A cost negotiation committee remains in discussion for a final price for two vessels with the Kangnam Corp. Shipyard in Busan, South Korea. More ships would be built in India under technology transfer deals.

The deal with KCS could be worth up to $1.02 billion, a report in The Hindu newspaper said.

The Indian navy still is considering an option to buy two decommissioned Osprey Class minesweepers from the U.S. Navy.

In September, the U.S. Senate cleared the foreign sale of two Osprey-class minesweepers, the Kingfisher and the Cormorant, both decommissioned in 2007.

The 200-foot long Pondicherry class ships are minesweepers built for the Indian navy by the Soviet Union from 1978-88 and are modified versions of the Russian Natya class minesweeper. Later vessels are often referred to as Karwar class ships because of upgrades and the addition of surface-to-air missiles.

Their hulls are made of U3 low magnetic signature steel and propulsion is by two dual-shaft M-503B diesel engines giving a speed of around 16 knots. Range is up to 4,000 nautical miles with a crew of 10 officers and 72 seamen.

Four of the 12 Indian navy vessels are believed to be retired.

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems -- formerly Litton Avondale Industries -- of New Orleans and Intermarine of Savannah built 12 of the 187-foot long Osprey ships that were commissioned by the U.S. Navy from 1993-99.

The ships have crew of nine officers and 42 enlisted men and are the navy's first dedicated minesweepers. Their glass-reinforced plastic hulls have exceptionally low magnetic and acoustic signatures to protect against mine detonations during mine hunting operations.

Locating mines is done by high-definition sonar and the mines are neutralized with a remote-controlled underwater vehicle.

If purchased, the Osprey vessels would join the USS Trenton, renamed the INS Jalashva, the Indian navy's second largest ship after the aircraft carrier Viraat.

The Trenton's keel was laid down at Seattle in 1966 by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction. It was sold under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales Program in August 2005 for around $48 million and the deal was finalized in July 2006.

The Indian navy commissioned the Trenton, an amphibious ship, in January 2007. It has a displacement of 17,000 tons and was sold with several Sikorsky UH-3H Sea King helicopters for use on its platform.

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