According to a press release issued by federal government a ‘Make in India’ mission price Rs43, 500 crore to construct six standard submarines has been cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
The defence acquisition council (DAC), India’s apex procurement body, approved the proposal at a meeting on Friday and the navy is expected to issue requests for proposal (RFP) for the programme, called P-75 India soon, the officials said.
“…The DAC approved issue of RFP for construction of six conventional submarines under Project P 75 (I) under the strategic partnership model… This is a landmark approval, being the first case processed under the strategic partnership model,” the government said in the statement.
With accord of this approval, India will be enabled to achieve its 30 year Submarine construction programme envisioned by the Government to acquire national competence in submarine construction and for the Indian industry to independently design and construct submarines in India, he added.
Under Project 75(I), the submarines for the Indian Navy are going to be constructed in India and will be through ToT by the OEMs. This project is under the strategic partnership model which was adopted in an effort to ensure building capacity in the Indian industry.
Local manufacturing of major military platform:
The idea is that this is going to help in the local manufacturing of major military platforms. The project received a clearance from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) way back in 1999 and Acceptance of Necessity granted in 2007.
This will be the first RFP to be issued under the SP model, which seeks to provide fillip to the government’s Make in India programme, said one of the officials cited above.
The model envisages indigenous manufacturing of major defence platforms by an Indian strategic partner who will collaborate with a foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to set up production facilities in the country.
Indian Navy currently have 12 submarines:
The Indian Navy currently has 12 submarines. In addition, there are two nuclear submarines INS Arihant and INS Chakra in the navy`s fleet.
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 Indian Ocean region.
