<span style="color: #222222;">In a significant development, Ministry of Defence has issued four shipbuilding Requests for Proposal, RPF amounting to 15,000 crore rupees for the acquisition of various ships and craft for the Navy and the Coast Guard. An official release said, while the RFP for six Next Generation Missile Vessels has been issued to seven shipyards, RFPs for eight Fast Patrol Vessels, twelve Air Cushion Vehicles and eight Missile-cum-Ammunition Barges have been issued to shortlisted Indian shipyards. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The RFP for Air Cushion Vehicles also includes the initial requirement for six ACVs of the Indian Army. In addition to these, a few more RFPs for more shipbuilding projects are likely to be issued in the next few months.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' An exercise was undertaken by the Ministry along with Indian Navy and Coast Guard in order to make the process of qualifying the shipyards for the issue of RFPs more objective. Further, in order to encourage smaller shipyards, participation in the projects with the anticipated annual outflow of less than 75 crore rupees has been restricted to smaller shipyards having an average annual turnover less than 500 crore rupees.</span><br />