Examine the role of trial and support vessels (like MPVs) in enabling indigenous defence R&D and weapons testing.

Indigenous weapons and sensors cannot enter service until they are proven at sea. Trial and support vessels — auxiliaries such as the Indian Navy's Multi Purpose Vessels (MPVs) — supply that testing infrastructure, converting laboratory prototypes into combat-certified systems and making Aatmanirbharta in naval technology operationally credible.

Enabling indigenous R&D and weapons testing

• Dedicated trial platform: MPVs are designed expressly to act as a trial platform for indigenous weapons and sensors under development, so frontline warships are not diverted from operational tasking for developmental firings [1].
• Target launch and recovery: their ability to launch and recover various targets provides the realistic, repeatable test environment needed to validate missile and gun accuracy [1].
• Emerging technologies: capacity to operate uncrewed autonomous vehicles creates a mother-ship for testing unmanned maritime systems, an area of rapid indigenous development [1].
• Towing and salvage support: at 106 m length and 15 knots, MPVs can tow ships, sustaining fleet readiness during trials [1].

Strengthening the indigenous ecosystem

• Private-sector shipbuilding: Samarthak, launched on 14 October 2024, and Utkarsh, launched on 13 January 2025, are the first Indian Navy warships built by L&T, Kattupalli, broadening the warship-building base beyond defence PSUs [1][2].
• Domestic supply chains: all major machinery and systems are sourced from indigenous manufacturers, deepening component-level self-reliance [1].
• Design maturity: keel-laid in March 2023 under a March 2022 MoD contract, the project shows in-house design and build capability [3]. Comparable auxiliaries such as the Survey Vessel (Large) Sanshodhak carry over 80% indigenous content by cost [4].

Limitations

• Long gestation — contract to launch spanning over two years — can lag R&D timelines, and trial vessels remain non-combatants competing for scarce budgets.

Trial and support vessels are thus the unglamorous backbone of defence indigenisation: without them, indigenous systems remain untested and unadopted. Sustaining a larger auxiliary fleet, coupled with continued private-sector participation under Make in India, will shorten the innovation-to-induction cycle and anchor genuine maritime self-reliance.