GERMANY'S SUBMARINE OFFER

Germany Offers 'Bigger' 214 Version Of HDWClass Submarines. How useful will they be in the present scenario? RITU SHARMA dissects the option.

- RITU SHARMA

Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG has offered India the bigger 214 version of HDW-class submarines. Conventional diesel submarines are on offer for a $4.8 billion deal for six submarines under Project 751.

As against the required 24 conventional submarines, the Indian submarine fleet has only 16 submarines, and apart from the six recently-built submarines, the rest are over 30 years old and approaching their decommissioning date.

Considering it took 11 years for the first Scorpene class submarine to enter the Indian Navy's fleet after signing the deal, the subs to be built under Project 751 are at least a decade away from entering operations.

The Indian government's thrust on 'Make in India' indicates that the Indian Navy will go with the bidder offering the best and largest technology transfer.

While announcing the tender in July, the Ministry of Defence said it expected substantial technology transfer to Indian shipyards apart from providing the submarines with Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP). The AIP technology helps conventional vessels stay underwater for longer.

"The existing 214 is a standard design, which will need some modification to meet the (Indian) Navy's requirements. It is not unusual. The Type 209s that India got from Germany in the mid80s and built two of it in India were also modified to Indian specifications," a ThyssenKrupp official said.

The HDW Class 214 submarines single-hull, one-compartment submarines that fuse the design principles of the HDW Class 209 family and the outstanding features of the HDW Class 212A boats.

The Type 214 is a class of diesel-electric submarines developed exclusively for export by Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW). As an export design, it lacks some of the classified technologies of the Type 212, such as the non-magnetic steel hull, making it difficult to detect using a magnetic anomaly detector.