Following the news that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the procurement of eight next-generation corvettes (NGC) for the Indian Navy;

Tushar Mangure, Defense Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“The eight next-generation Corvettes (NGCs) will provide a much-needed boost to India’s naval shipbuilding industry and could include a significantly higher level of indigenous materials, equipment and weapon systems such as the Vertical Launch-Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) and BrahMos-NG, both of which are in advanced stages of development.

“The NGCs are expected to be primarily designed for Anti-surface warfare (ASuW) but may also possess capabilities for undertaking additional roles including surveillance, Surface Action Group (SAG) operations, and coastal defence.

“The addition of NGCs with state-of-the-art sensors, communication, and electronic warfare systems will enable the Indian Navy to reinforce its network-centric warfare capabilities, which is limited in the present in-service Corvettes.

“Construction of the NGCs will use cutting-edge shipbuilding techniques for build quality enhancement and efficiency including the use of advanced materials such as Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) for Radar Cross Section (RCS) and weight reduction.”