Cabinet Notifies Its Contract With L&T For Acquisition Of Three Cadet Training Ships

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday accorded a purchase approval to sign a contract with engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for the acquisition of three cadet training ships at an overall cost of USD 388.5 million. 

The Defence Ministry in its statement further highlighted the delivery of ships scheduled to commence in 2026 under the Buy Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured) category.

It said the ships will cater to the training of all officer cadets, including women, at sea after meeting their basic training of the future requirements in the Indian Navy.

The ships will also provide training to cadets from friendly countries, an aim initiated to strengthen diplomatic relations. The ships will also help to deploy for evacuation of people and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) , the statement added.

It further underlined the ships to be indigenously designed, developed and constructed at L&T shipyard in Kattupalli, Chennai.

The project is likely to generate employment of 22.5 lakh man-days over a period of four-and-half years encouraging active participation of Indian shipbuilding and associated industries, including MSMEs, the statement said.

It underlined the vessels being a proud flag bearer of centers  'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' supporting the ‘Make in India’ initiative, with the majority of the equipment and systems sourced from indigenous manufacturers.