New naval warships indicate change in operating strategy

A green signal by the Ministry of Defence to domestically produce four specialised warships called the Landing Platform Docks (LPDs) for the Indian Navy represents a change in operating strategy. It widens the arc of Navy’s reach and matches China’s rapid induction of similar ships.

India’s project to make LPDs, each of them 30,000 tonnes plus, is a quantum jump over existing capacity, size and firepower of warships doing similar roles. These will be the biggest combat ships made indigenously after the INS Vikrant, the 45,000 tonne aircraft carrier.

The new warships will expand India’s ability to transport combined forces, sustain prolonged operations at sea and land troops and equipment on hostile or disaster-affected shores without the need for port infrastructure or a jetty.

In naval parlance, LPDs carry out amphibious operations. Once inducted, Indian Navy’s LPDs will also be providing command infrastructure, fire support and coordinate UAVs and unmanned under sea vessels. The almost Rs 50,000-crore project represents a strategic evolution of expanding prowess.

The project has been okayed at the time when India’s indigenous ship-building technology and a strategic tie-up for making marine engines is backed by doctrinal changes promoting amphibious operations.

Operational roles of the LPD

It can influence land battle through a viable capability to transport and land ashore a combined arms force and to sustain their operations ashore. Also, it will have a capability to transport and deploy forces ashore, ability to arrive quickly in area and sustain operations at sea for prolonged durations. Each LPD will have a length of 220 metres. Each LPD will have 60 officers and 525 sailors and can embark 900 full-equipped Army troops, besides vehicles, tanks and artillery.Amphibious capability includes specialised craft needed to reach the shore, two heavy lift helicopters and 12 helicopters for special operations. An LPD can also support other warships with workshop facilities.

Indian LPDs are expected to be powered by an electric-powered engine planned under India-UK’s defence industrial collaboration on co-designing, co-creating and co-producing such a power plant. The path-breaking India-UK engine-making effort was announced on October 9 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in Mumbai.

LPDs represent doctrinal shift

In August 2025, the joint doctrine for amphibious operations formalised a framework for integrating maritime, air and land forces for coordinated amphibious campaigns. The doctrine envisions establishment of ‘amphibious force headquarters’. LPDs will enable formation of ‘amphibious groups’ capable of deploying marine and Army battalions with supporting armour, artillery and logistics for sustained combat operations.

The new LPDs will enhance India’s capacity for such missions, enabling simultaneous multi-theatre operations. Armed with offensive and defensive capabilities to ward off aircraft, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, the warships represent more than simple force additions — they embody India’s ongoing transformation from a regional maritime power to a credible blue-water navy. A modular design allows the vessels to serve as mobile logistic hubs and floating hospitals also.

Strategic rationale & operational concepts

Naval drones operating from LPD or coordinated by such ships could provide persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance over vast maritime areas, extending the task force’s sensor footprint far beyond traditional helicopter ranges. Unmanned underwater vehicles launched from the ship could conduct mine countermeasures, seabed mapping and anti-submarine warfare which would otherwise be too dangerous for manned platforms. Integration with space-based assets, cyber warfare capabilities and electronic warfare systems enables LPD task forces to operate as nodes in networked joint operations spanning multiple theaters.

Catching up with China

China’s naval expansion and growing presence in the Indian Ocean constitute the primary strategic driver for India’s LPD programme. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet now includes six type LPDs and three amphibious assault ships, providing Beijing with credible power projection capabilities across the Indo-Pacific. Chinese naval deployments to ports in Pakistan (Gwadar), Djibouti, Sri Lanka and potentially the Maldives create persistent PLAN presence in these waters.

History of almost 20 years

The LPD programme, first conceived following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, addresses critical operational gaps in India’s amphibious warfare. At present, the Navy has four such ships which are some 5,500 tonnes each and labelled as ‘landing ship tank large’ (LSTL). The new ones would be six times bigger. Navy has an aging LPD currently in service — INS Jalashwa, acquired from the United States in 2007. In the past two decades, the programme was marked by repeated delays, cancellations and strategic recalibrations. The MoD revived the LPD programme in 2021 and emphasised updated amphibious warfare demands, greater indigenous content and alignment with the self-reliant India.

Four major shipbuilders are positioned as primary contenders - Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) and Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL).