Indian Navy launches Next-Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel ‘Sanghmitra’ in Kolkata
New Delhi, May 22. The Indian Navy has launched ‘Sanghmitra’, a Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel (NGOPV), at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) shipyard in Kolkata, marking another milestone in India’s indigenous naval shipbuilding programme.
The vessel, designated Yard 3039, was launched by Sarita Vatsayan on May 20 in the presence of Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan. The ceremony was conducted with full naval honours and attended by senior officials from the Indian Navy, the Ministry of Defence and GRSE.
The NGOPV programme involves the simultaneous construction of 11 next-generation offshore patrol vessels at two shipyards – GRSE in Kolkata and Goa Shipyard Limited in Goa. The ships are being designed and built indigenously to strengthen the Navy’s operational capabilities across multiple domains.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the new vessels will support a wide range of missions including maritime surveillance, coastal and offshore defence, search and rescue operations, protection of offshore assets, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), and anti-piracy operations.
The ship has been named ‘Sanghmitra’ after Sanghamitra, the daughter of Emperor Ashoka, reflecting the Navy’s practice of drawing names from India’s historical and cultural heritage. The vessel’s crest features the constellation Ursa Major along with a red-and-white lighthouse motif.
The launch is being seen as another step forward in the Indian Navy’s efforts to promote indigenous defence manufacturing under the government’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-reliant India) initiatives aimed at enhancing self-reliance in defence production.
