The defence ministry on Wednesday signed a ₹1,070-crore contract with Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) to boost the capabilities of the Indian Coast Guard with 14 fast patrol vessels (FPVs).
“Along with several high-tech advanced features and equipment, the FPVs will be equipped with multipurpose drones, wirelessly controlled remote water rescue craft and AI capability, enabling greater flexibility and operational edge to the coast guard to face new age multidimensional challenges,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
The new vessels will be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by MDL, and delivered to the coast guard in five years.
The vessels will play a critical role in enhancing fisheries protection and monitoring, control and surveillance, anti-smuggling operations, search and rescue missions, assistance to ships in distress, assistance and monitoring during marine pollution response operations, and anti-piracy operations, the statement said.
In line with the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, the contract will boost the nation’s indigenous shipbuilding capability, it added. “The project will generate employment opportunities and expertise development in the country.”
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy will monitor Chinese surveillance ship Xiang Yang Hong 3 in the Indian Ocean region to ensure that it does not carry out any exploration activity in the Maldivian Exclusive Economic Zone.
Pursuing an ambitious agenda for achieving self-reliance in the defence manufacturing sector, the defence ministry in April 2023 slapped an import ban on 98 weapons and systems including futuristic infantry combat vehicles, ship-borne unmanned aerial systems, medium-range precision kill systems, a variety of ammunition, radars, sensors, and equipment for fighter jets, maritime surveillance planes, warships, helicopters and tanks.
The fifth positive indigenisation list, released by defence minister Rajnath Singh in April, took the number of defence items placed under an import ban during the last three years to 509.
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