The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has launched a military procurement project called Project-75 (India), also known as P-75 (I) or Project-75. The initiative's goal is to equip the Indian Navy with diesel-electric attack submarines in order to strengthen India's armed forces and expand domestic submarine manufacturing capacity.
The Indian Navy possesses diesel-electric and nuclear-powered submarines. The only focus of Project 75 is on diesel-electric attack submarines.
When was the initiative launched?
In 1997, the idea for Project 75, which would build two Type 1500 SSK submarines, first materialized. The Ministry of Defense's (MoD) Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which makes decisions, gave the proposal its approval.
What is the project's purpose?
Improved stealth characteristics on conventional diesel-electric submarines, like the Scorpene, include sonar and sensor suites, low radiated noise levels, long-range guided torpedoes, tube-launched anti-ship missiles, and enhanced acoustic absorption techniques.
However, electrical batteries power them, they must surface every 48 hours to recharge. In order to develop six submarines that can remain submerged for up to two weeks, the MoD is currently initiating the bid process for a project worth around Rs 43,000 crore.
Who built The Scorpene submarines?
The submarines will be built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), a division of the Ministry of Defense, in partnership with Thomson-CSF (TCSF), a French company, at a projected cost of Rs. 700 crore.
Phase I and Phase II were the two divisions of the project. Some submarines were to be manufactured at MDL as part of Project-75 in Phase I, and further submarines would be created subsequently using local resources.
The collaboration with TCSF was discontinued in April 2001 when the Indian Navy opted to pursue the Scorpene, a more modern submarine design. This design was provided with a technology transfer (TOT) clause by Armaris, a different French naval company (later DCNS, now Naval Group).
Operation delays
The government gave its permission for the project and its cost on September 6, 2005. Contracts for the building, the transfer of technology, and the provision of essential components were signed by the Government of India, MDL, Naval Group (France), and MBDA.
The submarines were built starting in December 2006 and ending in July 2009. The project delivery, however, was delayed due to issues with technology adoption, a backlog in the augmentation of the industrial infrastructure, and the purchasing of goods purchased through MDL.
