The Indian Navy’s first submarine equipped with advanced technology to enhance its underwater endurance and stealth is expected to be ready by the end of 2026, when the second of the six French-origin Kalvari (Scorpene)-class submarines in its fleet will have been fitted with an indigenous air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, a defence source told Business Standard on Friday.
Between December 2017 and January 2025, six Kalvari-class conventional diesel-electric attack submarines were commissioned into service. The vessels were built by the state-run Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd under a transfer-of-technology arrangement with France’s Naval Group.
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“The first submarine is already undergoing refit and will therefore not be fitted with an AIP system at present. The second vessel, however, will enter refit in the middle of the year and will become the first submarine in Indian service to be equipped with this technology,” said the source.
