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| INS Kalvari (File Photo) |
The first of India’s six Scorpene submarines will be inducted into the Indian Navy in the next two months, Indian Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba has said.
New Delhi (Sputnik) — Lanba said Kalvari (the Indian name of the first Scorpene class submarine) is going through final phase of trials and is likely to join the Navy by July-August.
New Delhi (Sputnik) — Lanba said Kalvari (the Indian name of the first Scorpene class submarine) is going through final phase of trials and is likely to join the Navy by July-August.
“Kalvari is going through its final phase of trials and we are hopeful that in July-August we will take delivery,” Admiral Sunil Lanba said on the sidelines of a Navy-FICCI seminar on Building India’s Future Navy: Technology Imperatives.
As part of the ongoing sea trials, Kalvari undertook its first torpedo firing on May 26, the last major test required before inducting into the Navy. While on March 2 this year, Navy had successfully launched MBDA’s Exocet SM 39, anti-ship missile from Kalvari as part of undergoing sea trials in the Arabian Sea.
India had launched second Scorpene class submarine, Khanderi, in January this year and is expected to deliver to the Navy by the end of this year. Indian Navy has said that all six Scorpene (Kalvari) class submarines being built in India will be equipped with Exocet SM 39 anti-ship missile.
Indian Navy has collaborated with DCNS of France in 2004 for construction of six Scorpene class submarine under $3.5 billion contract. But the program has been delayed for more than four years with cost escalation of more than $ 1 billion due to low level of technological absorption capacity and purchase of materials in early years by Indian shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Limited.
This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.