Indian Navy: 78 platforms and 120 fast interceptor craft worth ₹2.41 trillion get Acceptance of Necessity; RFP issued for four LPDs

Key facts

• Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ajay Kochhar said on October 19, 2026 that 42 naval platforms are on order, while another 78 platforms and 120 fast interceptor craft worth approximately ₹2.41 trillion have been accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN).
• The request for proposal (RFP) for four landing platform docks (LPDs) was issued to shortlisted shipyards in the week before October 19, 2026, and the RFP for the next-generation frigate was issued a couple of weeks earlier.
• Vice Admiral Kochhar briefed the media in New Delhi on Swavlamban 2026, the Indian Navy's flagship innovation and indigenisation seminar, to be held in New Delhi on October 26 and 27, 2026.
• The navy has started 'Make' category programmes for an indigenous diesel engine and received AoN for a 24-28 megawatt marine gas turbine, and has signed MoUs with government approvals for electric propulsion.
• Integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP) technology is to be developed under an inter-governmental agreement with the United Kingdom and is earmarked for the four LPDs the navy plans to acquire.
• Swavlamban has grown from around 800 participants in its first edition to nearly 3,000 last year, with over 4,000 proposals received through the Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDEX) framework and around 150 MSMEs and start-ups participating.
• Under Swavlamban, Acceptance of Necessity has been accorded for projects worth more than ₹3,500 crore and contracts worth over ₹1,900 crore have been concluded.
• Swavlamban challenges include quantum positioning systems, high-power microwave directed-energy systems, an extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle and indigenous ramjet engines for fixed-wing aerial platforms.