Next Generation Missile Vessels

Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMVs) are a planned class of anti-surface warfare corvettes for the Indian Navy. Under this programme the Indian Navy intends to acquire six advanced missile vessels. Ships in this class will be armed with Anti-ship missile or Land-attack missile like BrahMos. Ships under this class will feature advanced stealth features like a low radar cross section (RCS), infrared, acoustic and magnetic signatures.

Development
On 2 January 2015 the Ministry of Defence (MOD) issued a Request For Information (RFI) under Buy Indian and Make Indian category for six new missile corvettes by initiating the Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMVs) programme. Vendors who chose to respond to the RFI must meet "minimum qualifying criteria" mainly, shipyard should have already built "vessel(s) of similar specifications". An RfP worth $2.2 billion was filed by the Government of India to various Indian shipyards seeking for various warships including six missile boats.

On 23 February 2021, Cochin Shipyard (CSL) won the bid to construct 6 Next Generation Missile Vessels (NGMV) for a cost ₹10,000 crores.

On 30 March 2023, MoD signed the contract for acquisition of six NGMV with CSL at a cost of inr 98050000000. The delivery of ships is scheduled to commence from March 2027. According to MoD, the construction of these ships will generate an employment of 45 lakh man-days over a period of nine years.

On 15 September 2023, Bharat Electronics Limited announced that they have received an order worth inr 21185700000 from CSL to supply "state-of-the-art technology" including sensors and weapons equipment for the NGMV project.

On 29 March 2024, CSL signed another deal with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited worth inr 11730000000 for in-house manufacturing six units of LM2500 for NGMV, which are scheduled to be delivered between 2026 and 2029.

Design and description
The RFI suggests that ships will be about 2,200-2,800 tonnes each. The new ships will have a complement of 11 officers, 2 trainee officers and 80 sailors. The range will be at least 2800 nmi (1000 nmi at full speed) and speed performance will be 25 kn (max speed of 35 kn). The ships will carry eight surface-to-surface missiles, a full-fledged surface-to-air missile (SAM) system with point defence capabilities and a 15 km range MR gun system. The ships will also have radar and electro-optically (EO) guided close-in weapon systems (CIWS) with 360-degree anti-missile defence.