Conventional vessels to be built to Navy’s requirements with technology access

Russia has offered India joint design and development of conventional submarines through an Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) at the delegation-level dialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, sources said.

“The proposal includes joint design and development of a conventional submarine with Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) through an IGA as per the Indian Navy requirements with full access to technology and Intellectual Property Rights [IPR],” a Russian source said.

The Navy has issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) for six advanced conventional diesel-electric submarines under Project 75I and the bids are expected to be submitted later month. The procurement is through the Strategic Partnership (SP) model of the defence procurement procedure and valued over Rs. 40,000 crore.

The indigenous AIP being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) could be incorporated in the submarine, the source stated. However, the Russian fifth generation fighter aircraft, Su-57, was not offered to India, the sources added.

For the P-75I, Russia has pitched a modified Amur 1650 conventional submarine to suit Indian requirements. The contenders in the P-75I are Naval Group of France, Rosoboronexport Rubin Design Bureau of Russia, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany and Saab group of Sweden.

India has signed a series of mega defence deals with Russia in the last few years through the IGA route.

“Last year and today saw the emergence of a tremendous portfolio of contracts in contrast to all previous years, $14.5 billion. This is an impressive figure, it’s a real breakthrough,” Dmitry Shugaev, Director General of Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation of Russia, was quoted by Russian news agency TASS on Wednesday.