INS Arnala (2022)

NameINS Arnala

History

Arnala at sea.




India
Name	INS Arnala
Namesake	Arnala Fort
Owner	Indian Navy
Operator	Indian Navy
Ordered	29 April 2019^[1]
Builder	Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) (in partnership with Kattupalli Shipyard of L&T)
Cost	₹789 crore (US$93 million) (FY2020)
Yard number	3029
Laid down	6 August 2021^[2]
Launched	20 December 2022^[3]
Acquired	8 May 2025^[4]
Commissioned	18 June 2025^[5]
Identification	Pennant number: P68
Motto	अर्णवे शौर्यम् (Sanskrit) "Valour in the Ocean" (translated)^[6]
Status	In active service
Badge


General characteristics
Type	Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft
Displacement	900 t (890 long tons)^[7]
Length	77.6 m (254 ft 7 in)^[8]
Beam	10.5 m (34 ft 5 in)^[8]
Draft	2.7 m (8 ft 10 in)^[8]
Propulsion	Water-jet propulsion^[9]
Speed	25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)
Range	1,800 nmi (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)^[8]
Boats & landing craft carried	1 x RHIB^[10]
Crew	57 (7 officers + 50 sailors)
Sensors & processing systems	Combat suite: ASW Combat Suite (presumably the DRDO-developed IAC MOD 'C' combat suite)^[11]^[12] Sonar: DRDO Abhay Hull-Mounted Sonar (HMS)^[13] Low Frequency Variable Depth Sonar (LFVDS)^[11] Management systems: Fire Control System (FCS) Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS)^[11] Automatic Power Management System (APMS)^[11] Battle Damage Control System (BDCS)^[11]
Armament	Anti-submarine warfare: 1 × RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launcher^[10] 2 × triple lightweight torpedo launchers (Advanced Light-Weight Torpedo (ALWT))^[9] Anti-submarine mines (launched from mine-laying rails) Guns: 1 × Naval Surface Gun (30 mm) 2 × OFT 12.7 mm M2 Stabilized Remote Controlled Gun
Notes	Largest class of waterjet-powered vessels in the Indian Navy.

INS Arnala is the lead ship of the Arnala class of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Watercraft operated by the Indian Navy.

Background

On 23 December 2013, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) –- the main acquisition panel subordinate to India's Ministry of Defence (MoD), approved the procurement of sixteen anti-submarine warfare (ASW) vessels capable of operating in shallow waters, at a cost of ₹13,440 crore (equivalent to ₹230 billion or US$2.7 billion in 2023), to replace the ageing Abhay-class corvettes of the Indian Navy – which were commissioned between 1989 and 1991. This includes the development of the vessels with about 700 t (690 long tons; 770 short tons) displacement and an operational radius of 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) from its home port. They would be built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE).^[14]^[15]

In June 2014, the MoD issued a tender, worth USD2.25 billion under the 'Buy and Make India' category to private-shipyards – including Larsen & Toubro (L&T), ABG Shipyard, Pipavav Defense and Offshore Engineering, Goa Shipyard (GSL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), for the procurement of the 16 anti-submarine vessels.^[16]

In October 2017, Cochin Shipyard (CSL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) emerged as the first and the second-lowest bidder in the tender, respectively. CSL had quoted a value of ₹5,400 crore (US$829.22 million) while GRSE had to match the bid value of CSL in order to get the contract.^[17]

Purchase

On 29 April 2019, the MoD and GRSE signed a contract, valued at ₹6,311.32 crore (equivalent to ₹78 billion or US$930 million in 2023), for eight anti-submarine vessels, to be delivered between 2022 and 2026. The contract mandates the first vessel to be delivered within 42 months of the date of signing, with the remaining seven vessels delivered at a rate of two ships per year within 84 months.^[1]^[18]

On 30 April 2019, the MoD and CSL signed a similar contract for the construction of the remaining eight vessels – within a deadline of 84 months.^[19] Under this contract, the first ship was also expected to be delivered within a span of 42 months, with subsequent deliveries of two ships per year.^[18]^[20]^[21]

Construction

GRSE formed a Public Private Partnership alliance with Larsen & Toubro involving its Kattupalli Shipyard to undertake the entire ASW SWC project along with the Survey Vessel (Large) Project.^[2]

