Government approves construction of 6 attack submarines

The Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) on Friday allowed the Indian Navy to select an Indian strategic partner company to build six conventional attack submarines in the country in collaboration with a foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Project 75 India or P75I will be the first under the strategic partnership model promulgated in 2017 to promote indigenous defense manufacturing. The first submarine built under the project is expected to be delivered by 2030. The two Indian companies selected as strategic partners, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) and Larsen & Toubro, will have to respond in partnership with one of the five OEMs. Request for Proposal (RFP). The five OEMs are Rosoboronexport (ROE) of Russia, Thyssenkrupp of Germany, Naval Group of France, Spain’s Navantia and South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering. These companies were shortlisted by an empowered committee last year. The project was approved in 2007, but remained on the backburner until 2019, when in February of that year, the government approved approval of the requirement.

The DAC in a meeting chaired by Defense Minister Rajnath Singh approved the issue of RFP for construction of six conventional submarines under Project P75(I) under Strategic Partnership (SP) model, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The project envisages indigenous construction of six conventional submarines equipped with state-of-the-art Air Independent Propulsion Systems at an estimated cost of Rs 43,000 crore. This is a historic acknowledgment being the first case to be processed under the Strategic Partnership model. This will be one of the largest ‘Make in India’ projects and will serve to facilitate faster and more significant absorption of technology and create a level-playing industrial ecosystem for submarine manufacturing in India. From a strategic point of view, This will help in reducing the current dependence on imports and gradually ensure greater self-reliance and dependence of supplies from indigenous sources,” it said. Defense establishment sources said the RFP is likely to be released in a month. Each strategic partner can choose only one OEM.

Once the response is received, there will be a technical evaluation, and then a commercial bid. The DAC approval for six conventional submarines came on a day when INS Chakra, on lease from Russia and one of India’s two nuclear submarines, was sighted from Singapore, reportedly to return to Russia – with a lease period of 10 years. expiring soon. India currently has only one nuclear submarine INS Arihant. INS Arighat, also a nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, is to be commissioned soon. In a report in March 2020, Parliament’s Standing Committee on Defense stated that the Indian Navy has “15 conventional submarines and two nuclear submarines” and “most conventional submarines are over 25 years old”. The Cabinet Committee on Safety, in June 1999, approved a 30-year submarine-building plan