Mahe-class

The Mahe class is a class of anti-submarine warfare corvettes built by Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for the Indian Navy under the Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) programme. The eight ships are assigned to the Western Fleet. GRSE builds the eight sister ships of the Arnala class for the Eastern Fleet. In December 2013 the Defence Acquisition Council approved the procurement of sixteen shallow-water ASW vessels to replace the Abhay-class corvettes. CSL was the lowest bidder in the 2017 tender. On 30 April 2019 it signed a ₹6,311 crore contract for eight ships.

The basic design of the Mahe class came from Smart Engineering & Design Solutions (SEDS) of Kochi, and CSL completed the detailed design. SEDS thus became the first Indian private firm to design a warship for the Indian Navy. The design was intended to be lighter than the Arnala class. Surma of Finland provided signature management software and design inputs for combat survivability. The ships are built to Det Norske Veritas (DNV) classification rules. Three marine diesel engines, with a combined output of 6 MW, each drive an L&T water-jet. The ASW-SWC ships are the largest water-jet-propelled warships in the Indian Navy. The hull is designed for a reduced radar cross-section and low acoustic and infrared signatures. Indigenous content exceeds 80 per cent, with equipment from Bharat Electronics, Mahindra Defence and Larsen & Toubro. The Mahe class differs from the Arnala class in the placement of the 30 mm gun deck, the ASW rocket launcher mount and deflectors, the main mast, the funnel, and the lightweight torpedo launcher and hoist crane, and in the design of the stern.

ASW armament consists of a forward-mounted RBU-6000 rocket launcher, two triple 324 mm lightweight torpedo launchers aft for the Advanced Light-Weight Torpedo (ALWT), and mine-laying rails. Two Mahindra Defence torpedo decoy launching systems form part of the Integrated Anti-Submarine Warfare Defence Suite. Gun armament comprises a 30 mm Naval Surface Gun and two OFT 12.7 mm M2 Stabilized Remote Controlled Guns, an Indian variant of Elbit Systems' Remote Controlled Naval Weapon Station.

The main sensor is the Abhay compact active hull-mounted sonar, developed by DRDO's Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory and manufactured by BEL. It is supplemented by a towed low-frequency variable-depth sonar from a joint venture of CFF Fluid Control and Atlas Elektronik. The ships also carry an underwater acoustic communication system, an expendable bathythermograph, two navigation radars, and ESM and ELINT equipment, all integrated into a combat management system.

Construction began with steel cutting for Mahe (yard 523) at Kochi on 1 December 2020, and the keel was laid on 30 August 2022. Mahe, Malvan and Mangrol were launched together on 30 November 2023. Malpe and Mulki followed on 9 September 2024, Magdala on 18 October 2025 and Machilipatnam on 29 July 2026. The keel of the eighth ship (yard 530) was laid on 29 May 2025, and its delivery is expected by June 2028.

INS Mahe (P80) was delivered on 23 October 2025, commissioned on 24 November 2025 and is based at Mumbai. INS Malvan (P81) was commissioned on 22 July 2026 and is based at Karwar. INS Mangrol (P82) was commissioned on 12 October 2026 and is based at Mumbai. The corvettes are intended for operations within 200 nmi of the coast. Their missions include search-and-attack unit tasks, subsurface surveillance, low-intensity maritime operations and coordinated ASW with maritime patrol aircraft. Secondary roles are minelaying to protect naval bases and ports, and search and rescue.