On 31 January 2018, in presence of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, and CMD MDL Commodore Rakesh Anand (IN Retd.), INS Karanj (S23), the third of P75 Scorpene-class submarine was launched at a colorful ceremony by Smt Reena Lanba.
After the successful commissioning of INS Kalvari (S21) on 14 December 2017, this launch highlights the remarkable success of indigenous submarines totally built by Indian shipyard Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) through technology transfer and partnership with Naval Group, in line with Indian Government’s «Make in India» policy.
Post this launch of Karanj, the completion of setting-to-work will be undertaken by the trained and skilled teams of MDL and thereafter the sea trials will commence. The second boat INS Khanderi (S22) is already undergoing sea trials and will be commissioned in coming months. All these boats have been fitted with critical equipment, built in India by qualified and highly trained industrial MSMEs, which forms the sound base of submarine building ecosystem of India.
While attending the event at Mumbai, Mr. Alain Guillou, Senior Executive Vice President, Naval Group said: «This is a remarkable feat achieved by India, and MDL is indeed grown to be among the rarest of shipyards around the world to have mastered such unique competence of submarine building. We are glad to partner with such a shipyard, which can boast of competence and infrastructure which allows them to build 12 submarines at a time, thus proving an industrial marvel and an asset for Indian Navy and Indian government».
The Scorpene, a modern, high-performant, and most stealthy submarine
The Scorpene is a 2000-tons conventional-propulsion submarine designed and developed by Naval Group for all types of mission, such as surface vessel warfare, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes, special operations or intelligence gathering. Extremely stealthy and fast, it has a level of operating automation that allows a limited number of crew members, which reduces its operating costs significantly. Its combat edge is highlighted by the fact that it has 6 weapon launching tubes, 18 weapons (torpedoes, missiles, mines).
With 14 submarines sold internationally by Naval Group, the Scorpene is an essential reference product in the area of conventional attack submarines (SSK) for navies across the globe. The product is easily adapted for improvements requested by any naval customers. The progressive improvement through dedicated and experienced designers of Naval Group ensures these seamless advances and modern technology integrations.
