News Roundup: MoD Shortlists 5 Shipyards for Project 75I, Two Additional Arihant Class SSBNs Under Construction

INS Arihant. Photo Courtesy NDTV

India to Build 2 Additional Arihant Class SSBNs, Demo Arihant B-05 Launch During 2016 Fleet Review

In an interview to NDTV, Director General of Defense Research & Development Organisation (DRDO,) Dr S Christopher said that India is in the process of building two more Arihant-class-submarines.

Christopher reiterated his earlier statement to the press that INS Arihant would soon start deep diving trials, and as part of its weapon's trials towards the end of the year, launch a B-05 SLBM.

B-05 is a two stage, solid fueled weapon with characteristics of both ballistic and cruise missiles. Unlike conventional cruise missile, which cruise at extremely low altitudes and subsonic speeds using turbo fan engines, B-05 cruises at extremely high altitudes at hypersonic speeds using rocket power.

"If all goes well we will show case this capability in the International Fleet Review (IFR) next January. DRDO is working on the next SLBM code named "K-4" which will have a much longer range," Dr Christopher said.

IDP Sentinel members can read additional details at INS Arihant SSBN (IDP Sentinel)

MoD Shortlists 5 Shipyards for Project 75I Submarine Construction

The MoD has shortlisted 5 shipyards out of the 7 that it evaluated for infrastructure and technical competence to construct Project 75I submarines.

MoD had setup a high-level committee headed by Vice-Admiral Subhedar, Controller of Warship Production & Acquisition at Integrated Headquarters, to inspect 7 shipyards in order to assess their ability to construct Project-75I submarines. Five shipyards are in the public sector - Mazagon Dock (Mumbai), Cochin Shipyard, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (Calcutta), Hindustan Shipyard (Visakhapatnam) and Goa Shipyard - and two in the private sector - Larsen and Toubro (yard in Tamil Nadu) and Pipavav (Gujarat). Larsen and Toubro is already involved in India’s Arihant-class nuclear submarine project.

The two shipyards eliminated through the shortlisting are Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (Calcutta) and Goa Shipyard.

The OEM - submarines combinations in contention are

1. DCNS Scorpene
2. Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems HDW Type 214 (Germany)
3. Rubin Design Bureau Amur 1650 (Russia)
4. Navantia S-80
5. Saab Kockum A-26

IDP Sentinel members can read additional details at Project 75I Submarines - IDP Sentinel