On 5 November 2026, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, delivered Amini to the Indian Navy. It is one of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft, a class of warships designed and built in India.
It is a warship built to find and destroy submarines in coastal, shallow waters. Deep-ocean destroyers and frigates work well in open seas, but shallow, cluttered coastal waters are harder. Sound behaves unpredictably there, and submarines can hide against the seabed or near the shore. Smaller, nimble ships are better suited to this work.
What can Amini do?
According to the release, the ship carries lightweight torpedoes to attack submarines, indigenous rocket launchers for anti-submarine engagement, and sonars to detect underwater threats. Beyond hunting submarines, the vessel adds to the Navy’s coastal surveillance and mine-laying capabilities.
The release describes these ships as among the largest Indian naval warships propelled by waterjets. Waterjets are generally associated with high manoeuvrability and good performance in shallow water, since there are no deep-hanging propellers.
The ships were also built to the rules of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS), the classification society that certifies ship design and construction standards. GRSE handled both the design and the construction domestically.
Why the name Amini?
The name carries two layers of meaning. It comes from Amini Island in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, and it also revives the name of the earlier INS Amini, a Petya III Class anti-submarine corvette decommissioned in 2002. The Navy often passes on distinguished names to new ships in this way.
The release highlights over 80 percent indigenous content, framing the delivery as a step toward Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) and less dependence on imports. Higher domestic content typically means a stronger local supplier base, including equipment makers, and more control over maintenance and upgrades over the ship’s life.
Amini is a locally built, waterjet-propelled submarine hunter meant to protect India’s coastal waters. Its delivery is both an operational boost for the Navy and a data point in India’s push for domestic naval shipbuilding.
