Leaked documents on Scorpène-class submarine and its implication on the Indian Navy
Suresh Bangara Aug 24, 2016 23:03 IST
On 6 April last year, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar undocked the fully-fitted, first of its class, Project 75 submarine. It is scheduled to be commissioned in September 2016 after mandatory sea trials. The project, as per the contract with the French shipbuilders DCNS, had already suffered many slippages in delivery schedules and (in naval parlance) is astern of the original intent of expeditious delivery to address the force-level shortages of diesel-electric submarines.
The earlier attempt at Mazagaon Docks to build the German origin, state-of-the-art submarine – designed by HDW – had to be terminated in the late 1980s owing to the allegation of corruption in the deal. The Indian Navy was deprived of a well-established production line when the political decision, more of a knee-jerk reaction, was taken to terminate it. The costly investment in infrastructure and technical manpower was thus wasted. The opportunity cost of terminating this prestigious project can be best summed up with the idiom, "cut off your nose to spite your face" because the cost was exorbitant, to put it mildly.
Even though the Soviets stepped in to supply the EKM submarines to bolster the depleting force levels, a 30-year build programme which was approved at the end of 1990s was to ensure that our build capacity was augmented by creating the necessary infrastructure and technical manpower in two indigenous yards. Inordinate delays in executing the plan resulted in Mazagaon Docks speeding up the construction of much-delayed Scorpene. The other is yet to take off.
This is the backdrop against which the today's leaked documents need to be viewed.
The Australian newspaper which broke the story of the leak has carefully redacted the sensitive data contained in the leaked documents, keeping in mind the advice of military and legal experts. A few pages sourced by Firstpost confirm that the redaction has been professionally carried out. Whether it covers the whole document of over 20,000 pages is yet to be ascertained.
More:
http://www.firstpost.com/india/leaked-documents-on-scorpene-class-submarine-and-its-implication-on-the-indian-navy-2974788.html
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INS Kalvari To Hit Waters For Final Trial In September
Press Trust of India | Updated: August 25, 2016 00:02 IST
INS Kalvari is part of a USD 3.5 billion contract signed by the defence ministry with French firm DCNS.
New Delhi: Kalvari, Indian Navy's first indigenous Scorpene-class stealth submarine, will hit the waters again in September for its final phase of sea trials ahead of its planned induction by the end of this year.
The 66-metre-long INS Kalvari is part of an over USD 3.5 billion contract signed by the defence ministry with French firm DCNS in October 2005 to jointly develop six submarines.
Under Project 75 of the Indian Navy, the submarines are being built at the MDL dockyard in Mumbai under license from DCNS.
While the first four are conventional submarines, the last two are to be equipped with the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system, which will enable the vessel to stay underwater for longer.
More:
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/ins-kalvari-to-hit-waters-for-final-trial-in-september-1449950
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Scorpene submarine data leak may be 'economic warfare', says French shipbuilder DCNS
More:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Scorpene-submarine-data-leak-may-be-economic-warfare-says-French-shipbuilder-DCNS/articleshow/53845964.cms
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France is about to conclude $50 billion deal with Australia for similar ships (already has a contract with Brazil and some other countries), and to sell 36 advanced military Rafale jets to India with more to be produced there, together with Secma military jet engine technology.
At present Lockheed Martin tries to transfer it's dying production of F-16 fighter jets from US to India.
In next few years India will need about 500 military helicopters, and few hundreds fighter jets, among other military equipment.
Recently India expanded sub production capacity in Mumbai to paralel production of 5 Scorpene type subs, meaning that it is about to become the production center of French subs for pacific region.
Japan Russia, USA, Germany, China and Asutalia (UK) are not particularly happy with that what France is doing.
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