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| India's Kalvari Class Submarine Will Be Fitted With Domestically Produced AIP Systems |
New Delhi - India's Kalvari class submarines will be fitted with India's domestically produced independent air propulsion (AIP) system. This is the result of India's agreement with the submarine maker Naval Group from France.
Later, the AIP for the Kalvari class submarine will be developed by the Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) of the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
The agreement signed between senior NMRL officials and Naval Group France in Mumbai on January 23, 2023, will go to the detailed design stage. As part of the agreement, Naval Group will certify the AIP design for integration on the Kalvari class submarines.
AIP has a force multiplier effect on diesel electric submarines. Therefore, this system increases the survivability of the submarine under water several times. The AIP system has an advantage in performance compared to other technologies and is unique in that hydrogen is generated within it. This technology has been successfully developed by NMRL with the support of Indian industrial partners. Currently the process has reached the maturity stage for industrialization, said NMRL.
It was stated that the ground prototype of AIP NMRL had been successfully tested. The agreement regarding the AIP was signed on the day of the inauguration of India's fifth Kalvari class submarine named INS Vagir. The submarine entered service after being launched in Mumbai in November 2020.
INS Vagir joins INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj and INS Vela which had been commissioned in December 2017, September 2019, March 2021 and November 2021 respectively.
The last submarine of the P75 series, INS Vagsheer, is currently completing its sea trials and will be commissioned in 2024. India is building the Kalvari class submarines under a technology transfer agreement with Naval Group dating back to 2005.
The diesel-electric attack submarine is 67.5 m long and can deploy SUT heavyweight torpedoes or SM.39 Exocet anti-ship missiles. The Calvary class has an endurance of 50 days and a range of 6,500 nautical miles.