Overview
- The navy commissioned INS Malvan on Wednesday as the second Mahe-class anti-submarine warfare shallow-water craft, with reports variably placing the ceremony in Kochi and Karwar.
- Malvan is about 78 metres long with a displacement near 896–1,100 tonnes, a top speed of 25 knots, 1,800 nautical mile range at 14 knots, and roughly 14 days endurance using pump-jet water‑jet propulsion.
- The ship’s weapons and sensors include a forward RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launcher, triple 324 mm lightweight torpedo tubes for Advanced Light-Weight Torpedoes, anti-submarine mine rails, torpedo‑decoy launchers, a 30 mm naval gun, and remote 12.7 mm guns.
- Built by Cochin Shipyard with more than 80% indigenous content, Malvan draws on suppliers such as Bharat Electronics, Mahindra Defence Systems and Larsen & Toubro and is intended to replace ageing Abhay-class corvettes.
- Malvan is part of a 16-vessel ASW-SWC programme (eight Mahe-class for the Western Fleet and eight Arnala-class for the Eastern Fleet) that the navy says will bolster coastal submarine hunting as it pursues a larger 200-ship force and expects the final hull by June 2028.