India's Ministry of Defence finalised a project for the procurement of four Landing Helicopter Docks in order to upgrade the Indian Navy's disaster response, amphibious warfare and island protection capabilities. The project is worth ₹16,000 crore, and tenders were issued in December 2013 to three domestic shipyards.
History
As a precautionary measure against People's Republic of China's naval presence in the Indian Ocean, acquiring amphibious warfare ships and aircraft carriers has become a top priority for Indian Navy. Consequently, Andaman and Nicobar Command is being developed into a major Amphibious Warfare Hub for Indian Navy and it is considered crucial to counter China's strategic moves in the Indian Ocean as well as ensure security of these sea lanes. In 2011, it was reported that India is looking for up to four LHD type aviation and amphibious ships, with designs to come from foreign firms. In November 2013, the Defence Ministry has issued a tender for building warships which can carry helicopters. The tender was issued as part of efforts by the government to build the capabilities of the indigenous industry.
Criteria for selection
Although moderately flexible, the basic criteria are:
Contenders
''Mistral'' LHD (DCNS, France)
's contender is a modified version of the ship. The ships in this class are generally able to carry around 900 armed troops and 16 heavy or 35 light helicopters. France's DCNS is currently India's shipbuilding partner for its new diesel electricfast attack submarines. The Mistral design meets every criterion for the MRSV project and Egypt and France operate these ships.
Multi-functional ship LHD (Fincantieri, Italy)
The Indian Navy recently received the first constructed by Italy's Fincantieri which is currently working with India to build. Although Fincantieri has a history of naval industrial relations with India, it is yet to fully develop a ship that fits the criteria for Multi-Role Support Vessel. However, according to their website, Fincantieri is fully capable of manufacturing a vessel which they list as a 20,000 tonne "multi-functional ship". This ship is purported to be suitable for the "MRSV" title.
''Juan Carlos I'' class (Navantia, Spain)
Navantia built the LHD for the Spanish Navy, and is building two similar ships for the Royal Australian Navy. It is also a strong contender for the title of "Multi-Role Support Vessel" as it meets each criterion perfectly. With its ski jump for STOVL operations, it is conceptually similar to a LHD and can be used to operate F-35B in case Indian Navy wants. Nonetheless, if India would be willing to compromise with a smaller vessel or LPD, then this would expand Navantia's scope by including the LPD, which was co-developed with Royal Schelde.
Progress
The Indian Navy issued a ₹16,000 crore domestic tender to three domestic shipyards - Larsen & Toubro which has tied up with Navantia of Spain, Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering which has partnered with France's DCNS, and ABG Shipyard which has partnered with United States' Alion. After the winning design is selected, the private shipyard will construct two LPDs and the remaining two will be constructed by state-owned Hindustan Shipyard Ltd. Later it was decided to give the entire LPD contract to private players upon acceptance of their revised bids. After years of delay, on 21 May 2017 Ministry Defense gave "In-principle approval" for the project. In November 2019 Business Insider reported that the Navy is approaching Ministry of Defence to scrap this tender and issue a fresh one in the near future. The main reasons behind this was reported to be years of delays and technological advancements made in amphibious assault ships in the years since the tender was issued in 2006.
