All’s Well That Ends Well
Under the ‘Project 75’ initiative, DCNS is building, in partnership with local shipyard Magazon Dock Limited (MDL), six submarines based on the SCORPENE-class submarine design. Bernard G. Buisson, Managing Director of DCNS in India, told MONS: “The submarine programme in India is moving forward with the first in class, INS KALVARI, having successfully completed its sea trials and scheduled to be commissioned by the Indian Navy (IN) by the end of July.”
The second ship, according to Buisson, has started undergoing its sea trials at the beginning of 2017 and is scheduled for delivery by the beginning of 2018. The following four submarines are scheduled for delivery every nine months after that.
“After a few initial communication misunderstandings between DCNS and MDL, which led to a slight delay in the programme, we are happy to report that the programme is now moving along well and has not been affected by the incident of the documents leaked in August last year,” Buisson told MONS at IMDEX Asia 2017. He indicated that DCNS worked with its Indian partners to prove that the leak only concerned technical documents, thereby not jeopardizing the confidential aspects of the contract. “The fact that MDL is currently preparing to submit, with the support of DCNS, a proposal for the construction of an additional three submarines is proof that the working relationship remains intact,” he concluded.
Alix Valenti
