NEW DELHI – Indian Navy to acquire advanced submarines worth $7 billions tocompete Pakistan and China Navies in Indian Ocean.
India’s apex decision making body for defence procurement has approved theshortlist of companies that will build six conventional submarines for theIndian Navy.
The Defence Ministry said that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) hadapproved a shortlist of Indian Strategic Partners (SP) and the potentialOriginal Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to construct submarines at the costof over $7 billion under the ambitious strategic partnership model.
Sources said from the Indian side private firm Larsen & Toubro, andstate-run Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited will partner with a foreignfirm for the project.
DAC has rejected the joint bid by Adani and Hindustan Shipyard Limited ontechnical grounds. The council has also cleared the names of five foreigntechnology partners who applied to take part in the competition.
“The strategic Partnership Model aims at promoting India as a manufacturinghub for defence equipment, in addition to establishing an industrial andR&D eco-system capable of meeting the future requirements of the ArmedForces besides giving a boost to exports,” the defence ministry said in astatement on Tuesday.
The Indian Navy had formally launched the programme to construct sixair-independent propulsion-enabled submarines under Project 75 (India) in2017. The request for information was issued to six foreign shipyards –Rubin Design Bureau of Russia, Naval Group of France, Navantia of Spain,Saab of Sweden, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan and ThyssenKrupp ofGermany– under the strategic partnership model.
However, the Japanese side did not respond to the Indian invitation becauseof the conditions for the transfer of technology.
The strategic partnership model stipulates collaboration between one ofIndia’s private defence shipbuilders and a foreign manufacturer.
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The Indian Navy had asked the selected manufacturers to provide operationaldetails of their respective submarines with air-independent propulsionsystems (AIP) and anti-surface, anti-submarine and land-attack capabilities.
Presently, the Indian Navy has nine Kilo-class and four Shishumar (Type209/1500) class, one Kalvari (French Scorpene) class and one INS Chakra(Akula class nuclear sub) from Russia.
Under Project-75, the Indian Navy had finalised a contract with the FrenchNaval Group to construct six diesel-electric submarineslinkatan Indian shipyard and to date has commissioned one submarine under theproject.
The Indian Navy assessed a requirement of at least 24 submarines tomaintain its superiority over Bangladesh and Pakistan who are poised todeploy additional submarines sourced from China soon.
Last week, Admiral Karambir Singh said that New Delhi is keeping a closewatch on the growing presence of the Chinese Navylinkinthe Indian Ocean Region.
“We are all aware of the numbers, the tonnage, the number of ships,everything that is growing. We had seen this in the Indian Ocean regionitself starting in 2008 when joined in the anti-piracy patrol. Before that,they weren’t very obvious in the Indian Ocean region, but now you find thatat any given time, there are seven to eight PLA warships in that area,” theIndian Navy Chief said in New Delhi while speaking at the Raisina Dialogueon 15 January, Sputnik has reported.
