-of-the-art technology, processes and skilled man-power is well poised to deliver any class of vessel in a most optimum timeframe,” the company claims.