The Indian Navy is set to induct second Scorpene submarine Khanderi on September 28 in Mumbai. The remaining submarines in the series are in advanced stages of manufacturing and trials.
“Three landmark events are planned on September 28 - the commissioning of the second Scorpene submarine, Khanderi; the launch of the first P-17A frigate, Nilgiri , and the commissioning of the largest dry dock of the Indian Navy,” Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Ashok Kumar said. With this the Navy's reach and combat sustenance would go up tremendously, he noted.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will preside over the events. He will later proceed to Goa and spend a day at sea on aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya .
Khanderi was launched into the water in January 2017 and has since been undergoing a series of trials.
On the delays in inducting the submarine, Vice Adm Kumar said certain delays and learnings happen along the way, “which is acceptable.” All issues of Khanderi which were there had been resolved. “There are certain sea acceptance trials, which are on and expected to be completed by September 28.”
The Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL), Mumbai, is manufacturing six Scorpene submarines under technology transfer from the Naval Group of France under a 2005 contract worth $3.75 bn. After a series of delays in the project, the first submarine of class Kalvari joined service in December 2017. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2020.
The cost of the Scorpene project now stands at Rs. 25,000 crore. The cost of the aircraft carrier dry dock was Rs. 1,320 crore, while the cost of the seven frigates under P-17A is over Rs. 48,000 crore.
This January 12, 2017 photo shows indigenously-built scorpene submarine INS Khanderi being launched at Mazegaon Shipbuilding dock.
On budgetary constraints of the service, Vice Adm Kumar said they “will certainly seek more money.” “What we need is more capital allocation of the budget... the Navy's share was 18% of the defence budget in 2012-13, which came down to 13.6%. We would like it to go back to 18-20%.”
Asked about the naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which made its first short arrested landing in Goa last week, he said the Navy was fully in support of the LCA project and always made payments on time.
“LCA Mk-1 was never meant to be inducted. It was a technology demonstrator. The arrested landing is a great achievement and will lead to the twin-engine Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), which the Navy will induct,” he added.
