The French defence company Naval Group has announced that it will not be able to join the P-75 India (P-75I) project that aims to see six conventional submarines built in India for the Indian Navy.
As reported, the Naval Group said that the decision was taken as it is unable to match the requirements of the Request for Proposal (RFP) for an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system. This AIP technology allows a conventional submarine to stay submerged in water for extended periods of time at faster speeds.
The announcement was made only one day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to France, where he will meet newly re-elected French President Emmanuel Macron.
The Naval Group was one of five international entities shortlisted for the Rs 43,000-crore project. It is the largest project under a new strategic partnership model in which an international Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) joins with an Indian company to build submarines in India and exchange knowledge.
The defence ministry approved the P-75I project in June of last year, and RFPs were then issued to two shortlisted Indian companies — private company Larsen and Toubro, while the other one was state-run Mazagaon Docks Limited.
According to the defence ministry, the two Indian companies must form a partnership with one of the five shortlisted foreign companies, which include Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, Spanish firm Navantia, Daewoo from South Korea, and Russia’s Rosoboronexport, along with the French group and then respond to the RFP.
The P-75I would have been the Naval Group’s second submarine project in India.
Under the P-75 project, the company recently completed the construction of six Kalvari class (Scorpene-class) conventional submarines in collaboration with Mazagon Dockyard Shipbuilding Limited (MDL) in India.
The P-75 project began in 2005 and four of the six submarines have already been commissioned into the Navy. The sixth in the series was unveiled last month and is set to be commissioned in late 2023.
Laurent Videau, Country and Managing Director, Naval Group India, stated on May 3: “Due to certain conditions in the RFP, the two strategic partners could not forward the request to us and few other FOEMs (foreign original equipment manufacturers) and thus we have not been able to place an official bid for the project.”
“However, the present RFP requires that the fuel cell AIP (air-independent propulsion) be sea proven, which is not the case for us yet since the French Navy does not use such propulsion system,” added Videau.
He stated that the Naval Group will reinforce its current commitments and look forward to a closer relationship with India, which is one of the largest importers of arms globally.
Additionally, Videau said: “Our focus and efforts are towards the continuation of our collaboration with Indian industry in realising the vision of Government of India by supporting Indian Navy for other future developments and projects (maintenance, high tech tools, indigenous AIP, incremental improvements in Scorpene designed submarine, HWT, larger ships, etc).”
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