On November 9, 2021, the 4th Scorpene submarine of the Project-75, Yard 11878 was delivered to the Indian Navy which will be commissioned as INS (Indian Naval Ship) Vela.
What is Project 75?
It includes construction of six submarines of Scorpene design by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai (Maharashtra) in collaboration with M/s Naval Group, France.
- Currently, three submarines under Project-75 are functional with Indian Navy viz. INS Karanj, INS Kalvari, and INS Khanderi.
- The 5th submarine INS Vagir was launched in November 2020 for which harbour trials are going on.
- The 6th one, INS Vagsheer, is under construction.
- Vela was launched on May 6, 2019, and has completed all major harbour and sea trials including weapon and sensor trials.
The construction of these submarines in an Indian yard catered to the Central Government’s initiative of ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’.
Signatories of Acceptance Document:
The Acceptance Document for the submarine was signed by RAdm (Rear Admiral) KP Arvindan, Chief Staff Officer (Tech), Western Naval Command and VAdm (Vice Admiral) Narayan Prasad, Chairman & Managing Director MDL in the presence of top Navy and MDL officials.
Need of submarines by Indian Navy:
To tackle the increased presence of Chinese vessels in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
Points to be noted:
i.The Scorpene submarines are considered superior as they include several aspects of naval combat performing anti-ship, anti-submarine, intelligence, mine laying, and area surveillance operations.
ii.Indian Navy currently has 12 submarines along with two nuclear submarines viz. INS Arihant and INS Chakra.
iii.In 2021, the ministry of Defence (MoD) cleared a proposal for the manufacturing of 6 conventional diesel-electric submarines worth Rs. 50,000 crore under the P75-India (P75I) project.
- These will be bigger than the Scorpene-class submarines.
Recent Related News:
The Indian Navy has signed a contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for the manufacture and supply of India’s 1st indigenously developed Naval Anti Drone System (NADS) with both ‘hard kill’ and ‘soft kill’ capabilities.
About Indian Navy:
Chief of Naval Staff (CNS)– Admiral Karambir Singh
Navy Day– December 4 (annually celebrated to commemorate the victory of 1971 Indo-Pakistan war)
Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence (Navy)– New Delhi