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Navy's Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel 'Shreyas' launched at GRSE, Kolkata

By CAShorts DeskPublished Source: PIB (Ministry of Defence releases of 10 October 2026, 30 March 2023 and earlier NGOPV releases)

Navy's Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel 'Shreyas' launched at GRSE, Kolkata
Illustration (AI-generated)

Yard 3040 'Shreyas', a Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessel (NGOPV) for the Indian Navy, was launched at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, on 10 October 2026. Eleven NGOPVs of about 3,000 tonnes are on order since March 2023: seven from Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) and four from GRSE. Their roles include maritime surveillance, search and rescue and anti-piracy.

Syllabus: Prelims · Current Affairs & IR; GS3 · Indian Achievements in S&T; GS3 · Security Forces & Agencies

Why it matters

A fisherman adrift after a cyclone, the crew of an oil platform off Mumbai and a merchant sailor on a pirate-prone route all depend on a ship that can stay at sea for weeks and reach them. Sending a destroyer for such work wastes a costly warship built for combat. Offshore patrol vessels do this everyday policing cheaply, and free the bigger ships for war duties. Eleven more of them widen the Navy's watch over India's sea lanes and offshore oil and gas fields. Because Indian yards design and build them, the money and the jobs stay in the country: the Ministry of Defence estimated 110 lakh man-days of work from this one order.

Prelims pointers

  • Offshore patrol vessel (OPV): a long-endurance ship for surveillance, search and rescue, anti-piracy and offshore-asset protection, not a front-line combatant such as a destroyer or frigate.
  • GRSE: a Defence Public Sector Undertaking in Kolkata, on the Hooghly, under the Ministry of Defence; Miniratna Category-I from 2006, it was made a Navratna in 2026.
  • Goa Shipyard Limited: a Defence Public Sector Undertaking on the Zuari river in Goa, established in 1957, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.
  • Department of Defence Production: the Ministry of Defence department that administers the Defence Public Sector Undertakings, including the defence shipyards.
  • Launch versus commissioning: at launch the hull first enters the water; the ship joins the Navy only at commissioning, after fitting out, sea trials and delivery.
  • Exclusive Economic Zone: up to 200 nautical miles from the baselines (UNCLOS Article 57); the coastal State has sovereign rights over its natural resources.
  • Territorial sea: up to 12 nautical miles (UNCLOS); India set its zones in the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976.
  • Indian Coast Guard: an armed force of the Union under the Ministry of Defence, constituted by the Coast Guard Act, 1978; Mazagon Dock is building its six NGOPVs.

Practise a UPSC-style question

With reference to the Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels being built for the Indian Navy, consider the following statements:

1. The contracts for these ships were signed by the Ministry of Home Affairs with two Indian shipyards.

2. Goa Shipyard Limited is the lead shipyard and is building seven of the eleven ships.

3. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers is building the remaining four ships at Kolkata.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. (a) 1 and 2 only
  2. (b) 2 and 3 only
  3. (c) 1 and 3 only
  4. (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

1 is incorrect: the Ministry of Defence, not the Ministry of Home Affairs, signed the contracts on 30 March 2023. 2 is correct: Goa Shipyard Limited is the lead shipyard with seven of the eleven ships. 3 is correct: GRSE, the follow shipyard, builds four ships at Kolkata, where 'Shreyas' was launched.

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