Navy proposes to build huge ship landing docks

NEW DELHI: Having cleared the decks for manufacture of large aircraft carriers indigenously, the navy is now proposing to venture into building huge ship landing docks to give it the capability to carry heavily armed troops and armaments over oceans.
    
The Naval Design Bureau has now finalised plans to go ahead to manufacture over 20,000 tonne displacement landing
ship docks on the pattern of the INS Jalashva, which it recently acquired from the US Navy.
    
Along with trying its hand on manufacturing such large warships, the navy has also proposed to the government to set
up two more public-sector shipyards located on the east and west coast, as its order book for vessels grow.
    
India, at present, only has the knowhow to manufacture smaller amphibious warships of 4,000 to 6,000 thousand tonne
displacement. The navy has three such vessels on deployment but with New Delhi's commitments growing in view of demands
for humanitarian assistance at sea, plans have now been cleared to go in for larger ship landing docks.
    
However, as in the case of aircraft carriers, the navy lacks the design expertise to build such huge warships. In the
case of the indigenous carrier being built at Kochi shipyard, the navy has roped in an Italian firm Fincantieri.
    
In order to build the country's first ever blue water troop carrier, the navy is looking at a number of designs,
including American and French.