French naval firm DCNS SA, involved in the development of six Scorpene submarines with Mazgaon Dock Ltd (MDL) under technology transfer assistance, is now eyeing a substantial maintenance programme as part of Project 75 for the Indian Navy.

The P75 programme is being executed by its India subsidiary, DCNS India Pvt Ltd, in collaboration with MDL for over a decade now, and is one of the flagship projects under the ‘Make in India’ campaign in the defence sector.

The first of the Scorpene class submarines — Kalvari — is expected to commence trial by the year-end.

However, DCNS India is in talks with the Indian Navy and Defence Ministry on the next step — maintenance, repair and overhaul of the submarines.

Nathalie Smirnov, Senior V-P, Services Division, DCNS, told BusinessLine : “The first submarine is ready to sail. We are looking for the continuity for its production. All the efforts of these 10 years, where we have transferred the technology, knowledge and know-how, have been picked by MDL. We have also made some partners for equipment being used in submarines. We understand that if they (MDL) are not able to continue, they will lose the knowledge. That’s why the Defence Ministry is keen on continuity of production.”

Smirnov was here on a two-day trip for detailed discussions with the various departments of the Navy and Ministry officials to lay out a roadmap on the security and maintenance of the six stealth submarines.

“All this work has to be organised with the Indian Navy to make sure that as soon as the submarine is operated, we have the best availability to join its lifecycle. This is not a matter of delivering the submarine and then stopping. This is really to make sure that the maintenance cycle is respected and fully performed to have a long life of the ship. It is also a matter of optimising, the first ship, the second, then all six,” Smirnov added.

She also expressed concern over safety and security, considering recent incidents of submarines catching fire.

The Indian Navy already maintains a large fleet of submarines, and is developing a new naval base in Karwar in coastal Karnataka where the submarines will be in future.

This is one reason why DCNS is planning to bring in technical expertise. According to Smirnov, maintenance can be done in various phases, depending on the requirement.

“The big repair and overhaul necessitates dismantling the submarines and could last from 12-16 months. Regular routine maintenance can be done at the naval base without dismantling,” she said.

Cost factor When asked about costs, she said: “It is too early to give any numbers on the cost of maintaining each submarine. This is subject to scaling the training and technical assistance”.

However, sources said the biggest hurdle could be allocation of the required budget for the maintenance project, as the cost of maintaining a single submarine could be roughly 3-4 per cent of ₹4,000 crore, the price of one submarine.

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