Article Posted on : - Dec 23, 2009

The Scorpene class submarine is being built for Indian Navy by France's DCNS.

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Indian Defence Ministry failed to arrive at a decision on placing orders for the construction of a second line of Scorpene submarines, even as the Navy is grappling with a dwindling fleet strength that threatens to weaken its underwater fighting capabilities.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which met here Tuesday, took up the matter relating to finalising a shipyard to which the contract worth Rs 20,000 crore would be awarded, but could not arrive at a decision after discussions, Defence Ministry sources said.

The DAC is headed by Defence Minister A K Antony with the three services chiefs, defence secretary, director general acquisitions and other ministry officials as members.

Under the second line of the Scorpene project, the Navy would get six of these warships built at an Indian shipyard through transfer of technology.

Already, six Scorpene submarines are under construction at the Mazagon Docks (MDL) in Mumbai, but two of them have already been delayed by two years.

The Navy is currently left with only 16 submarines of which 10 are of Russian-origin Kilo Class, four are German-origin HDW Class and two Russian Foxtrot Class.

The Foxtrot Class submarines, which are of 1960s vintage, are almost out of operation and effectively, the Navy is left with only 14 submarines.

“Since the MDL's order books are full and it cannot take more ships for construction, the second line of submarine construction would go to another shipyard and it could even be from the private sector,” Defence Ministry sources said.

“This DAC decision is critical because the plans to augment the submarine fleet is already delayed by a decade now. The 30-year perspective plan approved in 1999 envisaged having 24 more submarines apart from the existing fleet,” the sources said.

According to the plan, six Scorpenes, six second line of submarines and 12 indigenously built submarines under transfer of technology from foreign vendor were envisaged.

In fact, the Navy has worked out that by 2015-16, its submarines fleet would be only 60 per cent of its existing strength of 16 submarines, as the Foxtrot Class and a couple of HDW and Kilo Class vessels would be decommissioning.

While the Foxtrot Class submarines that were inducted in mid 1960s have already served over twice their service life, the HWD and Kilo Class submarines were inducted in mid 1980s.

The Comptroller and Auditor General report this July had criticised the Defence Ministry on the delay in the Scorpene project, saying by 2012, when the first Scorpene was originally scheduled for induction, the Navy's operational submarines inventory would be “at its lowest ebb,” leading to “serious” operational ramifications.