The keel laying ceremony of the ship was conducted on 6 August 2021 at Kattupalli Shipyard.^[2] Christened Arnala, the ship was launched into the water of the Bay of Bengal on 20 December 2022. The chief guest of the event was Smt Rasika Chaube, Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence.^[3]^[22]

By March 2025, the Contractor Sea Trials (CST) of INS Arnala was completed by GRSE. As per a press release, "CST is considered the final stage of construction, when a vessel’s seaworthiness is tested".^[23] The ship was delivered to the Navy on 8 May 2025.^[4]

The ship was commissioned on 18 June 2025 at the Naval Dockyard (Visakhapatnam) by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan.^[5]

Namesake

The ship, Arnala, was named after the Arnala Island which is 13 km (8.1 mi) north off Vasai, Maharashtra which reflects the strategic and symbolic significance of the vast maritime territories of India.^[3]^[5]

Design

Arnala-class has a displacement of 900 tonnes^[24] with a gross tonnage of 1,490 tonnes.^[25] The class is considered as the largest warship of the Indian Navy to be designed and propelled by pump-jet technology. The warship is equipped with three marine diesel engines, developing a power output of 6 MW,^[26] coupled with a water jet each. By dimensions, the ship measures 77.6 m (255 ft) by length and 10.5 m (34 ft) by width. It offers a maximum speed of 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph) and a maximum range of 1,800 nmi (3,300 km) at a speed of 14 kn (26 km/h). The ship has a standard accommodation for seven officers and 50 sailors and has a provision to carry an RHIB.^[10]

The ship has an indigenous content of over 80% with equipment from Bharat Electronics, Mahindra Defence, and Larsen & Toubro among others.^[27] The class of warships are designed and developed as per the classification rules of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS).^[28]

Weapons

The weapons suite of Arnala-class is designed to support its intended anti-submarine warfare operations in shallow waters. The anti-submarine weapons that equip the ship includes a forward-mounted RBU-6000, a triple 324 mm lightweight torpedo tube each on port and starboard equipped with Advanced Light-Weight Torpedo (ALWT) at the aft and anti-submarine mine-laying rails. Behind the torpedo tubes, two Mahindra Defence Systems-supplied^[29]^[30]^[31] torpedo decoy launching systems (DLS), as a part of the Integrated Anti-Submarine Warfare Defence Suite (IADS).^[10]

For surface warfare and self-defence, the ship employs a Naval Surface Gun (30 mm),^[32]^[33] which serves the role of main gun as well as two OFT 12.7 mm M2 Stabilized Remote Controlled Gun (SRCG) as general-purpose machine guns. The SRCG is the Indian variant of Elbit Systems' Remote Controlled Naval Weapon Station (RCNWS).^[10]

Sensors

As part of their sensor suite, the Arnala-class ships are equipped with Abhay compact active hull-mounted sonar (HMS), a towed low-frequency variable-depth sonar (LFVDS) procured from a joint venture firm between Indian CFF Fluid Control Ltd. and German Atlas Elektronik, a division of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) along with an underwater acoustic communication system (UWACS).^[10]

The Abhay active sonar system — developed by DRDO's Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) and manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) — includes transducer array, data acquisition system, power amplifier and the dual multi-function console (DMFC). The system utilises advanced adaptive signal and information processing techniques to detect, track and classify of targets.^[10] The compact system helps in the application of the systems onto smaller category of naval warships like Shallows Water Crafts, Light Frigates & Patrol Vessels by replacing legacy Russian sonar. Earlier, hull-mounted sonars were only limited to frigates and destroyers.^[34]

Additionally, the corvette is equipped with two navigation radars, an electronic warfare suite which employs Radar Electronic Support Measures (R-ESM) and Communications ESM (C-ESM) or COMINT and is equipped for Satellite Communications (SATCOM). As part of its network-centric warfare suite, the entire sensors and weapon suite is integrated into the combat management system (CMS) and the ship is equipped with integrated bridge system (IBS), an expadable bathy theromograph (XBT), an automatic identification system (AIS), an echo sounder and an automatic weather observation system (AWOS). The ship employs an integrated ASW complex (IAC) which computes fire control solutions and facilitates firing of ASW weapons including torpedoes and rockets. The IAC was developed by BEL and DRDO.^[10]