Decks cleared for six more local-made submarines

Ajay Banerjee

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 4

In an attempt to kick-start its long-pending submarine procurement plan, the Ministry of Defence on Friday okayed the proposal to invite bids for the Rs 43,000-crore project to make six next-generation stealth conventional submarines in India.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which is the MoD’s apex decision-making body headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, okayed the move.

Conventional submarines are run on a mix of diesel and electric power. The Indian Navy wants the vessels to have a technology called air independent propulsion (AIP) which adds to the submergence capabilities, allowing the vessel to remain under water for 12-15 days, much more than the 4-5 days endurance of the existing conventional subs.

A foreign manufacturer will tie up with an Indian partner to make these submarines under what is termed as “strategic partnership (SP) model”. This is the first project on which the new ‘SP model” policy is being tried.

The DAC, at its meeting on Friday, okayed the move to issue a request for proposal (RFF), in other words an invitation for bids.

The RPF will be followed by technical evaluation of bids, cost evaluation and negotiations before a contract is signed.

The MoD-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) are the two Indian companies shortlisted to bid for the project. The latter is a private entity and is engaged in making the hulls of the Arihant Class of Indian nuclear submarines.

Both bids will reflect their tie-up with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) from the five makers shortlisted by the MoD earlier.

The five foreign companies in the race are South Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Naval Group of France, Navantia of Spain, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany and the Rosoboronexport of Russia.

India at present has 17 submarines, including one nuclear-powered INS Chakra on a 10-year lease from Russia ending March 2022.

The Rs 43,000 crore project for six submarines will be the third make-in-India project from subs. Two submarines from German yard Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) were built by the MDL. These were commissioned in the early 1990s.

In 2005, India and France inked a deal to make six submarines. The production started in 2012 at the MDL. The last of the vessels is to be delivered any time now.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Defence report — Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2020 — talks about a growing threat from China.