Indian Navy Inducts Its Third Attack Submarine In 24 months
The Indian Navy on January 23 inducted its third attack submarine in 24 months with the commissioning of the Vagir, the fifth of the six French-designed Scorpene submarines ordered to be built at Mumbai’s Mazagon Dock in a 2005 deal with France.
Chief of the Indian Navy Admiral R Hari Kumar hailed this as “a coming of age moment” for the Indian shipbuilding industry and reiterated “the Indian Navy’s unequivocal commitment and steadfast resolve to be a fully Aatmanirbhar force by 2047”. “It’s a commitment made to our political leadership,” Admiral Hari Kumar said at the commissioning ceremony.
Project 75, the programme to build the six Scorpene-class diesel-electric submarines is set to draw to a close with the last of the boats scheduled for induction by the end of 2023. The focus now shifts to the much-delayed Project 75 (I), under which the conventional submarine building programme for the Indian Navy is to be continued.
INS Vagir, Admiral Hari Kumar said, “will give a significant fillip to the Indian Navy’s operational might – and serve as a potent deterrent for any adversary”.
“This day is also an important milestone in the Navy’s evolution as a ‘Combat-Ready, Credible, Cohesive and Future Proof Force’ as, today, one more sentinel of the deep seas proudly breaks out the New Naval Ensign – signalling its readiness to go into harm’s way in Service of the Nation.
The Navy Chief paid tribute to the Indian shipbuilding industry for delivering three submarines in quick succession. “This is no small achievement, and underscores the coming of age of India’s shipbuilding industry, and the maturing of our defence ecosystem. It is also a shining testimony to the expertise and experience of our shipyards to construct complex & complicated platforms,” he said.
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, he said, has been at the forefront of the Indian Navy’s transition from a ‘Buyer’s Navy’ to a ‘Builder’s Navy’. “The commissioning ceremony, today, is yet another reaffirmation of the synergy that exists between our organisations, in our common goal of pursuing AatmaNirbharta in spirit and practice,” the Admiral said.
He also commended the submarine’s Commanding Officer and his team for wrapping up all major trials, including those of weapons and sensors, within a short span of 11 months.
“Vagir takes its name from the ‘Sand shark’, a deadly deep-sea predator of the Indian Ocean, and true to the name, in its new avatar too, she is a lethal platform with a formidable weapon package and state-of-the-art stealth technology. Her capabilities and firepower will not only enhance the Navy’s combat potential, but also add teeth to our deterrence,” the Navy Chief said. In keeping with a naval tradition that ‘old ships & submarines never die’, INS Vagir is fashioned as a reincarnation of the earlier Foxtrot submarine by the same name which served the Indian Navy for three decades.
