DRDO takes up study on development of indigenous submarine

Contact Counsellor

CategoryDefence

Last Updated02/07/2024

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.

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.

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.