Turkey's TAIS had emerged as the lowest bidder for a contract to manufacture five of the 45,000-tonne FSVs at the Vizag based Hindustan Shipyard last year.

Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) to sign a contract and begin construction of five fleet support ships (FSVs) for the Indian Navy in partnership with a Turkish shipyard.

“After obtaining clearance from the Ministry of Defence, we are signing the contract with a shipyard based in Turkey and begin construction in collaboration with it by mid-2021,” HSL Chairman and Managing Director Rear Admiral (retd) L.V. Sarat Babu told The Hindu.

The Indian FSV project was initially given a go-ahead in 2016 after the Navy projected a requirement for ships that could carry fuel and other supplies for warships at sea.

The project is reportedly estimated to cost up to $2.3 billion. Turkey's TAIS had emerged as the lowest bidder for a contract to manufacture five of the 45,000-tonne FSVs at the Vizag based Hindustan Shipyard last year, but the contract signing was put on hold in October following the repeated raising of Kashmir issue by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at international forums.