The Indian Navy has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for the procurement of six Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK-V vessels under the Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, signalling a major push towards strengthening the country's amphibious warfare, logistics support and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) capabilities.

The proposed vessels are expected to significantly enhance the Navy’s ability to transport troops, heavy equipment and military vehicles across India's vast maritime theatre, particularly in the strategically important Indian Ocean Region.

The RFI has been issued to Indian shipyards in line with the broader objective of promoting indigenous shipbuilding and increasing domestic participation in naval modernisation programs. The procurement is planned under the Buy (Indian-IDDM) category, which places a strong emphasis on indigenous design, development and manufacturing. Shipyards responding to the RFI are required to provide details regarding indigenous content and domestic industrial participation.

According to the naval requirements outlined in the RFI, each LCU MK-V vessel will have an overall length of approximately 85 metres and a displacement of around 1,500 tons, with an allowable variation of 15 per cent. These specifications indicate a substantially larger platform than the Navy's existing LCU MK-IV vessels, enabling greater payload capacity and extended operational reach.

The vessels will be powered by diesel propulsion systems and will be required to achieve a maximum speed of at least 15 knots. While speed remains important for tactical mobility, the greater emphasis appears to be on endurance and payload capacity, allowing the platforms to sustain operations over extended distances across the Indian Ocean Region.

A key requirement is an endurance of approximately 4,500 nautical miles. This represents a major increase over the endurance available on the existing MK-IV class, providing the Navy with a much greater ability to support long-range deployments, distant island territories and prolonged maritime operations without frequent replenishment.

The vessels are expected to operate effectively in Sea State 3 conditions while retaining survivability up to Sea State 7. Such requirements highlight the Navy's intention to ensure that the platforms remain capable of functioning across a wide spectrum of maritime environments, including adverse weather conditions frequently encountered during monsoon periods and open-ocean operations.

Each LCU MK-V will be designed with a planned service life of 30 years. This long operational lifespan reflects the Navy's expectation that the vessels will remain a key component of its amphibious and logistics fleet well into the middle of the century.

For amphibious missions, the platform will be capable of carrying at least four Main Battle Tanks, four BMP Infantry Fighting Vehicles and 190 fully equipped troops. Such a combination of armour, mechanised infantry and personnel transport capability provides considerable operational flexibility during expeditionary operations, island reinforcement missions and rapid military deployments.

The vessel is specifically intended to support troop transport and equipment movement between ships and shore locations. This ship-to-shore capability remains one of the most critical requirements for amphibious warfare, allowing armed forces to rapidly establish a presence in coastal areas and island territories when required.

Beyond traditional military roles, the new LCUs will also perform logistics support missions to India's island territories. This function has become increasingly important given the strategic significance of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and other remote locations that require regular transportation of personnel, supplies, vehicles and engineering equipment.

The platforms will also support Exclusive Economic Zone patrol duties. This means the vessels can contribute to maritime domain awareness, coastal security operations and the protection of India's maritime interests across vast stretches of sea.

Search and Rescue missions have also been identified as a key operational task. The large carrying capacity and robust design of the vessels would enable them to assist in maritime emergencies, evacuation operations and disaster response efforts during natural calamities or accidents at sea.

Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief remains another major driver behind the requirement. India's growing role as a regional security provider has led to increasing deployments of naval assets for disaster response across the Indian Ocean Region.

The ability to transport large quantities of relief supplies, engineering equipment, medical teams and emergency personnel can prove invaluable following cyclones, tsunamis, floods and other natural disasters.

The requirement also reflects changing strategic realities in the Indian Ocean Region. India's island territories occupy critical positions near major international shipping routes, and the Navy requires robust sealift capabilities to rapidly reinforce these locations whenever necessary. Larger and more capable landing craft can help maintain operational readiness across dispersed maritime assets.

The Indian Navy currently operates eight indigenous LCU MK-IV vessels built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE). These vessels have played an important role in supporting amphibious operations, logistics missions and disaster-relief activities, particularly in the Andaman and Nicobar region.

The MK-IV vessels are significantly smaller, measuring approximately 62.8 metres in length and displacing between around 830 and 1,001 tons. They have an endurance of roughly 1,500 nautical miles at cruising speed and are designed to transport armoured vehicles, tanks and personnel.

Compared with the existing fleet, the proposed MK-V represents a substantial leap in capability. The increased displacement, enlarged cargo capacity and tripled endurance requirement would allow the Navy to undertake more ambitious logistics and operational missions across wider geographical areas.

The acquisition is also expected to strengthen India's indigenous naval industrial ecosystem. The construction of six relatively large amphibious vessels will generate opportunities across shipbuilding, marine engineering, propulsion systems, electronic equipment, combat systems integration and associated supply chains.

The emphasis on indigenous content aligns with ongoing efforts to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers while simultaneously enhancing domestic manufacturing capabilities. Naval shipbuilding has become one of the strongest pillars of India's defence industrial base, with Indian shipyards delivering aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes, submarines and amphibious vessels in recent years.

The planned procurement demonstrates that amphibious and logistics capabilities remain a major priority for the Navy even as it continues to invest in aircraft carriers, submarines, long-range maritime surveillance assets and network-centric warfare systems.

As India's maritime footprint continues to expand, sealift platforms such as the LCU MK-V will play an increasingly important role in supporting military operations, strategic mobility, island sustainment, humanitarian missions and maritime security tasks.

The issuance of the RFI marks the first formal step towards identifying capable Indian shipyards that can participate in the program.

While the final procurement timeline, project value and eventual shipbuilder selection have not yet been publicly disclosed, the requirement clearly points towards the Navy's intention to field a larger, longer-range and more versatile generation of landing craft capable of supporting both military and non-military missions throughout the Indian Ocean Region.

Indian Navy RFI