New Delhi. INS Vela, the fourth of P75 SCORPENE-class submarine, completely built by Indian shipyard Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) through years of technology transfer and partnership with Naval Group was launched on May 6 by Veena Ajay Kumar, wife of Dr Ajay Kumar, IAS, Secretary Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.
After a series of remarkable events such as the commissioning of INS Kalvari in December 2017 and launching of the Karanj (the third submarine) in January 2018, the Vela submarine is the fourth of the series of the Scorpene-class submarine ordered by India in 2005 to be launched.
After this launch, the trained and skilled MDL team will undertake the integration of the equipment and machinery onboard, right before the beginning of the sea trials.
This event highlights the success of indigenous submarines construction programme of the Government of India.
These submarines have been completely built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) through technology transfer and partnership with Naval Group, in line with Indian Government’s “Make in India” policy.
This series of six submarines have been fitted with a number of equipment, built in India by qualified and highly trained industrial MSMEs which form the sound base of submarine building ecosystem of India.
“Naval Group is proud to reiterate its long-term commitment to India. The P75 program is the key element of the strategic partnership built in domain of submarine building, over the last decades between India and France.
This launch represents a new milestone for this unique and one of a kind industrial program and illustrates the self-reliance of Indian Navy”, emphasised by Massi Begous, SVP of the international industrial development at Naval Group.
P75 submarine program demonstrates the success of the large transfer of technology, given the complexity of building submarines along with a high indigenous content. By building upon and nurturing these know-how and skills in India, Naval Group is committed to significantly enhance the level of indigenisation in future projects of the Indian Navy supported by the Indian Government.
The SCORPENE, a modern, high-performant, and stealthy submarine
The SCORPENE is a 2000 tons conventional-propulsion submarine designed and developed by Naval Group for all types of mission, such as surface vessel warfare, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes, special operations or intelligence gathering.
Extremely stealthy and fast, it has a level of operating automation that allows a limited number of crew, which reduces its operating costs significantly. Its combat edge is highlighted by the fact that it has 6 weapon launching tubes, 18 weapons (torpedoes, missiles, mines).
With 14 submarines sold internationally by Naval Group, the SCORPENE® is an essential reference product in the area of conventional attack submarines (SSK) for Navies across the globe. The product is easily adapted for improvements requested by any naval customers. The progressive improvement through dedicated and experienced designers of Naval Group ensures this seamless advances and modern technology integrations.
