By Geeta Mohan: After Germany, Spain is now the second bidder within the 4.8 billion euros ($5.26 billion) submarine tender for the Indian Navy. On Monday, an settlement for a similar was signed between engineering and building main, Larsen & Toubro (LART.NS), and Spanish submarine producer, Navantia.
On April 11 this 12 months, the 2 had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bid for the Indian Navy’s submarine tender beneath Project-75 (India).
Monday’s settlement was signed within the presence of SN Subrahmanyan, L&T CEO & MD and Augustin Alvarez Blanco, Naval Construction vp, and Member of the Board – Navantia.
José Mara Ridao Domnguez, Ambassador of Spain in India, and Captain (Navy) Fernando Alvarez, Spanish Defence Attaché, together with senior officers from each L&T Defence and Navantia have been additionally current on the occasion, held within the premises of the Spanish Embassy in New Delhi.
Speaking to India Today, Spain’s envoy to India, Ambassador José Mara Ridao mentioned, “To begin with, I have a lot of respect for all the bidders and it’s great that India has such great options. Several elements make our offer competitive and convenient. Firstly, it’s a state-owned company, so it’s an engagement of the government. Secondly, the Spanish offer is the most advanced in the world.”
He additionally added that this could not simply be a business deal but in addition a diplomatic subject.
PROJECT 75 (INDIA)
The undertaking requires the Indian bidder to tie up with a Foreign Collaborator (FC) and execute this system for supply of six typical submarines geared up with Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) whereas attaining targetted Indigenous Content.
Expected to be valued at over Euro 4.8 billion, the undertaking is India’s largest defence acquisition undertaking.
This would even be adopted by a 30-year lifecycle sustenance contract of comparable worth.
P75(I) can be the primary program to be processed beneath the formidable Strategic Partnership (SP) mannequin of the acquisition of the Ministry of Defence.
As a three way partnership and pushing ‘Make in India’ ahead, Spain is know-how switch for India with L&T constructing the submarines, whereas Navantia would design them primarily based on the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder’s S80 class of submarines and supply the air-independent propulsion system that lets submarines stay underwater longer, officers mentioned.
“Yes, of course, this will not be the first time. We have an old program with 56 Airbus planes from Spain. We’ve proven that we are engaged with this idea of ‘Make in India’ and the transfer of technology to India. This is the second time. The more India will bring stability to this part of the world, the more Spain will be part of this global peace,” mentioned Ambassador Ridao.
“The agreement ensures a total transfer of technology on all aspects of the submarine including the AIP to L&T as early as possible,” mentioned SN Subrahmanyan, CEO & MD, L&T.
“One of the important parts of this programme is the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP). They have an AIP which is a working system working more efficiently than other such systems existing worldwide,” he added.
As per the settlement, Spanish government-owned shipyard Navantia would perform the design of P75(I) submarines primarily based on its S80 class of submarines, the primary of which was launched in 2021 and is present process sea trials previous to its supply to the Spanish Navy on the finish of 2023. Apart from the S80 class, Navantia has been concerned within the design and building of the Scorpéne class of submarines, along with DCNS (Now Naval Group) of France, which has been exported to Chile and Malaysia.
Navantia has additionally been concerned within the Scorpene submarines (Kalvari class) inbuilt India, together with handholding of the Indian yard.
“It gives us great joy to be in a position to be the design and technology partner for P75(I). We are also in collaboration with L&T for the Landing Platform Dock (LPD) program whose tender is eagerly awaited. With these two prestigious programs for the Indian Navy, Navantia is proud to be making a key contribution towards fulfilling the defence needs of India, a nation with which Spain shares an excellent relationship,” Naval Construction vp and Member of the Board – Navantia, Alvarez Blanco, mentioned.
In March, India authorised a price range of 560 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) for its navy, which has 16 typical submarines, 11 of that are greater than twenty years outdated, together with two indigenous nuclear-powered submarines.
