Rajnath Singh lays foundation stone of tunnel to boost naval research

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone for a state-of-the-art Large Cavitation Tunnel (LCT) facility at the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) in Visakhapatnam on Friday, April 3,2026. The facility, being developed under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is expected to significantly enhance indigenous capabilities in designing, developing and testing advanced naval systems, including ships and submarines.The Large Cavitation Tunnel is conceived as a strategic national asset aimed at hydrodynamic research. Once operational, it will support the development of next-generation ships, submarines and underwater platforms by enabling precise testing and validation of designs.
The facility will be globally unique in its ability to conduct both closed-loop simulations for submarine studies and free surface simulations for surface ships within a single integrated system. It is expected to strengthen India’s shipbuilding ecosystem, including the development of advanced platforms such as destroyers and aircraft carriers.The event was attended by several top defence officials, including Anil Chauhan, Dinesh K Tripathi and Vice Admiral Sanjay Bhalla, along with senior scientists from DRDO.