India orders steam-to-diesel refit and weapons upgrade for ageing frigate INS Betwa

India's Ministry of Defence signed a contract worth Rs 498.58 crore, close to 5 billion rupees, with state-owned Cochin Shipyard Limited on 11 November 2026 for a normal refit and re-powering of the Indian Navy frigate INS Betwa. The agreement was signed in New Delhi with Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh present, according to reports by The Times of India, India Today and The News Mill.

The core of the work is a change of power plant. The ship's existing steam-based propulsion system is to be removed and replaced with one built around diesel engines, a conversion the ministry described as a major transformation of the vessel. The reports did not name the engine supplier, the number of engines involved or a date for the ship's return to the fleet.

The refit also covers the frigate's fighting systems. The contract includes the installation of a modernised weapon suite intended to raise the warship's combat capability and operational effectiveness, according to the reports. The ministry did not publish a list of the weapons or sensors that will be fitted.

INS Betwa is the second of the Brahmaputra-class guided missile frigates built in India and was commissioned on 7 July 2004, The Times of India reported. The ship displaces about 3,600 tonnes, is 125 metres long and can exceed 30 knots, with a crew of 40 officers and 330 sailors. It carries guns, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, torpedo launchers and maritime surveillance sensors.

Replacing a warship's main propulsion plant goes well beyond routine upkeep. The decision to re-power and re-arm the 22-year-old hull rather than retire it indicates that the navy intends to keep INS Betwa in front-line service for a good while yet, although none of the reports said how many more years of service the work is meant to buy or how long the ship will be out of action.

The ministry presented the project as a test of domestic repair skills as much as a navy upgrade. It said the work should strengthen India's own capacity for ship repair and maintenance, especially complex propulsion conversions and the modernisation of naval platforms. More than 50 micro, small and medium enterprises are expected to take part, and the ministry said the job would create work across the shipbuilding and ancillary industries under the government's self-reliance and Make in India drive.

The Betwa deal follows a much larger shipbuilding award earlier this month. On 2 November the ministry signed contracts worth Rs 53,866.50 crore with Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers and Goa Shipyard for eight Next Generation Corvettes, with five to be built by the Kolkata yard and three by the Goa yard, The News Mill reported. Those ships will be designed by the Indian Navy.

Taken together, the two awards show New Delhi pursuing both new construction and life extension of existing hulls to keep its surface fleet numbers up. A re-powered and re-armed Betwa would give the navy another modernised frigate without the years needed to design and build a new ship, while handing Cochin Shipyard a complex conversion that could serve as a model for similar older vessels.