Project 75 India : Indian Navy gears up to issue Rs 50,000 Cr Submarine tender
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New Delhi, Jun 4: The Indian Navy is all set to issue a tender to acquire six lethal submarines as part of the ambitious Project 75 India, which is expected to cost more than Rs 50,000 crore.
The project proposal will be discussed at Friday's Defence Acquisition Council meeting, which will be attended by all major stakeholders from the three services as well as the defence ministry. The Indian Navy intends to build six conventional diesel-electric submarines under Project 75 India, which would be nearly 50 per cent larger than the Scorpene-class submarines currently under construction at Mazagon Dockyards Limited in Mumbai.
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The Navy has already identified and cleared MDL and Larsen and Toubro as the strategic partners that can tie up with five global manufacturers including French Naval Group, German TKMS, South Korean Daewoo, Spanish Navantia and Russian Rosoborboexport. The Indian Navy has two major projects under the strategic partnership policy which had been envisaged to develop the indigenous private sector in defence as major producers but now it has also seen public sector firms taking part in it.
According to the maritime force's specifications, the submarines must be equipped with heavy-duty firepower, with at least 12 Land Attack Cruise Missiles (LACM) and Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles (ASCM). The Navy has also specified that the submarines should also be able to carry and launch 18 heavyweight torpedoes in the sea. Compared with the Scorpene, the firepower required in the next line of submarines is many times more than what is being put on the Scorpenes which have the heavyweight torpedoes and the Exocet surface to surface missiles as their main weapons.