KOLKATA (PTI): The Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Ltd on Thursday commenced production of the first of the eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts for the Indian Navy, a top official of the Defence PSU said.

The contract for the construction of the eight ships at a cost of Rs 6,311 crore was signed with the Navy in April 2019, GRSE Chairman and Managing Director Rear Admiral (retd) V K Saxena said.

"It's a small but very complex anti-submarine warfare ship and is going to be a very potent platform," he said.

He said that the design of the ship has been completed and the production of the first ship commenced on Thursday.

The compact and complex stealth crafts will be packed with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors like hull mounted sonar, towed sonar, torpedo launchers and rocket launcher to interdict and destroy sub-surface targets in coastal waters.

The crafts are capable of search and rescue and low intensity maritime operations and are propelled by water-jets capable of doing high speeds, Saxena said.

Contracts for 16 anti-submarine warfare shallow water crafts (ASWSWC) were signed with GRSE, Kolkata and Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi for construction of eight ships each, according to the Indian Navy.

Delivery of the ships is scheduled to commence from October 2022, with two ships per year subsequently, by each shipyard, it said.

In view of India's vast coastline of 7516.6 kilometres with 12 major ports, 184 minor ports and 1197 island territories, coastal surveillance for anti-submarine warfare operations is considered critical.

Induction of these specialised ships with lower draught would significantly enhance coastal shallow water anti-submarine warfare capability of the Navy.