Indian Navy’s fifth Scorpene-class submarine delivered

Indian Navy’s fifth submarine of the Project – 75, Kalvari/Scorpene-class submarines, INS Vagir, has been delivered.

The delivery of the vessel took place at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) shipyard on 20 December. These submarines are being constructed at Mumbai’s shipyard under collaboration with French shipbuilder Naval Group.

Launched on 12 November 2020, Vagir commenced the sea trials on 1 February 2022. The vessel has completed all major trials including the weapon and sensor trials in the shortest time in comparison to the earlier submarines.

Construction of these submarines in an Indian yard is another step towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and enhances self-confidence in this field, a notable achievement is that this is the third submarine delivered to the Indian Navy in a span of 24 months.

The submarine would shortly be commissioned into the Indian Navy.

The final submarine of the class, INS Vagsheer, was launched in April 2022.

Scorpene-class units are 67.5 meters long with a height of about 12.3 meters. They are fitted with 360 battery cells (each weighing 750 kg) powering the permanently magnetized propulsion motor.

Equipped with the submarine tactical integrated combat system (SUBTICS), sea-skimming SM 39 Exocet missiles or the heavyweight wire-guided surface and underwater target (SUT) torpedoes, they can undertake multifarious tasks which include anti-surface as well as anti­ submarine warfare.

The first submarine from the batch, INS Kalvari, was commissioned in December 2017 and the second, INS Khanderi, in September 2019.