Indian, Russian shipyards join to overhaul Kilo subs

Vivek Raghuvanshi, Defense News
22 July 2015

India's private sector defense major Pipavav Defence & Offshore Engineering Co. (PDOEC) joined hands with Russian shipyard Zvyozdochka Tuesday to overhaul India's Russian-made Kilo-class submarines and possibly provide similar services to other navies in the region.
A PDOEC executive said his company will hold 51 percent of equity shares in the proposed joint venture with Zvyozdochka but gave no financial details. The Russian shipyard will provide complete technical assistance to the joint venture in the overhaul of the submarines, he said.
In addition to overhauling the nine Kilo-class submarines, navies from other countries, such as Vietnam, Iran and Algeria, could use the services of the joint venture for sub overhaul services.
PDOEC expects to get orders worth US $1.8 billion from the Indian Navy to overhaul the subs and there is potential of work worth more than $3.5 billion from other navies, the executive added.
The proposed joint venture does not get automatic orders from the Indian Navy and will have to compete with state-owned shipyards for work. So far, the naval dockyard at Visakhapatnam and state-owned Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam, have overhauled one Kilo submarine each.
Early this year, management control of PDOEC was bought from Nikhil Gandhi by industrialist Anil Ambani through his group Reliance Infrastructure.
PDOEC is also a prospective contender in the upcoming $12 billion tender for six conventional submarines equipped with air independent propulsion technology, which the Indian Navy proposes to acquire from domestic shipyards.