The long-pending project to make six new-generation stealth submarines domestically with foreign collaboration has finally been cleared by the Indian government.
This ₹42,000 crore project will enable India to acquire next-generation stealth submarines.
The Ministry of Defence will issue a tender or RFP (request for proposal) by next month to defence shipyard Mazagon Docks (MDL) and private ship-builder L&T for the submarine programme, called Project-75 India (P-75I).
This project under the Make in India initiative and the submarine or other SP projects will not be impacted by the negative arms import list issues just recently by the government.
The five Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) are Rubin Design Bureau (Russia), Naval Group-DCNS (France), ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (Germany), Navantia (Spain) and Daewoo (South Korea).
Submarines are perhaps the best second-strike platform for any country and the Indian navy is operating old and fast-depleting underwater submarines.
The Indian Navy has only two new Scorpene and 13 old (all commissioned well over 20 years ago) diesel-electric conventional submarines.
India has only two nuclear-powered submarines, of which one of them is leased from Russia. By 2022, four more of the French-origin Scorpenes are expected to join the service under the ongoing over ₹23,000 crore Project-75 at MDL.
India has a long way to go as at present the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has 50 diesel-electric and 10 nuclear submarines and is slowly expanding its presence in the Indian Ocean region.
Pakistan has also understood of the usefulness of submarines and is the process of inducting eight new Chinese Yuan-class submarines, with air-independent propulsion (AIP) for great underwater endurance, from next year onwards.
Though the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for six new submarines, with both land-attack cruise missiles and AIP, was first granted in November 2007, it is yet to be finalised.
Under this plan, the Indian navy will receive 18 conventional submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines (called SSNs) and four nuclear-powered submarines with long-range nuclear-tipped missiles (SSBNs) for effective deterrence against China and Pakistan, as earlier reported by TOI.