Major boost! Indian Navy's nuclear attack submarine to be 95 pc of 'Made in India'

New Delhi, June 14: Strengthening the capability to build submarines in India, the first three nuclear attack submarines to be built indigenously would be consisting 95 per cent 'Made in India' of content in them and it would further go up in the next three.

 

 

This came after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has been considering a proposal worth around Rs 50,000 crore for indigenously building three nuclear attack submarines which would be built by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Visakhapatnam.

 

"The nuclear attack submarine project would be a big boost for the indigenous submarine capability as 95 per cent of it would be made in India. This would provide a big boost to the domestic defence sector including both private and public sector," government sources told a private media. It should be noted that this project is separate from the Arihant class project under which six nuclear-powered submarines are being built with the capability of launching ballistic missiles.

 

 

It is expected that it will also boost employment in the defence sector that will eventually be very helpful for the economy. Apart from this, the planners are confident that they would be able to complete the project without any external help but if required, they may take help of one of its strategic partner countries.

 

After the Narendra Modi government came to power in 2014, the Indian Navy proposal to have six indigenous nuclear attack submarines was one of the first few major defence modernisation proposals and it was cleared by the BJP-led government.

 

 

India has plans of building 24 submarines including six nuclear attack ones which would give it long legs to operate in the Indian Ocean Region and will help it to keep its adversaries in check at long distances. The first six conventional boats are already under construction in Mumbai under the Kalavati class project while the tender for the next six with greater capability would be issued soon after recent clearance by the Defence Ministry. There is a plan to build six more conventional submarines under the Project 76 but it will take a long time to be initiated.