Archive · 27 Aug 2026
India, UK Near Pact on Electric Propulsion for Naval Docks
India and the United Kingdom plan to sign an agreement about powering four large naval ships with electricity.
These ships are called Landing Platform Docks and are planned to be built in India for the Indian Navy.
The propulsion system will be called Integrated Full Electric Propulsion.
GE Vernova and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited will work together on the project.
They plan to build a special facility where the system can be tested on land.
Testing it on land may help developers identify problems before putting it on ships.
An electric system can share power between moving the ship and running equipment such as sensors.
The agreement follows an earlier India-United Kingdom cooperation statement signed in November 2024.
India and the United Kingdom are expected to sign an Inter-Governmental Agreement on Integrated Full Electric Propulsion for four Indian Navy Landing Platform Docks.
The four Landing Platform Docks are planned for construction at an Indian shipyard with a full-electric propulsion architecture.
GE Vernova and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited will establish India’s first maritime land-based testing facility for the propulsion system.
The facility will allow the system to be developed and tested on land before installation on naval platforms.
The pact follows a November 2024 Statement of Intent on co-designing, co-creating and co-producing electric-propulsion capabilities for future Indian naval ships.
- Who
- The governments of India and the United Kingdom, with GE Vernova and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited involved in developing and testing the technology.
- What
- They are preparing an Inter-Governmental Agreement on Integrated Full Electric Propulsion for four Landing Platform Docks.
- When
- The agreement is expected to be signed very soon; it follows a Statement of Intent signed on 28 November 2024.
- Where
- The Landing Platform Docks are planned to be built at an Indian shipyard, while the propulsion system will be developed and tested at a land-based facility in India.
- Why
- The cooperation is intended to develop electric-propulsion capability for large Indian naval platforms and support power-intensive ship equipment.
- Agreement
- An Inter-Governmental Agreement is expected to cover Integrated Full Electric Propulsion for four Landing Platform Docks.
- Ships
- The four Landing Platform Docks are planned for the Indian Navy and are intended to use a full-electric propulsion architecture.
- Industrial partners
- GE Vernova is partnering with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.
- Testing facility
- The partners plan to establish India’s first maritime land-based testing facility for Integrated Full Electric Propulsion technology.
- System function
- The integrated architecture can distribute generated electricity between propulsion and other major electrical loads.
- Earlier cooperation
- India and the United Kingdom signed a Statement of Intent on electric-propulsion cooperation in Portsmouth on 28 November 2024.
- Related agreement
- British officials also indicated that a separate agreement for British Lightweight Multirole Missiles for the Indian Army is expected soon.
