Navy to get 4 Water Jet Fast Attack Craft

The Navy will get four new Water Jet Fast Attack Craft by the end of March 2016 for conducting attack missions, anti-smuggling, anti-poaching and rescue operations, officials said on Tuesday. The Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) is building the four warships in its Kolkata yard. 

Commodore Ratnakar Ghosh, Director (shipbuilding), GRSE, said that two of the ships would be delivered to the Navy by December and the third one two months later.

"We are trying our best to deliver the fourth one also by March," the official said. The ships are meant for attack missions as well as patrolling, anti-smuggling, anti-poaching and rescue operations carried out by the Navy.

A formal launching ceremony of the three Water Jet Fast Attack Craft (WJFAC) was held today. They have been named- Tarmugli, Tillanchang and Tihayu – after different islands in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

Two of them are also expected to participate in the international fleet review to be held in Visakhapatnam during February 2016. After launching into the sea, fitting out of equipment and ship systems would be completed and the ships would be put to sea for trials before commissioning. 

These ships are an improved version of fast attack craft built by GRSE from 2009 to 2011.

Designed for a maximum speed of 35 knots, these ships are 48m long, 7.5m wide and displace around 315 tonnes.