MUMBAI/NEW DELHI — In a major fillip to the country's submarine development plans, Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T) has signed a Teaming Agreement (TA) with Spain's state-owned ship-builder, Navantia for submitting a techno-commercial bid for the Indian Navy's P75 project, officials said here on Monday.
Accordingly, Navantia will carry out the design of P75(1) submarines based on its S80 Class of submarines, the first of which was launched in 2021 and currently undergoing sea trials prior to its delivery to the Spanish Navy by the year-end.
Besides the S80 Class, Navantia has been involved in the design and construction of the Scorpene Class of submarines together with DCNS (now, Naval Group) of France, which have been exported to Chile and Malaysia.
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Navantia was part of the Scorpene submarines, the Kalvari Class, built in India including handholding of the Indian yard.
The agreement was signed in the presence of L&T CEO & MD S. N. Subrahmanyan, and Navantia's Vice-President Augustin Alvarez Blanco, in the presence of Spanish Ambassador to India Jose Maria Ridao Dominguez, the Spanish Defence Attache Capt. (Navy) Fernando Alvarez, and other senior officials from both sides in New Delhi.
"Navantia's glorious 300-year-old track record in naval construction & technical expertise gives us a competitive advantage in this programme and offer the Bio-Ethanol Stealth Technology (BEST) and environmentally Green AIP solution. We are committed to providing the most contemporary solution for the Indian Navy's requirements at a competitive price," said Subrahmanyam.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]"It gives us pleasure to be the design and technology partner for P75(I). We are also in collaboration with L&T for the Landing Platform Dock (LPD) program whose tender is eagerly awaited. With these two prestigious programs for the Indian Navy, Navantia is proud to be making a key contribution towards fulfilling the defence needs of India, a nation with which Spain shares excellent relationship," said Blanco.
Project 75 (I) requires the Indian bidder to tie up with a Foreign Collaborator (FC) and execute the program for delivery of six conventional submarines equipped with Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP), while achieving targeted Indigenous Content.
Expected to be valued at over Euro 4.8 billion, the project is India's largest defence acquisition project.
This would also be followed by a 30-year lifecycle sustenance contract of similar value. P75(I) would be the first program to be processed under the ambitious Strategic Partnership (SP) model of acquisition of the Ministry of Defence.
L&T and Navantia signed an MoU for the program on 11 April 2023 at Madrid, which has now culminated in this TA.
The P75(I) program calls for integration of an AIP system and Navantia’s state-of-the-art 3rd Generation AIP solution is the most advanced and efficient AIP system in the world, apart from also being the most compact, easiest to exploit and maintain and environment friendly.
It uses bioethanol as a source of hydrogen which is known to be cost efficient, easily available, and does not call for any special infrastructure.
High density of hydrogen in ethanol improves the AIP system's efficiency. Ethanol, being in liquid form, eliminates the risks associated with storing hydrogen. In addition, wide availability of ethanol enables the system to be refueled anywhere in the world.
L&T and Navantia are also seeking cooperation in other military programmes as well as in green energy opportunities, including offshore wind through Navantia Seanergies division.