Can't say for sure.
Also, the 16 ASWSWC will equally be divided between the two fleets.
Also, the 16 ASWSWC will equally be divided between the two fleets.
UNICORN for Future Indian Ships - Alpha Defense
India and Japan Collaborate on UNICORN Naval Technology for Indian Navy's Indigenous Integrated Mast (IIM)
alphadefense.in
It is so awesome that we will get our own desi version of UNICORN. Hope it also gets onboard existing ships.
Though I'm more curious on how phase-1 and phase-2 will be utilised.
@Ankit Kumar @Ashwin @Parthu
An MoU was signed for the cooperation in development of Unicorn system. But we already saw a model of Indigenous Integrated Mast during the DefExpo. I think that IIM is supposed to be the product which will be developed with the help of Japan.
2725 crores for refit of 1 sub, making a new Scorpene will surely cost 3 times of that.
IMO, the IN will be getting following capital warships in upcoming years:
1. 2023 - 01 P-15B and 01 P11356
2. 2024 - 01 P11356 and 01 P-17A
3. 2025 - 01 P-15B and 02 P-17A
4. 2026 - 01 P11356 and 03 P-17A
5. 2027 - 01 P11356 and 01 P-17A
Post this, we can see some movements on P-17AU and NGD.
1. 2023 - 01 P-15B and 01 P11356
2. 2024 - 01 P11356 and 01 P-17A
3. 2025 - 01 P-15B and 02 P-17A
4. 2026 - 01 P11356 and 03 P-17A
5. 2027 - 01 P11356 and 01 P-17A
Post this, we can see some movements on P-17AU and NGD.
PM Modi’s France visit critical for Indian Navy
The trip could, via the G2G route, boost long-deferred modernisation capabilities of India’s military.
Updated At: Jun 30, 2023 06:28 AM (IST)
Rahul Bedi Senior Journalist
PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming trip to France to attend the Bastille Day parade as its chief guest is, much like his recent US visit, widely expected to result in the announcement of some critical deals for the Indian Navy. There is widespread speculation in domestic and overseas military and security circles that PM Modi was invited for the celebratory July 14 event in Paris in anticipation of the two sides proclaiming government-to-government (G2G) defence contracts that have long been under negotiation.
These included the procurement of 26 Dassault Rafale-Maritime (M) fighters and at least three add-on Scorpene-class diesel-electric ‘killer-hunter’ conventional submarines or SSKs to supplement six similar boats, which were licence-built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai 2006 onwards. The Paris visit could also result in India agreeing to France’s involvement, via a technology transfer, in the Navy’s incipient programme to indigenously build six nuclear-powered attack submarines or SSNs at the secretive Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam.
An analysis of these three putative agreements is instructive. Firstly, the Navy is believed to have recently shortlisted the twin-engine, canard delta-wing Rafale-M over Boeing’s F/A-18 Block III ‘Super Hornet’ naval fighter following trials at the Navy’s shore-based test facility in Goa in 2022, for possible deployment aboard INS Vikrant, the newly commissioned aircraft carrier. It had reportedly informed the Ministry of Defence recently of its preference for Rafale-Ms, given their overall operational performance in flight trials compared to the F/A-18s, but particularly due to the French fighter’s ‘commonality’ with the 36 in-service Rafales that the Indian Air Force (IAF) had acquired in 2016 for $8.98 billion, completing their induction six years later.
Furthermore, the IAF’s Rafale buy had included Dassault establishing a maintenance and flight training facility at Ambala for the fighters which, the Navy rationally reasoned, would support its prospective $5-6 billion Rafale-M purchase by not only reducing procurement costs but hastening platform induction. Besides, the Navy needed to urgently firm up its fighter purchase for Vikrant, as the Russian MiG-29K/KUB naval fighters, of which the service had acquired 45 between 2004 and 2010 for $2.29 billion, had proven operationally problematic. In its July 2016 report, the Comptroller and Auditor General had rapped the Navy for technically accepting these Russian platforms despite them being “riddled with problems, discrepancies, and anomalies”.
