India’s Reliance Defence bags US Navy ship maintenance contract

India’s Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited (RDEL) signed a master ship repair agreement (MSRA) with the U.S. Navy, the company announced in a BSE filing.

Earlier in January 2017, the Reliance Shipyard was qualified by the U.S. Navy as an approved contractor to perform complex repair and alternation services for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet vessels operating in the region.

Reliance Shipyard at Pipavav, Gujarat is the first shipyard in India to have received MSRA certification to undertake servicing and repairing works for the vessels of Seventh Fleet.

The fleet has about 100 vessels of different types including auxiliaries. Currently, the vessels of U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet visit Singapore or Japan for such works.

Reliance Shipyard has been selected after a detailed site survey by US Government representatives in end October 2016, the company said.