India commissions fifth Kalvari-class submarine with expanded local content

The Indian Navy commissioned its fifth Kalvari-class submarine, INS Vagir , on 23 January at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. (Janes/Prathamesh Karle)

The Indian Navy has commissioned the fifth of its six Kalvari (Scorpène)-class diesel-electric attack submarines (SSKs).

The submarine, INS Vagir (S 25), was inducted in a ceremony on 23 January held at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. All the Kalvari (Scorpène)-class SSKs are licence-built by state-owned Mazagon Dockyard Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai in collaboration with France's Naval Group. Vagir joins four other Kalvari-class submarines in the service's Western Naval Command.

Vice Admiral (retd) Narayan Prasad, chairman and managing director of MDL, said at the commissioning that while the new submarine shares a common structure with the four other commissioned boats, Vagir is equipped with more systems built in India. Such items include the boat's main batteries and a Ku-band satellite communications system produced by Electronics Corporation of India Limited, he said.

Prasad also said that MDL has expanded efforts to reduce the submarine's acoustic, optical, electromagnetic, and infrared signatures, but did not elaborate.

MDL had not responded to Janes questions at the time of publication.

In a statement, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that the first vessel in the Kalvari class, INS Kalvari, will “soon” be fitted with a fuel cell-based air-independent propulsion (AIP) system developed by Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL), an agency under the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation.

An agreement to support the development project was signed by NMRL and Naval Group on 23 January. As part of the agreement, Naval Group will certify the AIP design for integration into the submarines.

The addition of the fuel cells and other AIP components into Kalvari