Defence ministry officials on Thursday said the Sri Lanka-based SOLAS Marine has been selected after a global tender and the around Rs300 crore ($67 million) contract would be inked soon.
"The delivery of the FICs should be completed in three years," said an official.
These 80 FICs are in addition to 15 similar boats being acquired from French shipyard Chantier Naval Couach, three of which have already been inducted at Mumbai. "All these 15 FICs will be with the Navy by end-2012," officials said.
The 15 FICs are being procured from the French company at a cost of Rs60 crore.
After formal orders, it will take up to 36 months for the Sri Lankan firm to deliver the boats, officials said.
SOLAS Marine Lanka is part of a Dubai-based group according to the firm's website.
It had bought over Blue Star Marine, a Sri Lankan boat maker that had been in business for 25 years.
With 1,000 well-armed personnel, the specialized SPB will be tasked with the protection of naval and other assets, bases and harbours on both west and east coasts.
According to defence officials, FICs are small boats with a crew of five to seven sailors, equipped with light machine guns and top speeds of 40 to 50 knots. They will mainly be used as fast-reaction units to bolster coastal security.
After 26/11 fully-networked joint operation centres have been set up in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Port Blair. Joint exercises are being conducted and new Coast Guard stations are being set up.
The government is contemplating a comprehensive maritime intelligence network through a national "maritime domain awareness (MDA)" project. The plans for the project has been drawn up by the Navy and submitted to the government.
- domain-b
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