Secondly, the follow-on deal for MDL to licence-build three more Scorpene-class submarines is the other prospective contract on the anvil during PM Modi’s visit, following the Navy’s botched-up and continually-delayed 16-year-old Project 75-India (P-75I) programme, to locally build six SSKs in collaboration with a foreign original equipment manufacturer.
A follow-on tender for these three boats would notably obviate a re-run of the ‘lost decade’ between 1995 and 2005 when MDL’s submarine construction facilities remained idle following a corruption scandal involving the import of four German HDW Type 209/1500 SSKs for the Navy, that ultimately remained unresolved.
Under this contract, MDL had licence-built two of these German boats, but the alleged wrongdoing in the deal led to all submarine-building activity in the Mumbai shipyard being halted for 10 years. Thereafter, around 2005-06, new dockyard facilities were resurrected for the Scorpene programme at great expense, and skilled engineers, mechanics and underwater welders were hired afresh. Senior MoD officials who visited MDL in 2022 disclosed that large areas of the dockyard’s submarine-building facilities lay deserted, as the six Scorpenes had already been completed, and groups of idle workers drifted aimlessly around. These officials collectively concurred that the Navy could not afford to repeat such a folly.
Lastly, France has expressed its willingness to partner the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the Department of Atomic Energy, the Navy and related organisations in locally building six SSNs. The Navy’s SSN project was initially approved by the government in early 2015, with the first such 6,000-tonne boats scheduled for completion by 2032-33. The SSNs were intended to supplement and operationally support the Navy’s four locally designed and constructed 7,000-tonne Arihant-class nuclear powered missile submarines (SSBNs), built with Russian knowhow and technical assistance, especially with regards to miniaturising their 82.5-MW pressurised light water reactors.
The SSBN programme is presently proceeding apace in seclusion at Visakhapatnam, with the third such platform — simply designated as S4 — being launched in late 2021, after INS Arighat, the second analogous boat, was undergoing further fitment. These SSBNs comprise a vital component of India’s strategic triad aimed at sustaining New Delhi’s credible nuclear deterrent and no-first-use posture.
In early 2023, France had offered to jointly develop SSNs with India under the aegis of its atmanirbharta initiative designed to enhance self-sufficiency in materiel requirements, by transferring technology based on its Barracuda-class SSNs, the first of which, INS Suffren, was commissioned into the French Navy in mid-2022. Designed by the Naval Group, which is also responsible for the developing the Scorpene boats, the 4.765-tonne Suffren is the first of six SSNs, all of which are scheduled for commissioning by 2030 at a cost of over $2 billion each.
The French remain eager for this deal with India to compensate for Australia summarily scrapping, in late 2021, Naval Design’s tender to supply the Royal Australian Navy 12 conventional diesel-electric Attack-class submarines for over $60 billion. Instead, Australia entered into a $368-billion deal with the US and the UK for eight SSNs under the AUKUS trilateral pact featuring all three countries. India too is amenable to such cooperation with France, as continued Russian assistance in its nuclear submarine programme remains uncertain, considering extensive punitive sanctions imposed on Moscow for invading Ukraine.
Hence, like PM Modi’s successful US tour in which several landmark defence buys were confirmed by the Pentagon, his Paris visit could, via the G2G route, boost the long-deferred modernisation and operational capabilities of India’s military.
PM Modi’s France visit critical for Indian Navy
The trip could, via the G2G route, boost long-deferred modernisation capabilities of India’s military.
Updated At: Jun 30, 2023 06:28 AM (IST)
NEW BUYS: The Navy is believed to have shortlisted Rafale-M over Boeing’s F/A-18 Block III ‘Super Hornet’. Reuters
Rahul Bedi Senior Journalist
PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming trip to France to attend the Bastille Day parade as its chief guest is, much like his recent US visit, widely expected to result in the announcement of some critical deals for the Indian Navy. There is widespread speculation in domestic and overseas military and security circles that PM Modi was invited for the celebratory July 14 event in Paris in anticipation of the two sides proclaiming government-to-government (G2G) defence contracts that have long been under negotiation.
