As China’s increased presence in the Indian Ocean and upgrades to regional submarine forces transform the global maritime security environment, India is moving urgently to reinforce underwater warfare, following a trajectory similar to the United States. While China’s Indian Ocean presence-and by extension, the world-class status of submarines deployed by regional navies-is transforming the waterscape of the world’s second most populous continent, India has accelerated plans to finalise one of its historically largest defence procurements: a nearly Rs 90,000-crore Project-75(I) deal with Germany for new submarines, aimed at reinforcing the nation’s submarine fleet at all costs and strengthening its burgeoning indigenous industry.
According to German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann, Germany and India are looking to sign an agreement next month. Project-75(I) program, which involves the development of the six conventional futuristic generation submarines for the Indian Navy through an India–German collaboration between MDL and TKMS, will amount to over Rs 90,000 crores, nearly eight billion dollars. The submarines will be developed based on the Strategic Partnership model in India.
The Project-75(I) is seen as one of the most critical naval modernisation projects undertaken by India. The submarines are envisioned to be built based on German-designed Type-214 submarines with futuristic features, including an advanced Stealth design, state-of-the-art Combat management systems, longer operating range, and Air- Independent Propulsion (AIP) technology. While a normal diesel-electric submarine needs to resurface regularly to charge the batteries, the equipped AIP allows the submarines to stay underwater longer, thus evading reconnaissance in deep waters, especially during the combat role.
