Mega Rafale fighter & Scorpene sub deals to be inked with France by next month: Navy chief

NEW DELHI: With the Rs 32,350 crore contract with the US for 31 armed MQ-9B `Predator’ drones done and dusted, India is now firmly on course to soon ink another two mega defence deals for 26 Rafale-Marine fighter jets and three additional Scorpene submarines, collectively worth around Rs 1 lakh crore, with France.
“Both the deals for Rafales and Scorpenes are in the final stages. We should be able to sign them by next month, if not earlier,” Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi said on Monday, while asserting that the recent induction of the second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) INS Arighaat had strengthened the country’s underwater leg of the “nuclear triad”.
Speaking ahead of the Navy Day on Wednesday, he confirmed that the nuclear-capable K-4 missile, with a strike range of 3,500-km, was test-fired from INS Arighaat in the Bay of Bengal on Nov 27, as was first reported by TOI.
“The launch was successful, and the agencies concerned are examining the trajectory (and other parameters) …we will soon know the results,” he said. INS Arighaat will join the first SSBN, INS Arihant, which is armed only with the 750-km K-15 missiles, on “deterrent patrols” on completing her trials. The third SSBN will be commissioned as INS Aridhaman early next year.
On the conventional warfare front, the first of the two 9,800-tonne nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs), cleared by the PM-led cabinet committee on security (CCS) for Rs 40,000 crore in Oct, in turn, will be ready for induction by 2036-37, followed by the second one a couple of years later.
The Navy currently has 63 ships and vessels under construction in Indian shipyards, apart from two guided-missile frigates built in Russia, in tune with India’s continuing quest to build a stronger blue-water force to protect its huge geostrategic interests as well as counter China’s ever-expanding footprint in Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The over 130-warship Navy, with 150 aircraft and 130 helicopters, also has the initial approval or `acceptance of necessity’ (AoN) for another 31 warships, including seven new-generation frigates, eight corvettes and six stealth diesel-electric submarines, apart from the three additional Scorpenes.
The Navy, however, will reach a force-level of just about 155-160 warships by 2030, given the slow pace of construction in Indian shipyards as well as the progressive decommissioning of older warships.
The around Rs 63,000 crore deal for the direct acquisition of 22 single-seat Rafale jets and four twin-seat trainers for aircraft carriers, along with weapons, simulator, spares, crew training and logistics support, is just “one level short” of being sent for the final approval by the CCS. “Since it is a govt-to-govt deal, it should not take much time,” Admiral Tripathi said.
The three additional Scorpenes, in turn, will be built at the Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks (MDL) for around Rs 36,000 crore, with the first slated to roll out in six years, followed by the other two at intervals of a year each. They will add to the six French-origin Scorpene or Kalvari-class submarines built at MDL under the over Rs 23,000 crore `Project-75’. The sixth and the last boat, `Vagsheer’, is slated to be commissioned soon.