These included the procurement of 26 Dassault Rafale-Maritime (M) fighters and at least three add-on Scorpene-class diesel-electric ‘killer-hunter’ conventional submarines or SSKs to supplement six similar boats, which were licence-built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai 2006 onwards. The Paris visit could also result in India agreeing to France’s involvement, via a technology transfer, in the Navy’s incipient programme to indigenously build six nuclear-powered attack submarines or SSNs at the secretive Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam.
An analysis of these three putative agreements is instructive. Firstly, the Navy is believed to have recently shortlisted the twin-engine, canard delta-wing Rafale-M over Boeing’s F/A-18 Block III ‘Super Hornet’ naval fighter following trials at the Navy’s shore-based test facility in Goa in 2022, for possible deployment aboard INS Vikrant, the newly commissioned aircraft carrier. It had reportedly informed the Ministry of Defence recently of its preference for Rafale-Ms, given their overall operational performance in flight trials compared to the F/A-18s, but particularly due to the French fighter’s ‘commonality’ with the 36 in-service Rafales that the Indian Air Force (IAF) had acquired in 2016 for $8.98 billion, completing their induction six years later.
Furthermore, the IAF’s Rafale buy had included Dassault establishing a maintenance and flight training facility at Ambala for the fighters which, the Navy rationally reasoned, would support its prospective $5-6 billion Rafale-M purchase by not only reducing procurement costs but hastening platform induction. Besides, the Navy needed to urgently firm up its fighter purchase for Vikrant, as the Russian MiG-29K/KUB naval fighters, of which the service had acquired 45 between 2004 and 2010 for $2.29 billion, had proven operationally problematic. In its July 2016 report, the Comptroller and Auditor General had rapped the Navy for technically accepting these Russian platforms despite them being “riddled with problems, discrepancies, and anomalies”.
Secondly, the follow-on deal for MDL to licence-build three more Scorpene-class submarines is the other prospective contract on the anvil during PM Modi’s visit, following the Navy’s botched-up and continually-delayed 16-year-old Project 75-India (P-75I) programme, to locally build six SSKs in collaboration with a foreign original equipment manufacturer.
A follow-on tender for these three boats would notably obviate a re-run of the ‘lost decade’ between 1995 and 2005 when MDL’s submarine construction facilities remained idle following a corruption scandal involving the import of four German HDW Type 209/1500 SSKs for the Navy, that ultimately remained unresolved.
Under this contract, MDL had licence-built two of these German boats, but the alleged wrongdoing in the deal led to all submarine-building activity in the Mumbai shipyard being halted for 10 years. Thereafter, around 2005-06, new dockyard facilities were resurrected for the Scorpene programme at great expense, and skilled engineers, mechanics and underwater welders were hired afresh. Senior MoD officials who visited MDL in 2022 disclosed that large areas of the dockyard’s submarine-building facilities lay deserted, as the six Scorpenes had already been completed, and groups of idle workers drifted aimlessly around. These officials collectively concurred that the Navy could not afford to repeat such a folly.
Lastly, France has expressed its willingness to partner the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the Department of Atomic Energy, the Navy and related organisations in locally building six SSNs. The Navy’s SSN project was initially approved by the government in early 2015, with the first such 6,000-tonne boats scheduled for completion by 2032-33. The SSNs were intended to supplement and operationally support the Navy’s four locally designed and constructed 7,000-tonne Arihant-class nuclear powered missile submarines (SSBNs), built with Russian knowhow and technical assistance, especially with regards to miniaturising their 82.5-MW pressurised light water reactors.
The SSBN programme is presently proceeding apace in seclusion at Visakhapatnam, with the third such platform — simply designated as S4 — being launched in late 2021, after INS Arighat, the second analogous boat, was undergoing further fitment. These SSBNs comprise a vital component of India’s strategic triad aimed at sustaining New Delhi’s credible nuclear deterrent and no-first-use posture.
In early 2023, France had offered to jointly develop SSNs with India under the aegis of its atmanirbharta initiative designed to enhance self-sufficiency in materiel requirements, by transferring technology based on its Barracuda-class SSNs, the first of which, INS Suffren, was commissioned into the French Navy in mid-2022. Designed by the Naval Group, which is also responsible for the developing the Scorpene boats, the 4.765-tonne Suffren is the first of six SSNs, all of which are scheduled for commissioning by 2030 at a cost of over $2 billion each.
