Project 75I-class submarine

In 1997, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) approved a plan to acquire 24 submarines under Project 75.[5] After the Kargil War in 1999, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) - India's top decision-making body on issues related to defense and national security, approved a 30-year submarine building plan, that called for two parallel production lines, each constructing six submarines. The older Project-75 (P-75) was brought under the new plan, with the two production lines to be built under P-75 and P-75I using transfer of technology (ToT) from different foreign manufacturers.[6]

In 2008, it was reported that a Request for Information (RFI) had been issued to Armaris (now Naval Group), HDW and Rosoboronexport for six submarines with air-independent propulsion (AIP) and land-attack capability, that were to be built in India.[7][8]

In July 2010, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) - the MoD's top arms acquisition body, decided to import two submarines, build three at Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) and one at Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), with a budget of ₹50,000 crore (equivalent to ₹950 billion or US$13 billion in 2020).[9] After the project was approved by the DAC in August 2010, an RFI was issued again in September 2010.[10][11] However, the RFP was not approved by the CCS due to conflicting opinions between the Indian Navy and the MoD, over the involvement of privately-owned shipyards in the project. Consequently, the approval lapsed and was renewed multiple times till 2013.[12][13]

In October 2014, the DAC decided to construct all six submarines in India and approved a budget of ₹53,000 crore (equivalent to ₹720 billion or US$9.6 billion in 2020).[2] Along with the state-owned MDL, HSL, and Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), privately-owned L&T Shipbuilding and Pipavav Shipyard (R-Naval) were allowed to bid for the project in collaboration with a foreign shipyard.[14]

In 2017, the Indian Navy issued another RFI, to Naval Group, Rosoboronexport, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), Saab Kockums, Navantia and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).[15] Out of the aforementioned six - only Naval Group, Rosoboronexport, TKMS and Saab responded, while Navantia and Mitsubishi failed to respond within the deadline.[16][17]

In June 2017, it was reported that the contract for construction would be awarded under a "Strategic Partnership" (SP) policy, which would eliminate state-owned shipyards from contention.[18] After the approval lapsed in February 2018, the DAC renewed the approval with a budget of ₹40,000 crore (US$5.3 billion) in January 2019.[19][20]

In April 2019, an Expression of Interest (EOI) was issued for six submarines capable of firing land-attack missiles (LAM) and anti-ship cruise missiles.[21] In June 2019, South Korea's Daewoo Shipping & Marine Engineering (DSME), was allowed to enter the project, after the EOI had expired, in response to a late invitation extended by the MoD, thus making a late entrance into the competition.[22][23] Navantia responded to the EOI in July 2019, affirming the company's re-entrance into the competition (after their absence from the RFI issued in 2017).[24][25] Shortly after, in September 2019, Saab withdrew from the competition, citing concerns about the rules defined in the "Strategic Partnership" policy.[23] Saab's withdrawal left five firms as the only contestants in P-75I - Naval Group, Rosoboronexport, TKMS, Navantia and DSME; the five firms were later officially shortlisted as the finalists of the competition, in 2020.[26]

On 21 January 2020, the Government of India (GoI) shortlisted two Indian shipyards - Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL), as the two Indian finalists in P-75I.[27] Concurrently, the GoI also shortlisted five foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), as finalists in P-75I - ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) of Germany, Rubin Design Bureau of Russia, Navantia of Spain, Naval Group of France, and Daewoo Shipping & Marine Engineering (DSME) of South Korea.[26]

The two Indian shipyards respectively, would have to collaborate with the five foreign shortlisted OEM's, for competing in the project.[28] In July, 2021, the MoD formally issued an RFP, for the construction of the six designated submarines, worth ₹43,000 crore (US$5.7 billion), under a "Strategic Partnership" model.[29][30]

At the time of the issuing the RFP, five OEM's were competing in P-75I -

• Naval Group (France): Offered a diesel-electric variant of the Barracuda-class nuclear-powered submarine.[31]Other reports have indicated that France may also be offering an advanced variant of the Scorpene-class.[32]
• ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (Germany): Offered the Type-214.[33]
• Rubin Design Bureau (Russia): Offered a variant of the Amur-class, known as the Amur-1650.[34]
• Navantia (Spain): Offered the S-80 class.[35]
• Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (Korea): Offered a 3000-ton variant of the KSS-III class, known as the DSME-3000.[36]

The two Indian shipyards shortlisted in P-75I were -

• L&T Shipbuilding (L&T)[4][30]
• Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL)[4][30]

In July 2021, MDL - one of the two Indian shipyards in the competition, issued an RFI to the five shortlisted OEM's, attempting to forge a partnership for competing in the tender; the RFI had stipulated the OEM should have a functioning AIP system, that has been tested and proven on an operational submarine. Reportedly, three nations - France, Russia and Spain, did not have any functioning submarine with an AIP system, leaving Germany (TKMS) and South Korea (DSME) as the only eligible contenders.[37][38][39]

In September 2021, TKMS reportedly withdrew from the competition, expressing reservations about "restrictive conditions" in the tender - reportedly a "restrictive" liability clause, a high "indigenous content percentage" (the amount of Indian-manufactured content desired on the submarines), and a "lack of clarity" on the transfer of technology.[40][41][42] The reported move by TKMS, left DSME (South Korea), as the sole eligible contender in P-75I.[42]

• Submarines of the Indian Navy
• Future of the Indian Navy
• Cruise missile submarine
• Attack submarine

• Project 75(I), globalsecurity.org
• https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1575065