[2][3] The ship were to feature :–[2][3] As per the plans, a Request for Tender (RFT) was sent to Italy's Intermarine, South Korea's Kangnam Corp. and Spain's IZAR (now Nacantia) for construction and/or technology assistance for the MCMVs.
Subsequently, a Request for Proposal (RFP) for mine detection and netralising equipment was sent to France's Thales and ECA, Germany's Atlas Elektronik and Spain's FABA.
[2][3] In 2008, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) invited bids for 8 MCMVs from France's DCN International (now Naval Group), Italy's Fincantieri, Spain's IZAR, South Korea's Kangnam Corp. and Northrop Grumman of the US.
The South Korean firm demanded $1 billion as technology transfer fee and "refused to provide intellectual property rights and production support guarantees" which the Defence Ministry did not accept.
[1][2][3][5] On 21 March 2018, another EOI was floated for the same reason to South Korea's Kangnam Corporation, Italy's Intermarine, Spain's Navantia, Germany's ThyssenKrupp, and Russian Shipyards.
Meanwhile, the Navy also updated the qualitative requirements so that the MCMVs fit into the modern technologies after the delays of its induction The Russian offer was a variant of its Alexandrit-class minesweepers which had integrated drones for anti-mine operations.
[8] The CASCADE ASVs would be tasked to carry HWUAVs and ROVs from the MCMV, identify, classify and neutralise the mines with towed acoustic and influence sweep equipment.