India's Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) has laid the keel of a new fast patrol vessel (FPV) ordered by the Indian Coast Guard.
The vessel is the fourth of a planned 14 FPVs being built by MDL. Deliveries are scheduled to commence within this year.
The coast guard said the MDL FPVs will each feature more than 60 per cent indigenous content and AI-enabled systems. Space will also be available on for unmanned boats, which can expand the FPV's surveillance, patrol and rescue capabilities.
Each FPV will have a length of 55 metres, a displacement of 300 tonnes, and armament consisting of a 30mm main gun and two 12.7mm machine guns.
Three Everllence 2,960kW main engines will drive waterjets to deliver speeds in excess of 33 knots.
The MDL FPVs are being built concurrently with the eight-strong Adamya-class FPVs manufactured by Goa Shipyard for the coast guard.
The laying of the keel of the fourth MDL FPV occurred on the same day that construction commenced on the fifth vessel in the class.
