Indian Navy to lease 1 Replenishment Oiler amid delays in HSL deal
Indian Navy has released a RFP to lease 01 fuel tanker for a period of 03 years, to be delivered within 10 months from the signing of the deal. The Navy wants the ship to have been built after 2003, have a minimum of 60% indigenous content and be operating under Indian Flag.
Indian Navy plans to acquire 5 Fleet Replenishment Oilers with displacement of 45,000 tons. Hindustan Shipyard Limited, Vishakapatnam was chosen to build the ships along with a foreign OEM assistance. But Turkish consortium was chosen to assist to build a 45000 ton tanker, when they haven’t built a tanker bigger than 17000 tons themselves. This technical issue along with Turkish support to Pakistan has meant that the deal with HSL has yet not been signed.
As an interim solution Indian Navy is now looking to lease 01 ship and have another similar ship on standby for a period of 03 years.
The last date of bid submission is 20th January, 2023. Navy has specified that the tanker will be based in Western Naval command; either in Mumbai or in Karwar. The Ship should be able to refuel Indian Navy Warships when underway via astern refueling.
With INS VIKRANT getting ready for operations, the requirements of tankers are ever increasing. The tanker to be leased should be able to carry between 5,000-30,000 tons of LSHFHSD fuel with a fuel discharge rate of 100-250 TPH.
Indian Navy currently has 04 Replenishment tankers. And eventual requirement is of a total of 10 such ships. A follow on option of 02 more Shakti Class ships was never utilised.
