The Indian Navy will get more powerful weapons in the coming years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to sign a deal for 26 Rafale-Marine fighters for the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier and a repeat order for building three more Scorpene (Kalveri) class submarines at Mazagon Dockyards Limited (MDL) through the “Make in India” route during his two-day visit to France this week, people familiar with the situation said.
South Block isn’t saying much about the defense deals that will be signed during PM Modi’s trip to Paris on July 13-14, but it is known that India and France will sign a defense-industrial road map to push India to make more hardware platforms using engines and technologies that were made in India. PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron will also announce a bilateral road plan for the Indo-Pacific. This will include specific steps to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime security for sea lanes in the area where a rising China is causing trouble.
According to information from South Block, defence minister Rajnath Singh has called a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) for July 13 to grant acceptance of necessity (AON) to the Indian Navy to buy 26 Rafale-M fighters and give the go-ahead for the building of three more Kalveri class submarines at the MDL. The last of the six Kalveri class submarines, the INS Vagsheer, is scheduled to be put into service next year. It is currently being tested and tried out.
The three extra submarines of the Kalveri class will be given air independent propulsion (AIP), which was created by the DRDO but will be tested and approved by the French Naval Group. The AIP makes it possible for a normal diesel attack submarine to stay underwater for more than a week without having to come up to charge its batteries.
Even though the DAC will give AON permission to buy 26 Rafale-M planes for INS Vikrant, the price, terms, and conditions will be discussed between government to government, with the French government getting the best price from Dassault Aviation. All of the 26 fighters will be single-seaters, and Indian Navy pilots will be trained in France and on modern simulators in Goa. All of the French Navy pilots who fly Rafale-M on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle have been training on simulators because a fighter with two seats can’t carry as many weapons. One squadron of 18 jets will be on the INS Vikrant, and the other eight will be based in Goa as a reserve for rotation.
The repeat order for three Scorpene-class submarines through the government-to-government route will not only give the Indian Navy more power to face the challenge of PLA expansion in the Indian Ocean, but it will also give MDL’s submarine manufacturing capacity a new lease on life after the INS Vaghsheer is commissioned in 2024.
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