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INS Malvan, the second Mahe-class Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft, was commissioned at Karwar on 22 July 2026.
It is built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi, with more than 80 per cent indigenous content.
The ceremony was presided over by Air Chief Marshal A P Singh, Chief of the Air Staff.
The vessel handles anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare, underwater surveillance and low-intensity maritime operations in shallow coastal waters.
It is named after Malvan, a coastal town in Maharashtra associated with the naval tradition of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Large destroyers and frigates are built for deep, open ocean and cannot operate safely close to shore, where the water is shallow and cluttered. ASW-SWCs are small, comparatively inexpensive vessels designed to hunt submarines in exactly that coastal band, and to lay or clear mines and keep watch underwater. For a country with a long coastline and busy shipping approaches, they fill the gap between coastal patrol boats and blue-water warships.
Simple Analogy: A big warship is a highway truck; an ASW-SWC is the small van that can actually get down the narrow lanes near the coast.
Reduce dependence on imported defence equipment by building warships and systems in India
Key: INS Malvan carries over 80 per cent indigenous content across design, sensors, weapons and shipbuilding
General Awareness > Defence and Indigenous Platforms
GS Paper 3 > Security > Defence Indigenisation
General Awareness > Defence Current Affairs
Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft — a small vessel for hunting submarines in coastal waters.
The share of a platform's systems and equipment sourced from domestic industry.