Indian Navy Receives Indigenous ASW Shallow Water Craft Amini from GRSE in Tamil Nadu

New Delhi, November 7, 2026: The Indian Navy received Amini, an indigenously designed and built Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW SWC), on November 5, 2026, adding a specialised coastal warfare platform to its fleet. Built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, the vessel is part of India’s broader effort to expand domestic naval shipbuilding capacity and strengthen maritime security in shallow and littoral waters.

The delivery of Amini comes as the Navy continues its modernisation drive with a focus on underwater warfare, coastal surveillance and the protection of critical maritime approaches. Designed for operations in shallow waters, the ship is intended to help detect, track and engage submarine threats in areas where conventional warships may be less effective.

GRSE constructed the vessel in line with the classification rules of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS), reflecting the increasing technical maturity of Indian shipyards in building advanced naval platforms to naval standards. The ship’s delivery at Kattupalli, Tamil Nadu, underlines the spread of India’s shipbuilding ecosystem across more than one industrial centre, even as GRSE remains based in Kolkata.

Among the defining features of the ASW Shallow Water Craft class is its waterjet propulsion system. These vessels are among the largest Indian naval warships propelled by waterjets, a configuration that improves manoeuvrability and makes them well suited to shallow coastal operating environments.

Amini is fitted with modern anti-submarine warfare equipment, including lightweight torpedoes, indigenous rocket launchers and advanced sonars. These systems give the ship the ability to detect and engage underwater threats, strengthening the Navy’s capacity to conduct anti-submarine operations in strategically sensitive maritime zones.

While anti-submarine warfare is its primary role, the vessel is also designed for coastal surveillance and mine-laying operations. That gives the Navy a more versatile platform for use in littoral waters, where surveillance, deterrence and area-denial tasks often overlap.

The importance of such platforms is heightened by India’s long coastline, its strategically located island territories and the maritime trade routes that pass through or near Indian waters. Specialized shallow-water ships are particularly relevant in these settings because they can operate closer to shore and in areas that larger warships may not access as freely.

A name linked to Lakshadweep and naval tradition

The vessel takes its name from Amini Island in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, continuing the Indian Navy’s practice of naming ships after places of national and maritime significance. The naming also connects the new ship to an earlier platform that carried the same name.

Amini follows the legacy of the erstwhile INS Amini, a Petya III-class anti-submarine warfare corvette that served with the Indian Navy before being decommissioned in 2002. By reviving the name, the Navy preserves continuity with its service history while fielding a modern warship equipped with newer technologies and systems.

High indigenous content and Aatmanirbhar Bharat push

A key feature of Amini is that more than 80 percent of its content is indigenous. That figure highlights the progress made by India’s domestic defence-industrial base in designing and producing naval ships and associated systems within the country.

The ship’s construction involved Indian shipyards, equipment manufacturers and technology providers working on a sophisticated combat platform. The delivery therefore reflects not only the capabilities of GRSE, but also the wider ecosystem that supports indigenous naval production.

The project fits into the Government of India’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, which aims to reduce dependence on imported defence equipment while strengthening domestic design, manufacturing and technological capability. In practical terms, vessels such as Amini are meant to deepen self-reliance in critical defence sectors while meeting operational needs.

The delivery also reinforces GRSE Kolkata’s role in India’s naval shipbuilding programme, particularly in the segment of specialised warships designed for coastal defence and anti-submarine operations.

Fifth vessel in an eight-ship programme

Amini is the fifth of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft being built by GRSE for the Indian Navy. The ship was handed over on November 5, 2026, at Kattupalli, Tamil Nadu.

The vessel measures approximately 77.6 metres in length and has a shallow draught of around 2.7 metres, characteristics that make it suitable for coastal operations. Its intended tasks include underwater surveillance, submarine detection and coordinated anti-submarine missions alongside naval aircraft.

Its diesel-engine-powered waterjet propulsion system provides the manoeuvrability needed to work in shallow waters, where larger vessels may encounter navigational limits. That capability is central to the craft’s role in protecting coastal approaches and maintaining underwater awareness near shore.

The addition of Amini strengthens the Navy’s fleet development programme as it builds a more specialised set of platforms for coastal defence and underwater security. With its anti-submarine systems, shallow-water design and high indigenous content, the vessel adds another domestically built capability to India’s maritime order of battle.