Indian Navy's Project75I submarine program in troubled waters

Source : Indian Defence Updates (IDU)

Indian Navy Project-75I submarine program initial contenders (Image Credit: NAVAL NEWS @H I Sutton)

The Defence Ministry has again extended the deadline for responding to the Request For Proposal (RFP) for Project-75I from December 2022 to August 2023.

Russia and France have already withdrawn from the tender citing the lack of an operational Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system for demonstration leaving only Germany and South Korea technically meeting this criteria but German firm Thyssenkrupp Marine System is concerned about the extent of technology transfer and third-party guarantees and is planning to withdraw from the tender which could lead to a single vendor situation.

South Korean firm Daewoo Shipbuilding is yet to obtain permissions from the Korean Government to share critical technology with India that was developed using Government funding the new extension confirms that the Project-75I situation has not changed much and foreign firms are unwilling to bid unless few relaxations on the technical requirements are offered.