Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Giving a major boost to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan and to tackle the concerns from Chinese vessels’ increasing forays around India, the Ministry of Defence has cleared a mega submarine project worth Rs 43,000 crore to build six stealth submarines under Project-75 India for the Indian Navy.
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), India’s apex procurement body for defence requirements headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, approved the proposal at a meeting on Friday, according to officials.
This decision was taken under the Government of India’s ‘strategic partnership’ (SP) model to bolster the Indian Navy’s underwater force levels and counter the rapid expansion of China’s submarine fleet, media reports quoting officials said.
This will be the first RFP to be issued under the SP model, which seeks to provide a fillip to the government’s Make in India programme. The model envisages indigenous manufacturing of major defence platforms by an Indian strategic partner who will collaborate with a foreign-based Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to set up production facilities in the country.
The new submarines will be equipped with Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems that will enable the vessels to stay underwater for longer periods and enhance their combat capabilities.
In January 2020, the Defence Ministry had cleared two Indian and five foreign shipbuilders to take part in the project to build high-tech submarines in the country, one of the biggest Make in India programmes in the defence sector.
The Indian strategic partners cleared to collaborate with the foreign OEMs are Mazagon Dock Ltd and L&T. The foreign yards they can team up with for the project are the French Naval Group, German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, Russia’s Rubin Design Bureau, Spain’s Navantia and South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Company.
The ministry will take the project forward by issuing RFPs to the shortlisted Indian strategic partners who will then respond with techno-commercial offers in collaboration with one of the shortlisted OEMs. In exceptional cases, rules allow the Indian strategic partner to submit techno-commercial offers in collaboration with two OEMs.
Under Project 75-India, the Navy plans to build six conventional diesel-electric submarines that would be bigger than the under-development Scorpene-class submarines being built at the MDL in Mumbai.
To meet the Indian Navy’s requirements, these submarines would be equipped with heavy-duty firepower, including at least 12 Land Attack Cruise Missiles (LACM) along with Anti-Ship cruise missiles (ASCM).
The Navy had specified that the submarines should also be able to carry and launch 18 heavyweight torpedoes in the sea. Compared with the Scorpene, the firepower required in the next line of submarines is manifold, media reported.
Upgrading its submarine operations and the naval fleet has been the top priority for the Indian Navy in wake of the increased presence of Chinese vessels in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The strategic partnership model aims at promoting India as a manufacturing hub for defence equipment, in addition to establishing an industrial and R&D eco-system capable of meeting the future requirements of the Armed Forces besides giving a boost to exports.