On 10th July 2023, Spain’s shipbuilder Navantia and engineering major Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), India signed an ‘Teaming Agreement'(TA) in Delhi to jointly bid for a Rs. 43,000-crore (4.8 billion euros) project to build 6 advanced diesel-electric submarines for the Indian Navy.
- The TA was signed for the purpose of submission of a techno-commercial bid for the Indian Navy’s Project 75 (India) or P75 (I), a military acquisition initiative and submarine programme affiliated to India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) .
- This agreement follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between L&T and Navantia on 11th April 2023 in Madrid, Spain to bid for the Indian Navy’s P75 (I).
- Under the agreement, Navantia will design the P75(I) submarines based on its S80 class. The first S80 submarine, launched in 2021, is undergoing sea trials and will be delivered to the Spanish Navy by end 2023.
Key people:
The pact was signed in the presence of, L&T Chief executive officer(CEO) and Managing Director(MD) S N Subrahmanyan, Naval Construction Vice President and Member of the Board of Navantia Augustin Alvarez Blanco and Spanish envoy Jose Maria Ridao Dominquez.
Project 75 (I)
i.It requires Indian bidder to tie up with a foreign collaborator and execute the programme for the delivery of six conventional submarines equipped with Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP), while achieving targetted Indigenous content.
- The environmentally Green AIP is a third-generation system that runs on Bio-Ethanol Stealth Technology (BEST) and has lower operating and through-life costs.
ii.P75(I) would be the first program to be processed under the ambitious Strategic Partnership (SP) model that allows domestic defence manufacturers to join hands with foreign defence majors to produce high-end military platforms to reduce import dependence.
Construction of the submarine:
L&T would build the submarines, while Navantia would design them based on the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder’s S80 class of submarines and provide the AIP system that lets submarines remain underwater longer.
Other works of Navantia:
Navantia has been involved in the design and construction of
- the Scorpéne class of submarines together with DCNS (Now Naval Group) of France,
- the Scorpene submarines (Kalvari class) built in India, including hand-holding of the Indian yard.
Note: The P-75I programme is one of the biggest under the Make in India initiative.
About Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T):
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director– S. N. Subrahmanyan
Headquarters- Mumbai
Established- 1938
