Defence Ministry clears Rs. 43,000 crore project to build 6 high-tech submarines

New Delhi: With an aim to give further fillip to Modi-government’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ campaign, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), in its meeting held under the Chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday approved Request For Proposal (RFP) for construction of six stealth submarines for Rs 43,000 Crore while it also approved Air Defence guns and ammunition for Army worth Rs 6,000 crore.

The RFP for construction of six Conventional Submarines under Project P 75 (I) under the Strategic Partnership (SP) Model, the Indian Navy is intended to issue RFP to build six stealth submarines equipped with the state-of-the-art Air Independent Propulsion system.

The RFP, to be issued to the domestic defence firms identified as the strategic partners will be discussed in the meeting, an official in the government establishment said.

“If the approval for the RFP is given, the tender process would start rolling,” the source said.

On January 21 last year, the DAC selected two domestic shipyard companies, including Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) and private sector firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T) as Strategic Partners for the Project 75-I programme.

Under this project, six new stealth submarines will be constructed in collaboration with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) providing a major boost to the indigenous design and construction capability of submarines in India, in addition to bringing in the latest submarine design and technologies as part of the project.

Earlier, under the Project 75, six Scorpene Class submarines are already being built in India by the MDL, in a collaboration with France-based Naval Group. So far, three of them have been commissioned into the Indian Navy.

As per the Ministry of Defence, “The overall aim would be to progressively build indigenous capabilities in the private sector to design, develop and manufacture complex weapon systems for the future needs of the Armed Forces.”

There was a long pending need of the Indian Army for modernisation of its Air Defence guns, the DAC accorded approval of procurement of Air Defence Guns and Ammunition at an around cost of Rs 6,000 crore under the Buy & Make (Indian) category. (UNI)