In a major push to the ‘Make in India’ initiative, a mega submarine project worth Rs 50,000 crore to build six stealth submarines under Project-75 India for the Indian Navy received the final clearance as the defence ministry issued the Request for Proposal (RFP) to two Indian companies that can work in collaboration with a foreign manufacturer.
The RFP has been issued to Mazagon Docks (MDL) and private ship-builder Larsen & Toubro (L&T). This is under the two strategic partnership model where Indian strategic partners (SPs) — MDL and L&T — will tie-up with one of the five selected foreign shipyards to submit their technical and financial bids.
The clearance for the request for proposal (RFP) was given in a meeting of the defence acquisition council chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday.
Under Project 75-India, the Navy wants to build six conventional diesel-electric submarines that would be bigger than the under-construction Scorpene-class submarines being built at the Mazagon Dockyards Limited in Mumbai.
As per the requirements stated by the maritime force, the submarines would be equipped with heavy-duty firepower so that the boats will have at least 12 Land Attack Cruise Missiles (LACM) along with Anti-Ship cruise missiles (ASCM).
The project got a clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) way back in 1999 and the acceptance of necessity was granted in 2007. The Indian Navy has 12 submarines. In addition, there are two nuclear submarines, INS Arihant and INS Chakra, in the Navy’s fleet.
While the Indian Navy has more than 140 submarines and surface warships, the Pakistani Navy has around 20 of these. However, the Indian Navy is building assets to tackle the Chinese Navy which operates occasionally in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) region.
Upgrading its submarine operations and the naval fleet has been the top priority for the Indian Navy in wake of the increased presence of Chinese vessels in the IOR.
The strategic partnership model aims at promoting India as a manufacturing hub for defence equipment, in addition to establishing an industrial and R&D eco-system capable of meeting the future requirements of the Armed Forces besides giving a boost to exports.
