Indian Navy to launch bidding process by year-end to procure 6 indigenous submarines


India is ready to start the bidding process by next month for a Rs 55,000-crore (7.536.826,00$) ambitious project to build six indigenous submarines for the Indian Navy to taper the gap with China's growing naval capabilities, government sources said on August 30 2020.
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Russian Vyborg Shipyard laid the Purga ice class coastguard ship of project 23550 925 001 An artist rendering of the Project 75I submarine of the Indian Navy. (Picture source: Indian Navy)


The submarines will be built in India under the Navy’s P75I program and guided by the Ministry of Defence’s Strategic Partnership model, which aims to build indigenous capabilities in order to reduce import dependence, a senior ministry official said.

The RFP for the project, which is being billed as one of biggest "Make in India" ventures, will be issued by October and the defence ministry has already shortlisted two Indian shipyards, L&T group and state-owned Mazagaon Docks Ltd (MDL), and five foreign defence majors for the project, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (Germany), Navantia (Spain) and Naval Group (France) are foreign partners.

The P75I Scorpene-class diesel-electric / air-independent propulsion (AIP) submarines are based on the Scorpene-class submarines, which were designed by French naval shipbuilding firm DCNS in partnership with Spanish shipbuilding firm Navantia.

The P75I Scorpene-class submarines are armed with six torpedo launching tubes, 18 heavy weapons, tube-launched MBDA SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles and precision-guided weapons. The weapons are carried in weapon launching tubes and can be easily reloaded at sea.