INS Samarthak commissioned as the Navy's drone mothership

The Indian Navy commissioned INS Samarthak, the first of a new class of multipurpose vessels, at the INS Kadamba naval base in Karwar, Karnataka, on 16 October 2026. Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan presided over the ceremony, attended by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan.

Built by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) at its Kattupalli shipyard in Tamil Nadu, the ship has more than 75% indigenous content and is designed to act as a "mothership" for drones and unmanned boats, the Navy said.

Key points

• Commissioned 16 October 2026 at Karwar; the first of four multipurpose vessels, according to most reports.
• About 107 metres long; built by L&T at Kattupalli under the Make in India programme.
• Roles: launching drones and unmanned boats, surveillance, patrols, training, weapons and sensor trials, and disaster relief.
• Described as the first major warship from an Indian private shipyard to enter naval service.
• Its crest shows an Indian elephant rising from the waves.

What INS Samarthak does

The Navy describes the ship as a flexible "utility" vessel. Its main jobs, according to the Navy's statement reported by The Tribune:

• Mothership for unmanned systems: launching and recovering aerial drones and unmanned surface vessels at sea;
• Surveillance and patrol: maritime security operations;
• Trials platform: testing new weapons, radars and sensors before they go on frontline warships;
• Training and support for other units; and
• Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR).

How the ship was built

It carries an integrated combat suite of Indian-made sensors, weapons and electronic systems, and was built using extensive modular construction, assembling large blocks separately and joining them, to cut building time. Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh Lad and senior naval officers attended the commissioning at INS Kadamba, the Navy's large base on the Karwar coast.

INS Samarthak and India's private shipyards

Warships for the Indian Navy have traditionally been built by state-owned shipyards such as Mazagon Dock, Garden Reach and Goa Shipyard. INS Samarthak is described as the first major warship from a private Indian shipyard to be commissioned, Marine Insight reported, a milestone for the government's push to bring private industry into defence manufacturing.

Most reports say the Navy has ordered four ships of this class; one report said two. The Navy took delivery of Samarthak on 27 August 2026, according to one report.

Why it matters: Drones and unmanned boats are changing naval warfare, from the Black Sea to the Red Sea, and the Indian Navy wants ships that can carry and control them cheaply, without tying up its frontline destroyers. For India's defence industry, a private yard delivering a warship is a step towards a bigger, more competitive shipbuilding base. For readers abroad, it's part of India's effort to secure the Indian Ocean as more navies, including China's, operate there.

A ship that tests other ships' weapons and launches other machines' missions won't make many headlines on its own. That's rather the point. Samarthak is built to make the rest of the fleet work better, and it's a private yard that built it.