The French remain eager for this deal with India to compensate for Australia summarily scrapping, in late 2021, Naval Design’s tender to supply the Royal Australian Navy 12 conventional diesel-electric Attack-class submarines for over $60 billion. Instead, Australia entered into a $368-billion deal with the US and the UK for eight SSNs under the AUKUS trilateral pact featuring all three countries. India too is amenable to such cooperation with France, as continued Russian assistance in its nuclear submarine programme remains uncertain, considering extensive punitive sanctions imposed on Moscow for invading Ukraine.
Hence, like PM Modi’s successful US tour in which several landmark defence buys were confirmed by the Pentagon, his Paris visit could, via the G2G route, boost the long-deferred modernisation and operational capabilities of India’s military.
I'm hoping for movement on the AMCA engine. There's no news yet about MRCBF or additional Scorpenes. A330-based AWACS and refuellers are on the backburner for now. A lease of 1 refueller is possible to buy time for the delivery of converted B767s.
Any interest in the Scorpene could only be an MoU since the IN is yet to receive an AoN. MRCBF requires DAC and CCS clearance. There may be less urgency for MRCBF due to the change in carrier plans. So the only big thing left is the engine.
India Looks at the Naval Rafale: Defence Procurement Board Meeting Tomorrow
A Defence Acquisition Council or DAC meeting to discuss and possibly, clear the Rafale deal could happen next week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for France for the Bastille Day function., India News, Times Now
Yeah, it's part of our SSK efforts. I had mentioned it back in 2020, that once the P-75I deal is signed, we will begin work on Project 76 simultaneously, ie around 2027, with construction starting around 2030-32, ie, when all the P-75I subs are in the water.
India Looks at the Naval Rafale: Defence Procurement Board Meeting Tomorrow
A Defence Acquisition Council or DAC meeting to discuss and possibly, clear the Rafale deal could happen next week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for France for the Bastille Day function., India News, Times Nowwww.timesnownews.com
With the Americans not keen on providing 100% F414 tech, it doesn't make sense to rely exclusively on it.
And with France possibly entering the SSN project, an additional Scorpene order makes sense. The SSN production seems to have already begun. It will be funny if MDL is being given additional Scorpenes because the navy thinks L&T will win P-75I.
India Looks at the Naval Rafale: Defence Procurement Board Meeting Tomorrow
A Defence Acquisition Council or DAC meeting to discuss and possibly, clear the Rafale deal could happen next week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for France for the Bastille Day function., India News, Times Now
Looks like Rafale M and AMCA engine are confirmed. Then there are follow-on options for 2 Scorpenes, yet to be confirmed.
Then some space stuff and some movement on civilian reactors, could be MoUs or deals.
So lots of big ticket stuff before election year.
Journalists in France say there will be no announcements during MODI's visit, but we won anyway.
Journalists in France say there will be no announcements during MODI's visit, but we won anyway.
Yeah, at least the Rafale M and AMCA engine seems secure, whether it's signed during the visit or not. The remaining may only be MoUs for now.
Ripe for an MoU in this case.
French nuclear major reaches "good level of techno-commercial convergence" with NPCIL, says Chairman
“Since the submission of EDFs binding techno-commercial offer for 6 EPR units at the Jaitapur site, in Maharashtra, to the Department of Atomic Energy and NPCIL back in April 2021, our joint teams have worked intensively to converge and define the best conditions for the launch of the project,”...
I'd definitely like to see something finalised during the visit though. Especially AMCA's engine. We need to start engineering work.
Indian Navy to get 26 Rafale-M fighters and three attack submarines from France
PM Modi will sign acquisition of 26 Rafale-Marine fighters for INS Vikrant and 3 additional Kalveri class submarines to be built at Mumbai's Mazagon Dockyards.
The Indian Navy will add more teeth to its already formidable arsenal in the coming years with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected to sign a deal for acquisition of 26 Rafale-Marine fighters for the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier and a repeat order for building three more Scorpene (Kalveri) class submarines at Mazagon Dockyards Limited (MDL) through the “Make in India” route during his two-day visit to France this week, people familiar with the matter said.