India, UK set to ink inter-government pact for electric propulsion of 4 Landing Platform Docks
India and the United Kingdom are set to sign an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for developing Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) technology for four Landing Platform Docks (LPDs) planned for the Indian Navy.
British firm GE Vernova and the state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) will jointly establish India's first maritime land-based testing facility to develop and test the IFEP architecture before it is fitted onto naval platforms.
The agreement builds on a Statement of Intent signed by the two countries in Portsmouth on 28 November 2024.
The four LPDs are to be built in India, forming part of the Indian Navy's broader modernisation drive, with the force targeting an approximately 200-ship fleet by 2047.
Landing Platform Docks and India's Amphibious Warfare Capability Gap
Landing Platform Docks are large amphibious warships used to transport and land troops, armoured vehicles, and helicopters — a capability India has sought to modernise for over a decade.
Key Details
- The Indian Navy's LPD acquisition project covers four amphibious vessels, valued at an estimated ₹80,000 crore (about US$9.1 billion), intended to replace the ageing INS Jalashwa (the former USS Trenton, transferred to India in 2007).
- Each planned LPD is expected to displace around 29,000 tonnes, be roughly 220 metres long, and carry about 900 troops along with landing craft (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel, Landing Craft Mechanized, and Landing Craft Air Cushion).
- A Request for Information for the four vessels was issued in 2021; Indian shipyards including Larsen & Toubro, Cochin Shipyard, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, and Hindustan Shipyard have been in contention, typically partnering with foreign designers such as Navantia, Naval Group, or Fincantieri.
The IFEP agreement is a technology sub-component of this larger LPD acquisition programme — it supplies the propulsion architecture around which the ships to be built in India will be designed.
Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) — Technology and Naval Applications
IFEP is a propulsion architecture in which power generated on board (by gas turbines or diesel generators) is converted to electricity and distributed across a common electrical system to drive propulsion motors as well as the ship's sensors, weapons, and other systems, instead of using mechanical shafts and gearboxes linked directly to the engines.
Key Details
- The UK's Type 45 (Daring-class) destroyer was the first frontline combatant to use a full electric propulsion system, combining two gas turbines and two diesel generator sets to deliver about 40 MW of propulsion power.
- The US Navy's Zumwalt-class destroyer uses an even more powerful IFEP system (about 72 MW), designed to also support high-energy systems such as directed-energy weapons.
- Compared with conventional mechanical or diesel-electric propulsion, IFEP offers greater design flexibility in ship layout, reduced acoustic signature, and more electrical power available for advanced sensors and electronic warfare systems.
The technology being transferred to India under this IGA is the same class of propulsion architecture the UK pioneered on the Type 45 destroyer, representing a generational shift for Indian warship design away from mechanical propulsion trains.
India-UK Defence Cooperation Framework — From the 2030 Roadmap to Sectoral Agreements
This IGA sits within a broader structure of India-UK strategic cooperation that has been built up in stages since 2021.
Key Details
- The "2030 Roadmap for India-UK future relations" was agreed on 4 May 2021, elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership covering health, trade, climate, technology, and defence.
- The two countries subsequently launched a 10-Year Defence Industrial Roadmap to structure long-term defence-technology collaboration.
- A Statement of Intent — a preliminary, non-binding political commitment — was signed in Portsmouth on 28 November 2024, ahead of this binding Inter-Governmental Agreement; an IGA, unlike a Statement of Intent or an MoU, is a formal treaty-level instrument between governments.
The IGA is the binding follow-through instrument that converts the 2024 political commitment into an implementable technology-development programme, illustrating how bilateral defence cooperation typically progresses from a roadmap, to a statement of intent, to a binding agreement.
Indian Navy's Fleet Modernisation and Self-Reliance in Shipbuilding
The propulsion technology-transfer model used here — building a domestic testing facility rather than importing a complete system — reflects India's broader defence self-reliance approach applied to naval platforms.
Key Details
- The Indian Navy has stated an ambition to grow to an approximately 200-ship, 500-aircraft force, with 2047 (a hundred years since independence) referenced as a milestone marker.
- Building the LPDs domestically, while jointly developing and testing the propulsion technology on Indian soil through the GE Vernova-BHEL facility, is intended to build indigenous capability in electric-propulsion engineering rather than relying on a fully imported system.
The maritime land-based testing facility is the mechanism through which India intends to absorb and eventually indigenise IFEP technology, rather than simply importing propulsion units for the four LPDs.
- Agreement: Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) technology on four Landing Platform Docks (LPDs)
- Precursor agreement: Statement of Intent signed 28 November 2024, Portsmouth
- Key entities: GE Vernova (UK) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL, India) — to jointly build India's first maritime land-based IFEP testing facility
- LPD programme scale: approximately ₹80,000 crore (~US$9.1 billion); four ships, each around 29,000 tonnes and 220 metres long, with troop capacity of about 900
- IFEP precedents: UK Type 45 destroyer (~40 MW propulsion power); US Zumwalt-class destroyer (~72 MW)
- India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership: established via the 2030 Roadmap agreed 4 May 2021
- Indian Navy's stated modernisation target: approximately 200-ship force by 2047