Spanish firm to bid for Indian Navy's landing platform docks contract

Spain’s state-owned defence giant Navantia plans to bid for an Indian Navy contract to build four amphibious transport vessels, adding to its other bid to develop six submarines–which it has termed “India‘s largest defence acquisition project."

- Shashank Mattoo

The company will bid for the four landing platform dock (LPD) amphibious vessels along with Larsen and Toubro, said José Porto, managing director of Navantia India, as part of its efforts to strengthen its presence in the Indian defence market.

Navantia has been working on the project since 2008, which, Porto said in an interview, had been cancelled twice in the past. The Indian Navy had released a Request For Information for the contract in 2021.

Navantia now expects the Navy to submit a request for proposal for the project next year.

The Navantia-built Juan Carlos I, in service of the Spanish Navy, visited Mumbai in 2018 as the company sought to display the vessel’s military capabilities.