A steel-cutting ceremony for two anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft (ASWSWC) to be built by the Cochin Shipyard for the Navy was conducted at the shipyard on Wednesday.

Commodore V. Ganapathy, warship production superintendent of the warship overseeing team (Kochi), conducted the ceremony which marked the beginning of the construction of the fourth and fifth vessels in a series of eight such craft being built by the shipyard.

“These technologically advanced vessels are designed and engineered indigenously and will be equipped with various payloads to cater to the vessels’ functions. The vessel will feature stringent signature and stealth technologies to avoid detection by submarines and other surveillance systems. Significant part of the payloads and solutions will be from Indian firms,” said a release.

The ₹6,300-crore worth contract for these vessels were signed by the shipyard in April, 2019. Ninety months is the completion time.

“These ASWSWC’s are capable of full scale sub-surface surveillance of coastal waters and co-ordinated ASW operations with aircraft. In addition, there vessels will have the capability to interdict/destroy sub-surface targets in coastal waters. They can also be deployed for day and night search and rescue in coastal areas,” said the release.