Larsen and Toubro, on Tuesday, 9 July, announced that they have secured an order to construct two fleet support ships for the Indian Navy from Hindustan Shipyard. 

Fleet Support Ships (FSS) are specialised naval vessels that offer logistics and material support to naval task forces at sea. These ships, with a displacement of 45,000 tonnes, will be among the largest in India’s naval fleet and the first of their kind to be built in domestic shipyards.

Larsen and Toubro announced in a filing that both ships are being constructed concurrently. These two FSS are part of a contract the Indian Navy signed with Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in August 2023 to design and construct five such ships.

The company added that these two fleet support ships will be constructed at its greenfield shipyard near Chennai.

The company entered the defence ship-building business in 2010, and since then, they have designed and constructed these ships in-house and have delivered more than 70 defence vessels, highlighting their ‘Make in India’ capabilities, and have delivered most of these vessels either ahead or on schedule.