When the visionary Manohar Parrikar was India’s Defense Minister, he suggested to the then Navy Chief Admiral Robin K Dhowan that the Indian Navy exercise its option for three more Kalveri (Scorpene) classes rather than opting for a new acquisition of six Project 75 I air-independently powered submarines.
Admiral Dhowan disagreed, leading to the cancellation of the Project 75 option clause approved in 2003 by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government in September 2016. On 20 July 2021, the Ministry of Defense issued a request for proposal (RFP) for six AIP-equipped Project 75 I class submarines at a cost of ₹40,000 million.
As it is normal for India’s civil-military bureaucracy to take at least 10-15 years to complete any major acquisition, this means that MDL’s current line of Scorpene submarines will go to seed with another set of 75 I class being built later this year 1930s with a new massive investment in a submarine line. All of that seems set to change.
Lithium-ion technology ahead of the AIP submarine technology
Meanwhile, the AIP-equipped submarines have been replaced by Japan’s latest Soryu-class submarines with lithium-ion batteries with higher endurance and faster recharging. Lithium-ion batteries have twice the capacity of traditional lead-acid batteries, greatly increasing the submarine’s range.
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The French switching to nuclear propulsion and the Germans switching to lithium-ion technology ahead of the AIP submarine technology, the Modi government will most likely end up with a single-supplier option, with South Korea as the only country producing AIP submarines. Simply put, this means that by the time the Indian bureaucracy finalizes the supplier, the technology will be obsolete and outclassed by China’s rapidly developing PLA Navy.
The PLA Navy rapidly advancing into the Indo-Pacific and the QUAD gearing up to meet the challenge, the Indian Navy leadership is reassessing its submarine capabilities and may ask the Modi government to repeat the order for DRDO-verified and French Naval Group-tested Kalveri-class submarines .
Repeat order of the Kalveri class submarines
AIP system built into six more submarines. The Indian Navy’s grand plan for the next 25 years includes the design, development and construction of three nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines, or so-called nuclear attack submarines, or SSNs.
India currently has two nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, or SSBNs, with a third under construction. The repeat order of the Kalveri class submarines will ensure that India’s submarine building and machine tool skills will not die after the last of the Kalveri class submarines is commissioned this year and MDL will later export the same submarines to other Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Africa.
The way out is to quietly bury Project 75 I and follow up on the existing Project 75 with an AIP developed by the indigenous DRDO. The same AIP can later be retrofitted with Kalveri-class submarines during a mid-life upgrade. With China launching six to ten warships including submarines every year, India has no other option to deal with the Indo-Pacific problem.
By: Vaishali Verma
