The Project 75 (India)-class submarines, or P-75I, for short, are a planned class of diesel-electric submarines, which are to be built for the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

. The P-75I class is a follow-on of the P-75 class submarines of the

. Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire six conventional, diesel-electric attack submarines, which will also feature advanced capabilities - including air-independent propulsion (AIP), ISR,

special operations forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

(SOF), anti-ship warfare (AShW),

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

(ASW),

anti-surface warfare Anti-surface warfare (ASuW or ASUW) is the branch of naval warfare concerned with the suppression of surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's s ...

(ASuW), land-attack capabilities and other features. All six submarines are expected to be constructed in India, under the

Make in India Make in India is an initiative by the Government of India to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products made in India and incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing. The policy approach was to crea ...

initiative.

History

Origins

In 1997, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) approved a plan to acquire 24 submarines under

Project 75 The ''Kalvari'' class is a class of diesel-electric attack submarines based on the being built for the Indian Navy. The class and submarines take their names from the first submarines inducted in the Indian Navy. The submarines are designed ...

. After the

Kargil War The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referr ...

in 1999, the

Cabinet Committee on Security The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) of the Government of India discusses, debates and is the final decision-making body on senior appointments in the national security apparatus, defence policy and expenditure, and generally all matters of Ind ...

(CCS) - India's top decision-making body on issues related to defense and national security, approved a 30-year submarine building plan, that called for two parallel production lines, each constructing six submarines. The older Project-75 (P-75) was brought under the new plan, with the two production lines to be built under P-75 and P-75I using

transfer of technology Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

(ToT) from different foreign manufacturers.

Progress

In 2008, the Indian Navy issued a Request for Information (RFI) to multiple naval conglomerates - Armaris (now

Naval Group Naval Group is a major French industrial group specialized in naval defense design, development and construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Heir to the French naval dockyards initiated in 1631 by Cardinal Richelieu and to the Direc ...

), HDW and

Rosoboronexport JSC Rosoboronexport (russian: AO Рособоронэкспорт, ''Rosoboroneksport'') is the sole state intermediary agency for Russia's exports/imports of defense-related and dual use products, technologies and services. The Rosoboronexport ...

for six submarines with air-independent propulsion (AIP) and land-attack capability, that were to be built in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. In July 2010, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) - the MoD's top arms acquisition body, decided to import two submarines, build three at Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) and one at Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), with a budget of INR . After the project was approved by the DAC in August 2010, an RFI was issued again in September 2010. However, the RFP was not approved by the CCS due to conflicting opinions between the

and the MoD, over the involvement of privately-owned shipyards in the project. Consequently, the approval lapsed and was renewed multiple times till 2013. In October 2014, the DAC decided to construct all six submarines in India and approved a budget of INR . Along with the state-owned MDL, HSL, and

Cochin Shipyard Limited Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) is a shipbuilding facility in India. It is part of a line of maritime-related facilities in the port-city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. Of the services provided by the shipyard are building platform suppl ...

(CSL), privately-owned L&T Shipbuilding and Pipavav Shipyard (R-Naval) were allowed to bid for the project in collaboration with a foreign shipyard. In 2017, the

issued another RFI, to

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany (often abbreviated TKMS) is a group and holding company of providers of naval vessels, surface ships and submarines. It was founded when large industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp acquired Howaldtswerke-Deuts ...

(TKMS), Saab Kockums,

Navantia Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding company, which offers its services to both military and civil sectors. It is the fifth-largest shipbuilder in Europe and the ninth-largest in the world with shipyards around the globe. The heir to t ...

and

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

(MHI). Out of the aforementioned six - only Naval Group, Rosoboronexport, TKMS and Saab responded, while Navantia and Mitsubishi failed to respond within the deadline. In June 2017, it was reported that the contract for construction would be awarded under a ''"Strategic Partnership"'' (SP) policy, which would eliminate state-owned shipyards from contention. After the approval lapsed in February 2018, the DAC renewed the approval with a budget of INR in January 2019. In April 2019, an

Expression of Interest An invitation to tender (ITT, otherwise known as a call for bids or a request for tenders) is a formal, structured procedure for generating competing offers from different potential suppliers or contractors looking to obtain an award of business ...

(EOI) was issued for six submarines capable of firing land-attack missiles (LAM) and anti-ship cruise missiles. In June 2019, South Korea's Daewoo Shipping & Marine Engineering (DSME), was allowed to enter the project, after the EOI had expired, in response to a late invitation extended by the MoD, thus making a late entrance into the competition. Navantia responded to the EOI in July 2019, affirming the company's re-entrance into the competition (after their absence from the RFI issued in 2017). Shortly after, in September 2019, Saab withdrew from the competition, citing concerns about the rules defined in the ''"Strategic Partnership"'' policy. Saab's withdrawal left five firms as the only contestants in P-75I - Naval Group, Rosoboronexport, TKMS, Navantia and DSME; the five firms were later officially shortlisted as the finalists of the competition, in 2020.

