PROJECT-751-30 YEARS ON

India's ambitious Project-751, aimed at procuring six advanced submarines, remains stalled nearly three decades after its inception.

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Despite strategic importance, bureaucratic hurdles, unmet technical requirements, and cost concerns have delayed progress, leaving India vulnerable at sea amid rising Chinese and Pakistani maritime capabilities

India conceived a plan in the late 1990s to procure six conventionally armed submarines with advanced stealth characteristics and long endurance. But twenty-seven years and multiple obstacles later, this crucial Indian Navy submarine project remains in limbo.

The program, dubbed "Project-75 (India)" or "Project-751," was envisaged to replace India's current conventional Sindhughosh-class submarines over a 30-year period. It was intended to be the second stage of the nation's submarine development, drawing on the knowledge obtained during Project-75, which involved the indigenous construction of Scorpene-class submarines with technology transfer from the French Naval Group.

Project-751 calls for a "strategic partnership" between an Indian shipyard and a foreign Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to build six submarines with sophisticated sensors, weapons, and equipment, including fuelcell-based Air Independent Propulsion, advanced torpedoes, modern missiles, and state-of-the-art systems.

The project has been beset with delays despite the massive strategic value attached to it. A slew of issues, such as frequent changes in policies, bureaucratic hurdles, and stringent conditions placed by the Indian Ministry of Defense (MoD), among other things, have held the ambitious project hostage. Originally anticipated to conclude by 2030, Project751 is laughably about 30 The Lingering Concern Of Cost Overruns years behind schedule now.