INS Malvan: India's New Submarine Hunter Enters the Water as China Gets Louder Underwater

[00:00:05]China's submarines are getting quieter and closer to Indian waters every single year. Today, India answers back. The Navy Commission's INS Malvan, its newest indigenous submarine hunter built almost entirely on home soil under the Atman Bharat mission. This is not a symbolic warship. It's built to detect, track, and destroy enemy submarines lurking in India's shallow coastal waters. The exact zone China's underwater assets increasingly probe. So, what makes Malwan different from India's older anti-ubmarine ships? Why is India racing to induct so many of these vessels right now? And is this enough to truly secure India's coastline from underwater threats? Let's find out what makes INS Malwan India's a submarine hunter.

[00:01:04]Let us first understand what is an anti-ubmarine warfare shallow water craft. The Navy created this category to fill a specific gap. The belt of ocean close to India's coast which is too shallow and cluttered for destroyers or frigates to operate effectively. This area is where enemy submarine smugglers or infiltrators might try to slip through. Malwan is the second ship of the Mahi class, part of a broader 16 ship program divided between Coachin shipyard and Kolkata's Garden Reach ship builders. The first INS Mahi entered surface on November 24, 2025. These ships aim to replace the Navy's aging Abbeclass corvettes, originally Soviet Porkclass hulls that are now decades old.

[00:01:57]Malwan was built at Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi, the same yard that produced India's first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. The commissioning ceremony on July 22nd will be led by Air Chief Marshall AP Singh, chief of the air staff. This reflects the Navy's focus on cross service participation for these launches. Vice Admiral Sanjay Watsayan who leads the Western Naval Command will also be present. Before the commissioning, the Navy revealed Malvan's crest featuring the Bag Naka, a tiger claw weapon associated with Marata Guerilla warfare.

[00:02:32]The Navy states it symbolizes precision and the ability to strike without warning.

[00:02:41]Beyond the ceremony, Malwan is a compact killing platform designed for one primary task. At the front, it has an RBU 6000 anti-ubmarine rocket launcher with 12 barrels aimed at saturating an area where a submarine might be, not just where it's confirmed. At the back, there are two triple torpedo launchers, each using DRDO's advanced lightweight torpedo. Rails for laying mines run along the deck for area denial operations near ports and choke points.

[00:03:13]Above water, there's a 30mm [music] naval surface gun for the main threats, plus two 12.7 mm stabilized remote controlled guns. These target low-level threats like fast boats, smugglers, and drone swarms. Threats that don't show up on a submarine sona, but are important along India's coastline.

[00:03:37]None of this firepower means anything without the ability to locate targets first. Malwan's sensor system is built around DRDO's AB hurmounted sonar paired with a low frequency variable depth sonar developed in collaboration with Germany's Atlas electronic. Together, these allow the ship to listen at various depths simultaneously. This capability is crucial in shallow waters where sound can bounce unpredictably off the seabed making it harder to detect submarines in an open ocean areas.

[00:04:13]The Navy claims 80% of the content is made in India and the sourcing supports this. The torpedo launchers and rocket system come from Larsson and Tubro.

[00:04:23]Mahindra Defense provides the torpedo decoy systems. The 12.7 mm gun mounts are built by Ordinance Factory Tiroali based on an Elbit systems design and the 30mm gun is produced by Kolkata's Garden Reach ship builders. DRDO and Bhat Electronics play key roles in the sensor and weapons guidance. This narrative is consistent with the Navy's recent ship commissions. They emphasized that atman Ibul Bharat is not just about assembling a few showcase warships but about building a supply chain capable of producing a 16 ship class mostly from local parts.

[00:05:05]Here's the strategic context that the Navy hints at without directly saying it. India has a coastline stretching more than 7,000 km. Its ports, naval bases, and undersea cables all sit close to shore in shallow water. [music] That makes these waters a prime target for enemy submarines trying to slip in undetected. Plant sensors or quietly uh gather intelligence over time. China has spent the last decade expanding its submarine fleet dramatically and increasingly operating far from home deep into the Indian Ocean region.

[00:05:40]Beijing submarine have been spotted repeatedly near Sri Lanka, near Pakistan and probing further into waters India considers its strategic backyard. A submarine hiring in shallow coastal waters is a nightmare to detect with traditional deep sea sonar systems built for open ocean. That's precisely the gap ships like Malwan are meant to close.

[00:06:04][music] Malwan is not alone. It's part of a growing series. The first ship of this broader class INS Arinala was commissioned in June 2025 at Vishaka Patnam. INS Andro followed in October that same year. INS Mahi, the first of the newer Mahi class, joined the fleet in November. Now Malwan becomes the second Mahclass vessel to enter active service. Together, these ships are steadily replacing India's older Abbeass anti-ubmarine corvettes, some of which have already served for decades at sea.

[00:06:40]The pace of induction, roughly one new anti-ubmarine vessel every few months, shows just how seriously the Navy is treating this underwater threat right now.

[00:06:50][music] Every one of these commissionings ties back to the same goal. Atman Bharat self-reliance in defense manufacturing.

[00:07:00]India no longer wants to import warships or depend on foreign yards for critical naval assets. Ships like Malwan prove Indian shipyards can now design, build and integrate advanced [music] anti-ubmarine technologies almost entirely at home without relying on outside help. But building ships is only half the challenge. The real test comes when Malwan and its sister vessels are deployed against the genuinely quiet modern submarine in the murky cluttered waters where India's coastline meets the open sea. China's undersea presence in the Indian Ocean is not slowing down anytime soon. So, can a growing fleet of indigenous shallow water hunters like Malwan actually keep pace with that threat? And is India building these vessels fast enough to stay ahead of an adversary that keeps getting quieter and bolder every single year?

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