Technology Demonstration Vessel for DRDO

KOCHI:
The ceremonial event of commencement of Mega Block Assembly of hull blocks of Ship No.20, the Technology Demonstration Vessel, being built for the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) of Government of India was held at CSL.
This is a major milestone in the construction of the ship. Dr S Christopher, Chairman, DRDO and Secretary, Department of Defence R& D, Chief Guest of the function, did the honours. Dr. Christopher, while addressing the gathering appreciated CSL for successfully undertaking construction of such a complex ship.
They believed in the capabilities of CSL while awarding contract for this complex vessel. It is now paying off, he said.
The ship with a length of 118.4 meter, 20 meter width and 7.1 meter draft and having a steel weight of approximately 3900 Tonne was contracted in August 2015.
Madhu S Nair, Chairman & Managing Director, Cochin Shipyard, in his welcome speech highlighted on the importance of this vessel for both DRDO and CSL. The Technology Demonstration Vessel has actually turned out to be a Capability Demonstration Vessel. He also said that the construction of the ship would be an opportunity to CSL to prove its capability in construction of hi-tech niche vessels.
The ceremony was also attended by Dr Subhash Chandra Sati, DG (N
S&M), Dr J Manjula, DG (ECS), U Raja Babu Programme Director (PGAD), Dr Y Sreenivas Rao, Project Director (PGAD) and other senior scientists from DRDO. Paul Ranjan, Director (Finance), Sunny Thomas, Director (Technical) and N V
Suresh Babu, Director (Operations), senior officials, and other employees of CSL also attended the function.
The initial milestone event of steel plate cutting was held on 10 Aug 2016. CSL has successfully accomplished construction of 20 FPV series for the Coast Guard and the Deck Cargo Launch Barge, one of the largest of its kind to NPCC Abu Dhabi. Further to construction of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier for the Indian Navy, and the Technology Demonstration Vessel, CSL has commenced design work for
building of two No. “1200 passenger cum 1000 MT Cargo” and two No. “500 passenger cum 150 MT Cargo” vessels for the Andaman & Nicobar Administration.
The two double ended RoRo ferries for the Kochi Corporation are also nearing completion.