The Federal Ministry of Finance approved a $A Rs 70,000-crore deal to build next-generation conventional submarines in the country to enhance the Navy’s underwater capabilities will pave the way for final approval by the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), senior officials familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The officials, who requested anonymity, said CCS would soon consider the proposal to build six advanced submarines under Project 75I before signing the deal.
The contract will be signed under the leadership of the new Navy Chief, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, who will take charge on May 31. He will succeed Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, who is retiring after four decades of service. Modernizing the Navy and enhancing its operational capabilities will be among Swaminathan’s top priorities.
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) and German company thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (tkMS) will build the submarines in Mumbai.
The first P-75I submarine will be delivered to the Navy seven years after signing the contract, and the rest will be delivered at a rate of one submarine per year. These advanced submarines, a variant of the HDW Class 214 vessels, will come equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems.
AIP significantly increases the submarine’s underwater endurance and reduces the risk of detection. As part of the contract, tkMS will transfer the submarine’s design and technology to India, enabling the goal of self-reliance in the defense manufacturing sector to be achieved.
MDL and tkMS beat out their only competitor Larsen & Toubro-Navantia in this project.
The first P-75I submarine must have at least 45% localization, with local content increasing to 60% in the sixth submarine. The Navy is working to achieve full self-reliance by 2047, the year India celebrates 100 years of its independence. There are about 60 warships under construction at various Indian yards.
The P-75I is taking shape as India and Germany take steps to enhance defense cooperation. In April, the two countries signed a defense industrial cooperation roadmap to promote joint development and joint production of weapons and systems, and strengthen bilateral military ties, during talks between Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and his counterpart Boris Pistorius in Berlin.
Mumbai-based MDL has built six Calvary-class (Scorpene) diesel-electric attack submarines with technology transfer from the French company, Naval Group, under a joint venture. $The 23,562-crore program is called P-75. The Navy commissioned the last of these six submarines, INS Vaghsheer, in January 2025.
In April, the Navy commissioned its third nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, INS Aridaman, during a closely kept-close ceremony in Visakhapatnam where it was built under a top-secret program to enhance the naval portion of the country’s nuclear triad — the ability to launch strategic weapons from land, air and sea. The United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China are the only other countries that can launch nuclear warheads from a submarine.
India’s fourth SSBN, codenamed S-4*, is likely to enter service in 2027, as previously reported by HT. SSBN stands for nuclear or nuclear-powered submersible ballistic missile submarine. The country’s first indigenous SSBN submarine, INS Arihant, was commissioned 10 years ago and successfully completed its first deterrent patrol in 2018, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi then declaring that the submarine’s success “gives a befitting reply to those who indulge in nuclear blackmail”.
The Navy commissioned its second indigenous SSBN, INS Arighaat, in Visakhapatnam in August 2024. The Aridaman is larger than the two previously inducted SSBNs and can launch long-range missiles. These SSBNs will remain on constant deterrence patrols and can launch nuclear missiles when New Delhi sends the signal.
