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Oman places order for weapons from India
Huma SiddiquiPosted: Monday, Apr 05, 2010 at 2325 hrs IST
Updated: Monday, Apr 05, 2010 at 2325 hrs IST
New Delhi: Oman has become the first country in West Asia to place an order for guns from India.
According to senior officials, INSAS gun from the ordnance factor board is currently undergoing trials for the Oman army. This is not the first time that Oman is planning to procure defence equipment from India. Infact, the state-owned Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) is set to foray into global market with special focus on the Gulf region.
The GSL has been working on various projects to provide offshore patrol vessels to the Indian Navy and Coast Guard and is also looking forward to provide fast interceptor boats to the ministry of home affair.
Sources in the government indicated that GSL has delivered three tugboats to Oman. "The Sultanate of Oman has expressed its keenness to buy more boats from GSL, however, due to overflow of orders that has been put on hold for the time being."
The GSL had participated in the Doha exhibition last year and it received positive response especially from countries like Bahrain and the UAE. "The officials of the Oman had visited the Indian shipyard and were impressed by the level of expertise and suggested improvements to the ship designs which were easy to incorporate," said officials. The GSL will be undergoing modernisation to give a boost to their ship construction capability. The GSL has been contracted for supplying 116 fast interceptor craft to the Marine Police that has been constituted by the home ministry post 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
In the last eight months, the shipyard has submitted 46 vessels. The cost of the vessel is around Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2.3 crore depending on the size.
The shipyard is currently building three offshore patrol vessels for the Indian Coast Guard, which can touch the maximum speed of 26 knots. The OPV is 90 metres in length is an in-house design product of GSL and is capable of carrying out a wide range of operations including patrolling and policing operations, search and rescue operations. The GSL is also contracted to construct four naval offshore patrol vessel to the Indian Navy. The 105 metre long vessel is capable of fleet support operations, coastal and offshore patrolling, ocean surveillance and monitoring of sea lines of communications, defence of offshore installations, escorting high value ships and operation of ALH helicopter.
The shipyard is also looking forward to construct mine counter measure Vessel (MCMV) for the Indian Navy. Infact,...
Oman places order for weapons from India