The Indian Navy will induct the first indigenously-built Scorpene submarine INS Kalvari by July end. Mazagon Docks limited (MDl), Mumbai, is building six Scorpene submarines in collaboration with France and INS Kalvari is going through the final phase of trials, Navy chief Admiral Sunil lanba said here on Wednesday.
He also said the first indigenously-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant is expected to go for sea trials by 2019 and the Navy expects to induct it in 2020. The public sector Cochin Shipyard is building the ship. At present, India only has one aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya as the other carrier INS Viraat was decommissioned some months back.
As regards the Scorpene submarine project known as Project-75, officials said the second submarine INS Kandheri will be inducted nine months after INS Kalvari gets commissioned in July. The remaining four submarines will then join service at a gap of nine months each, they added. Incidentally, INS Kalvari last week successfully test fired torpedoes.
Talking to reporters on the sideline of a Navy-Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) seminar “Building India’s future Navy: technology imperatives,” the Navy chief also apprised media persons about a proejct his force is keen to take on in the right earnest after the Government recently cleared the long awaited Strategic Partnership(SP) policy. It aims at giving a boost to the Indian private sector to build sophisticated weapon platforms including submarines, fighter jets, helicopters and armoured vehicles as part of ‘Make in India’ initiative.
lanba said the Navy is according top priority to building six more submarines indigenously after the Scorpene gets over. “As per the model, we all have to get the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) on what we want to get the Strategic Partners (SP) build, so that the SP in each segment can be identified. We are hopeful that we will be able to move the process within six months,” he said.
The submarine project envisages building six submarines with foreign collaboration in Indian shipyards. The project is worth over Rs50,000 crore. The Navy desperately needs conventional submarines as it now has 15 submarines and the projected strength is more than 25.
The Navy chief also said four players have shown an interest in providing the Navy with 57 multi-role combat fighter jets for its aircraft carrier. Having rejected indigenously built ‘Tejas’ light combat aircraft (lCA) as too heavy, the Navy in January issued a Request for Information(RFI) to procure 57 multi-role combat aircraft for its carrier.
“The Navy has got response from four players for the RFI. We will examine the RFI and take it forward,” lanba said but refrained from naming the companies which responded to the RFI. At present, the Navy operates Russian made 45 MIG-29K jets from INS Vikramaditya. Currently, six planes are compatible for aircraft carrier. They are Rafale (Dassault, France), F-18 Super Hornet (Boeing, US), MIG-29K(Russia), F-35B and F-35C (lockheed Martin, US) and Gripen (Saab, Sweden. While F-18, Rafale and MIG-29K are twin engine jets, the remaining three have single engine. The delivery of deck based fighter jets is expected to take four-five years.