Thursday, February 26, 2015

India delays acceptance of 1st Scorpene submarine; problems reported


From Naval-technology.com
26 February 2015



Scorpene-class submarines
The Indian Navy has delayed the induction of the first of six Scorpene-class submarines, according to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
It was originally scheduled for delivery in December 2012.
Shipyard Mazagon Docks (MDL) in Mumbai, India, is building the vessels under a technology-transfer agreement with France's DCNS.
In a written reply to Dr Chandan Mitra, Parrikar said the delay is because of difficulties faced by MDL during the course of procurement of materials from foreign vendors.
The shipyard has reportedly augmented its manpower, infrastructure and industrial means to meet production targets.
In October 2005, a contract was awarded to DCNS to build six Scorpene-class submarines, as part of the Rs187.98bn ($4.16bn) Project 75.
"The 1,750t Scorpene-class vessels will be equipped with a sonar suite."
The Economic Times reported that the then Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said last year that the vessel would be delivered by September 2016.
Powered by two diesel generation sets, the 1,750t Scorpene-class vessels will be equipped with a sonar suite that includes a long-range, passive cylindrical array, intercept and active sonars, distributed and flank array, as well as a high-resolution sonar for mine and obstacle avoidance, and a towed array.
Armed with SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles, the 67m-long submarines can dive up to a depth of 300m, require minimum manning and help reduce lifecycle costs.

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