Shortlisting

On 21 January 2020, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

(GoI) shortlisted two Indian shipyards -

Larsen & Toubro Larsen & Toubro Ltd, commonly known as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, information technology and financial services, headquartered in Mumba ...

(L&T) and

Mazagon Dock Limited Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) (IAST: ''Majhagānv Dawk Limiṭeḍ''), formerly called Mazagon Dock Limited, is a shipyard situated in Mazagaon, Mumbai. It manufactures warships and submarines for the Indian Navy and offshore platfor ...

(MDL), as the two Indian finalists in P-75I. Concurrently, the GoI also shortlisted five foreign

Original Equipment Manufacturers An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

(OEM), as finalists in P-75I -

(TKMS) of Germany,

Rubin Design Bureau Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering ( Russian: Центральное конструкторское бюро "Рубин", shortened to ЦКБ "Рубин") in Saint Petersburg is one of three main Russian centers of submarine desi ...

of Russia,

of Spain,

of France, and Daewoo Shipping & Marine Engineering (DSME) of South Korea. The two Indian shipyards respectively, would have to collaborate with the five foreign shortlisted OEM's, for competing in the project. On 20 July 2021, the MoD formally issued an RFP for the construction of the six designated submarines, worth , under the ''"Strategic Partnership"'' model. Nevertheless, the deadline of the RFP, which was initially scheduled for November 2021, was postponed to June 2022, and later again, to December 2022.

Contenders

Foreign contenders

The five foreign naval conglomerates shortlisted by the MoD in January 2020, were * :- (withdrawn in April 2022) **

: Offered a diesel-electric variant of the

nuclear attack submarine An SSN is a nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarine. ''SSN'' is the US Navy hull classification symbol for such vessels; the ''SS'' denotes a submarine and the ''N'' denotes nuclear power. The designation SSN is used for interoperabili ...

. Is also reported to be alternatively offering an enhanced variant of the . * :- (withdrawn in August 2021) **

: Offered the

Type 214 submarine The Type 214 is a diesel-electric submarine developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW). It features diesel propulsion with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system using Siemens polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cell ...

. * :- **

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Hanwha Ocean Co., Ltd. (), formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME; ), is one of the "Big Three" shipbuilders of South Korea, along with Hyundai and Samsung. History On 21 February 2011, the A. P. Moller-Ma ...

: Offered a 3000 t variant of the KSS-III submarine, designated as the DSME-3000. * :- (withdrawn in February 2022) **

: Offered a variant of the , designated as the ''Amur''-1650. * :- **

: Offered the S-80 Plus submarine.

Local shipyards

The two Indian shipyards shortlisted by the MoD, were * :- ** Larsen & Toubro Shipbuilding: Has assisted in the development and construction of the

nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

ballistic missile submarines, since 2009. * :- **

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) ( IAST: ''Majhagānv Dawk Limiṭeḍ''), formerly called Mazagon Dock Limited, is a shipyard situated in Mazagaon, Mumbai. It manufactures warships and submarines for the Indian Navy and offshore pl ...

: Currently manufacturing six ''Scorpène''-class attack submarines, under P-75, of which four have been delivered. Also license manufactured two Type 209/1500 attack submarines, between 1984 and 1994.

Developments

Elimination of contenders

In July 2021, MDL issued an RFI to the five foreign contenders, seeking a partner that has a functional air-independent propulsion (AIP) system that has been tested and proved on operational submarine. Unfortunately, three of the five contenders, namely, France, Russia and Spain, did not possess any functional submarine equipped with a sea-proven AIP system, eliminating them from the competition. South Korea and Germany were the only nations to have possessed AIP-tested submarines, making them the only qualified competitors in the program. In August 2021, TKMS withdrew from the program, citing its incapacity to satisfy several technical conditions. The firm highlighted its inability to respond to the tender's short timeline and had disagreed on several technical clauses - specifically on the issues of liability, technology-transfer and proportion of indigenous content. The firm's withdrawal from the competition thus left DSME as the only qualified contender, creating a "single-vendor situation" - a condition in which only one contestant is qualified to participate in a bidding process. In February 2022,

withdrew from the tender, citing its inability to comply with the tender's requirements; nevertheless, the firm offered a compensatory deal of new Upgraded Kilo-class submarines, along with decommissioned Original Kilo-class submarines, as an interim option to reinforce the Indian Navy's declining submarine fleet. In April 2022, Naval Group withdrew from the tender, citing an inability to comply with its requirements of providing a sea-proven AIP system. Following the withdrawal of several contenders on account of their respective inabilities to comply with the project's requirements, the MoD postponed the deadline of the tender from November 2021 to June 2022, and later once more, to December 2022.

Gallery

File:INS Vela (S24) during its commissioning ceremony.jpg, The , designed by

. File:Chegada do submarino NRP Tridente à Base Naval do Alfeite.jpg, The

, designed by

References

External links

*
Expression of Interest For six P 75(i) Submarines for Indian Navy
{{Submarines of the Indian Navy Attack submarines Submarine classes Submarines of the Indian Navy