Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft

The Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts (ASW-SWC) is a small surface vessel type designed for anti-submarine warfare in littoral waters. There are two ship classes of the type in operation with the Indian Navy: eight Arnala class for the Eastern Fleet and eight Mahe class for the Western Fleet being built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) and the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), respectively. They were conceived as a replacement to the ageing Abhay-class corvettes of the Indian Navy, and are designed to undertake ASW duties in littoral zones — including subsurface surveillance, search-and-attack unit (SAU) missions and coordinated anti-submarine warfare operations with naval aircraft. They were also designed to provide secondary duties — including defense against intruding aircraft, minelaying and search-and-rescue (SAR).