Govt looks to conclude Rs 35,000 crore Scorpene submarine deal with MDL by year end, price bids to open soon

– Alpha Defense News Desk

New Delhi: In a move towards enhancing the underwater capabilities of Indian Navy, the Defence Ministry is likely to open the price bid of the defence shipyard Mazagaon Dockyards Limited in next few weeks for building three more Scorpene class submarines in India.

MDL has already built six Scorpene class boats named Kalvari class in India with the support of French Naval Group in its Mumbai facilities. “The price bids have been submitted by the MDL and the bids would be opened in next few weeks. The Defence Ministry’s acquisition wing will then go in for negotiating the price with the shipyard,” defence officials told Alpha Defence.

The government is looking towards completing the negotiations at the earliest and wrap up the deal by the end of this year, they said. The Indian Navy has this critical requirement for the submarines in view of the growing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean Region and requirement for newer boats in the Indian Navy to keep an eye on its growing areas of responsibility.

The Indian Navy is moving ahead with two important programmes for submarines in which three boats are to be built in MDL under Project-75 as while six bigger boats are planned to be built under the Project 75 India for which MDL and Larsen and Toubro are in the fray.

Even though the three additional submarines are a repeat order of the previous six Scorpene class submarines built in India, the Indian Navy has asked the MDL to enhance the indigenous content as well as the capabilities of the boats.

The Defence Acquisition Council of the Defence Ministry headed by Rajnath Singh had granted approval for the procurement of three additional Scorpene submarines under Buy (Indian) category last year in July.

The procurement of additional submarines, with higher indigenous content, will not only help in maintaining required force level and operational readiness of the Indian Navy, but also create significant employment opportunities in the domestic sector, the Defence Ministry had stated.
It will also help the MDL in further enhancing its capability and expertise in submarine construction, it had said.