Navantia outlines a bid for the construction of six high-tech conventional submarines for the Indian Navy’s Project-75 India, an ambitious plan that has been on hold for years and whose bid deadline will be next August.
The German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and the Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia are two of the contenders for the offer for which there are weeks remaining, for an estimated amount of more than 5,000 million dollars, a source from the Ministry recommended to EFE. of Indian Defense who requested anonymity.
indian defense project
Project-75 India (P75-I), one of India’s longest-delayed defense plans, has set the latest extension to the bid date to be August 2023, for all potential bidders, including Navantia. The Spanish construction company is expected to seal its commitment to enter as partners in the tender with Larsen & Toubro (L&T), one of the two Indian shipyards chosen as “strategic allies” for the construction of the submarines in an indigenous way, in the coming days. suggests to EFE another source close to the negotiation.
Navantia has been in the running for the contract since the first request for information in 2008 and then when the first date for the delivery of offers was set in 2020, together with TKMS, Rubin Design Bureau of Russia, Naval Group of France and Daewoo Shipping. & Marine Engineering (DSME) of Korea.
The August extension is an extension of the first application set for 2021, which was dragged on without progress and with reservations from foreign manufacturers about propulsion technology. The requirement for sea-tested Air Independent Propulsion (AIP), which allows a submarine to operate without surfacing, left most foreign manufacturers out of the race, including Navantia.
This demand, which New Delhi still maintains over the AIP system, caused France’s deep discomfort and its withdrawal. Spain, however, re-entered the race in September 2021 accepting the demands and asking for time for underwater tests of the propellant. Navantia participates in the P75-I project with the S80 Plus, a unique 3,000-tonne AIP submarine model, one of the closest to the demands of the Indian Navy.
The P75-I is highly demanding, with unique requirements and superior to similar equipment available, involving a redesign process, with contemporary equipment, weapons and sensors, including AIP, and modern missiles. In addition, it requires automatic manufacturing of platforms, transfer of technology for the design, manufacturing and maintenance of submarines.
The P75-I, which is 15 years in the making, received a boost with the arrival in the government of the current Indian prime minister, the Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi. It has quickly coincided with India’s disgust at the attraction of Chinese submarines to neighboring Sri Lanka at a time of heightened tension between Beijing and New Delhi. India is also seeking to diversify its agreements for defense equipment, which until now has made it very dependent on Russia.
Spain, for its part, has presented itself to India as an ally with a position that does not compromise the strategic interest of the Asian country, a position that goes through India’s desire to contain China’s expansion.
