INS Ajay finds new life after 64 yrs with more lethal anti-submarine warfare capabilities
Vice Admiral Kiran Deshmukh, Chief of Material, Indian Navy, speaks at the launch of ‘Ajay’, an Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) for the Indian Navy, at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) facility, in Kolkata, on Monday.
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Yard 3034 Ajay, the eighth and last ship of Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW SWC) which was indigenously designed and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), was launched on Monday.
The warship will augment Indian Navy’s underwater domain awareness, Anti-Submarine Warfare and mine laying capabilities.
The ship is equipped with role defining sensors such as a hull mounted sonar and low frequency variable depth sonar (LFVDS), and firepower provided by state-of-the-art torpedoes, anti-submarine rockets, NSG-30 Gun and 12.7 mm SRCG, a Indian Navy spokesperson stated.
The ship is powered by diesel engines and propelled by waterjets. It was launched at the GRSE’s Kolkata facility in the presence of Vice Admiral Kiran Deshmukh, Chief of Materiel (COM). In keeping with the naval tradition, his wife Priya Deshmukh, launched the ship. Senior officials from the Indian Navy and GRSE were present for the event.
With an indigenous content of over 80 per cent, the ship shows government’s initiative of Aatmanirbhar Bharat in the shipbuilding sector.
INS Ajay, originally delivered in 1961 as India’s first indigenous warship built by GRSE, set the path for domestic defence shipbuilding. While Yard 3034 Ajay, carries forward that heritage of GRSE’s shipbuilding process, the government shipbuilder stated.
First warship
The first warship of this series of ASW Shallow Water Crafts, INS Arnala, was commissioned into the Navy on June 18, 2025. Androth, the second ship, has also completed its contractor sea trials successfully and is ready to be delivered.
The GRSE stated that Ajay was launched less than nine months after the launch of Abhay, the 7th vessel in the series.
Published on July 21, 2025
