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Further Reading

Project-75A / Project-75I / Project 76

By 2007 India began a hunt for six more submarines to add to the six being built at Mazagon Docks under the mammoth Rs 18,798-crore Scorpene project. "We are now actively looking at the second line of submarines after the Scorpenes. I think the global tender for the six new submarines should be floated in the next financial year (2008-2009)," navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta told TOI. The contenders for the six new submarines could include the German HDW and Russian Amur submarines, with the French Scorpenes also being in the reckoning for a repeat order.

Request for information were issued in 2007 to the French DCNS, Spanish Navantia, Russian Rubin and German HDW. "It is a new submarine. It is not the Scorpene and it is a bigger submarine with specific features," Alain Fougeron, Executive VP, DCNS says about its new submarines. The key differentiator from its existing fleet of 16 submarines will be a new class of missiles, which will establish India as the leading naval power in the region. "The missile component of the Submarine weapon is very important and it should be very powerful," Andrey V Efimov, Manager, Rubin Design Bureau, says.

The Russians are hesitant on allowing license production for the Amur, and have stated that India should purchase a few of those vessels from their shipyard. As of 2005 there was one Amur being built for export purpose. There is speculation that 6 ot 8 Amur (with 10 VLS Brahmos) might be built in India.

On 20 August 2008 it was reported that the Indian Navy's next order for seven submarines, a follow-on order to the six French-designed Scorpenes already under various stages of construction at French and Indian shipyards, will all be armed with the sub-surface version of the Indo-Russian supersonic BrahMos cruise missile. This was stated by Alexander Dergachev, chairman of board of directors of the BrahMos Aerospace joint-venture. Expressing the hope that the submarine order would be placed soon enough Dergachev said, "The missiles will be made for submarines of the Indian Navy. The nearest order is seven submarines. We do not know yet when exactly it is going to happen. I hope soon."

Initially 6 Scorpene will be built as part of Project-75 at the Mazagoan Dock, and later another 6 as part of Project-76. As part of 30 year submarine building program India plans on 24 subs of the SSK type. With 6 Scorpene plus 6 Project-76, the remaining 12-10 subs will be of an indigenous design, possibly displacing upwards of 3,000 tons, based on the best of what Scorpene and Amur has to offer. The additional six submarines will start joining the Indian Navy fleet after all the first set of six Scorpenes have joined the naval fleet.

Project 75I

In October 2008 the Indian Navy issued RFIs (request for information) to a number of international shipbuilding and design yards/firms for the next generation of submarines to be constructed at its shipyards. The RFIs were issued to Russian (Rosoboronexport), French (Armaris) and German (HDW) firms, among others. At that time another round of discussions appeared likely before the RFP (request for proposal), or a global tender, was issued in late-2008 or early-2009. To be executed under Project-75A all the six vessels of this second line of diesel-electric submarines, were to be equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP).

In October 2010 the Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC), chaired by defence minister A K Antony, decided on a plan worth over Rs 50,000 crore for six new-generation submarines for the Indian Navy. At least three of the six submarines will be constructed at Mazagon Docks (MDL) in Mumbai and one at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) in Visakhapatnam, with the help of a foreign collaborator. The other two submarines will either be imported from the foreign vendor directly or constructed at a private yard in India. Each of the six diesel-electric submarines will cost almost Rs 8,500 crore. Under the program — reportedly called Project-75 India (P-75I) — all the six new submarines will be equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems, land-attack capability and other technologies to boost their operational capabilities. An RFP (request for proposal) will first have to be issued to submarine manufacturers like Rosoboronexport (Russian), DCNS/Armaris (French), HDW (German) and Navantia (Spain). The navy would hope to gets its first submarine under P-75I in six to seven years, that is, by 2016-2017. By 2015 it will be left with an ageing fleet of diesel-electric submarines — 10 Russian Kilo-class, four German HDW Typ-209, and one Foxtrot.