DRDO takes up study on development of indigenous submarine
- As the procurement of new submarines under P-75I goes on, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has taken up a preliminary study on the design and development of an indigenous conventional submarine under Project-76.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- This will be a continuation of the advanced technology vessel (ATV) project, to build a conventional submarine
- under which the Arihant series of nuclear ballistic missile submarines are being built and another project for building nuclear-powered submarines is currently under way, the source said.
- Under P-76, there will be substantial indigenous content, including weapons, missiles, combat management system, sonars, communications, electronic warfare suite, mast and periscope, sources said.
- The Navy has a 30-year submarine building programme, and after the P-75I, it intends to design and build conventional submarines indigenously, senior officials had stated on several occasions.
Propulsion module
- An air independent propulsion (AIP) module designed and developed by the DRDO is now awaiting fitment on the Scorpene-class submarines.
- The first Scorpene-class submarine Kalvari is expected to go for refit in 2025 when the fitment process will begin and is expected to take two to three years, sources said.
- An AIP module acts as a force multiplier as it enables conventional submarines to remain submerged for a longer duration thereby increasing their endurance and reducing chances of detection.
- The DRDO-developed AIP module is phosphoric acid-based which is widely available, officials noted.
- An AIP module has a stack of fuel cells generating hydrogen.
- The power output of each fuel cell in the DRDO AIP is 13.5 kW.
- It is being so asked up to 15.5 kW and will eventually be scaled up to 20 kW which will meet future submarine requirements like the P-76, sources said.
PRELIMS TAKEAWAY
- DRDO
- P75I