Navy to commission first indigenous Scorpene-class submarine

Mumbai, Dec 13 (IANS) The first of the indigenous Scorpene-class submarines, INS Kalvari, will be commissioned for the Indian Navy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

The Prime Minister will unveil a plaque at the commissioning ceremony here.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding of the Western Naval Command, will also be present.

Named after the first Foxtort-class submarine, INS Kalvari was inducted into the Navy on December 8, 1967. The commissioning of its indigenous version comes days after the force observed the golden jubilee of its submarine wing.

The Scorpenes are being built by the Mazagaon Dockyard Ltd here under Project 75 with transfer of technology from a foreign collaborator -- DCNS of France.

The state-of-the-art features of the Scorpenes include superior stealth and ability to launch crippling attacks with precision-guided weapons.

The attacks can be carried out with torpedoes both while submerged or on the surface -- in all war theatres including the tropics, giving it an unmatched invulnerability.

The second Scorpene submarine, INS Khanderi, is currently undergoing trials and is likely to be inducted into the Navy soon.

The "boot together" of the submarine, wherein the five separate sections were welded into one, was completed on July 30, 2014. Kalvari is the first Indian naval vessel to be built using this modular approach of construction.

First put to sea on May 1, 2016, Kalvari has since undergone a comprehensive trial schedule to validate her capability to float, move and fight.

The submarine has an overall length of 67.5 metre and a height of about 12.3 metres. The hull form, fin and hydroplanes are specifically designed to produce minimum underwater resistance.

The boat has 360 battery cells, each weighing 750 kg, to power the extremely silent Permanently Magnetised Propulsion Motor. The stealth of the boat is further enhanced through the mounting of equipment inside the pressure hull on shock absorbing cradles.