NEW DELHI, April 20: The sixth and the last of the French Scorpene-class submarines “Vagsheer” was on Wednesday launched into water by the Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar at a ceremony at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai. It is likely to be commissioned into the Indian Navy next year.
“MDL teams will now have to complete the integration and setting to work of the equipment and machinery on-board before beginning the sea trials, including weapon and sensor trials,” the Naval Group of France said in a statement.
The submarines were being built under Project-75 by the MDL under technology transfer from the Naval Group under a $3.75 billion deal signed in October 2005. The first one, INS Kalvari was commissioned in December 2017; the second, INS Khanderi in September 2019; the third INS Karanj in March 2021; and the fourth one, INS Vela joined service last November. The 5th one, INS Vagir was launched in November 2020 and is undergoing sea trials.
The Navy has drawn up plans to install an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) module on all the Scorpenes as they go for refit, beginning with INS Kalvari, in the next couple of years to enhance their endurance. Development of an indigenous AIP module by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is in advanced stages.
In addition, tender to build six more advanced conventional submarines under Project-75I is in the Request For Proposal (RFP) stage. The Navy has a 30-year submarine-building programme and after the P-75I, it intends to design and build conventional submarines indigenously.
With delays in submarine induction, the SSKs – 209s (German HDWs) and EKMs (Russian Kilos), are being put through the Medium Refit Life Certification (MRLC) process, which will give them additional life of 10 to 15 years. The Navy currently has 16 conventional and nuclear submarines in service including eight Russian Kilos, four German HDWs and four Scorpenes.
(Manas Dasgupta)