Progress on Indian Naval Projects.

MDL’s Chairman and Managing Director during the Q1FY24 Investor Update Call shed some light on ongoing and future Indian Naval projects.

DESTROYERS

Project-15 Bravo (Visakhapatnam class)

MDL delivered the first ship of P-15B in 2021 followed by the second in 2022. The third ship, christened ‘Imphal’ is currently undergoing sea trials and MDL is set to deliver the third ship of P-15B in September-October of 2023, this is 4-5 months before the contracted date. The fourth and last ship of the class, christened ‘Surat’ is scheduled to be delivered in the middle of next year (2024).

Next Generation Destroyer (NGD)

NGD, which was previously planned as a 5-6 ship class will now feature 8 ships, the project is estimated to cost “over 80,000cr” INR (9.65 Billion USD). The project will be executed in two phases with each phase featuring 4 ships. MDL placed an order for a floating dry dock worth 500cr INR (60 Million USD) in June 2023, the floating dry dock will be able to accommodate the Next Generation Destroyer.

Frigates

Project-17 Alpha (Nilgiri class)

MDL is building four frigates under P-17A, their first ship ‘Nilgiri’ is set to be delivered in the middle of next year (2024), and then subsequently 1 ship each year thereafter. The fourth ship under MDL will be delivered in the middle of FY28.

GRSE is building three frigates under P-17A, their first ship ‘Himgiri’ is set to be delivered around August 2025, and then subsequently 1 ship every 6 months thereafter.

Project-17 Bravo

The P-17B, commonly referred to as ‘P-17A repeat order’ will feature 8 ships rather than the previously mentioned 7. The project is likely to be divided between the two shipyards similar to P-17A, presumably 4 hulls each. The project is estimated to cost around 60,000cr for the 8 ships compared to 45,000cr for 7 ships under P-17A, main reason sighted is inflation and new systems.

Corvettes

Next Generation Corvettes (NGC)

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded AoN for procurement of Next Generation Corvettes (NGC) at an estimated cost of approx. 36,000cr in June 2022. GRSE’s in its Q4FY23 investor call mentioned that the shipyard expects RFP to be released in second half of calendar year 2024, MDL in its Q1FY24 call has stated that the RFP is expected around the end of this year, it isn’t clear if it is the end of calendar year or the fiscal year. The project is expected to be divided between two shipyards with L1 getting 5 and L2 receiving 3 hulls.

SUBMARINES

Project-75 (Kalvari class)

MDL has already delivered five boats of this class, the sixth and last boat is currently undergoing sea trials and scheduled for delivery in March 2024. Refit of the first submarine, INS Kalvari, is targeted around mid 2025, the scope of refit and fitment of DRDO AIP system will depend upon it being proven on an underwater platform.

Project-75I

MDL has submitted the price bid for 6 number of AIP fitted submarine…that is P-75I, bids closed on 1st August 2023. MDL was earlier going to tie up with South Korean firm DSME for P-75I, DSME had shown interest in tieing up with MDL, but after the acquisition by Hanwa, they are no longer interested in the project. Accordingly, MDL tied up with the German firm TKMS, while L&T has partnered up with Spanish firm Navantia. MDL has stated that the 43,000cr allocated under AoN would not suffice for the Project-75I. Order placement would take at least 18-24 months from now with first submarine to be delivered in 6 years of contract signing, and then subsequently 1 submarine each year. The project would take around 11 years from the contract signing to delivery of the sixth submarine.

3 additional Scorpene

MDL expects the negotiations to take at least 4-6 months before things are in place, states ‘not clear at this point in time…whether this would be with AIP or without AIP, all the options are open’. Commenting on the cost would be premature given it will feature a lot of different subsystems, increased indigenous content and the AIP system option has not been finalised.

Refit of INS Shankush

Ministry of Defence signed a contract on 30th June, 2023 for Medium Refit with Life Certification (MRLC) of Shishumar class of submarine “INS Shankush” with MDL at an overall cost of 2725cr INR. The refit execution will take 33 months according to the contract, the submarine will return to service in 2026.

Indigenous conventional submarine effort

MDL is undertaking a very ambitious programme to indigenize almost 8,000 components of what goes into a submarine, WDB (Warship Design Bureau) is also working on the indigenisation of the submarine under the project P-76. MDL and WDB will be working on these aspects jointly. While referring to the midget submarine programme the CMD stated “This is a research & development project undertaken by MDL, primarily taken for the purpose of indigenisation, this will be a multi role submarine, which can be deployed for special operations, oceanography, and tourist purposes…touching water by end of 24…all components will be indigenous”. MDL successfully tested the pressure hull for the submarine in July 2023.