New Delhi: In view of China’s growing naval power, India is continuously increasing its maritime warfare capabilities in the Indian Ocean. Under this, two major submarine deals worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore can be finalized by the middle of next year. Official sources said on Sunday that the first project is to purchase three Scorpene submarines. Negotiations are going on on this. They will be jointly manufactured by state-owned Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) and French defense major Naval Group.
The Defense Ministry approved this deal worth about Rs 36,000 crore two years ago, but there has been a delay in negotiations to finalize various technical and commercial aspects of the project. The second project that the Defense Ministry is eyeing is the purchase of six diesel-electric stealth submarines at a cost of about Rs 65,000 crore. This purchase was approved by the ministry in 2021 itself. Sources said that both the deals are expected to be finalised by the middle of next year. German company partnered
Sources said that leading German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) has partnered with Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited for the project involving six diesel-electric stealth submarines. It is being described as one of the biggest Make in India initiatives in recent years. He said that cost negotiations for the deal will start soon and the entire process of contract completion may take six to nine months. The proposed acquisition of six stealth submarines under Project 75 India (P75-I) is a completely new programme. In this, the plan of three Scorpene submarines will be a follow-up order to the previous acquisition. Under the Navy’s Project 75, six Scorpene submarines have already been built by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in collaboration with Naval Group.
Navy wants deals to be completed soon
An official said the Navy wants both deals to be completed soon as it wants to enhance its maritime capabilities. Sources said the cost negotiation process for the diesel engine program will take time to finalise. Commercial negotiations for the Scorpene class submarines are almost complete. If everything goes as planned, the Scorpene project will be finalised early next year as it has already been delayed a lot.
Supply six years after contract
Sources said the supply of submarines under both projects will begin about six years after the contract is signed. On whether MDL will have the capability to execute both projects simultaneously, sources said the shipbuilder will have to enhance its infrastructure for this. The Scorpene submarine project has already been delayed a lot and we hope it will be completed soon.
Project hanging in balance
Though the Defence Ministry had given in-principle approval for the purchase of 26 naval versions of Rafale jets from France along with additional Scorpene submarines, the first project is still hanging in the balance. In April, India and France signed an inter-governmental agreement. Under this, a major deal was made for the purchase of 26 Rafale maritime jets at a cost of Rs 64,000 crore (7 billion euros). These will be deployed on the naval aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
