Commissioning of INS Khanderi second Indian Navy SCORPENE class submarine made in India.

On 28 September 2019, INS Khanderi, the second of P75 SCORPENE®-class submarine, was commissioned by the hands of Honorable Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh in presence of Chief Minister of Maharasthra Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, CMD MDL Commodore Rakesh Anand (IN Retd.) and several other dignitaries.

Indian Navy INS Khanderi SCORPENE Class submarine was commissioned on September 28, 209. (Picture source Indian Navy Twitter)

The INS Khanderi submarine is totally built by Indian shipyard Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) through years of technology transfer and partnership with Naval Group.

After a series of remarkable events such as the commissioning of INS Kalvari in December 2017, launching of the Karanj (the third submarine) in January 2018, launching of the Vela submarine (the fourth submarine) on May 2019, the Khanderi’s commissioning took place on 28th September 2019.

This event highlights the success of indigenous submarines construction program of the Government of India. These submarines have been completely built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) through technology transfer and partnership with Naval Group, in line with Indian Government’s “Make in India” policy. This series of six submarines have been fitted with a number of equipment, built-in India by qualified and highly trained specialists from industrial MSMEs which form the sound base of submarine building ecosystem of India.

“The rise in competencies that MDL completed is very inspiring. It is the first time in history that such a large scale technology transfer has taken place for the making of one of the most complex products found in the world. The commissioning of the second Scorpene-class submarine constitutes a new milestone for this unique and one of a kind industrial program. The additional unit of this stealthy submarine will further contribute to the self-reliance of the Indian Navy.”, highlighted Olivier de la Bourdonnaye, Senior Executive Program Director at  Naval Group.

Despite the complexity of submarine building requiring millions of man/hours, the successful transfer of technology has made it possible to reach a very high indigenous content. By building upon and nurturing this know-how and skills in India, Naval Group is committed to significantly enhance the level of indigenization in future projects of the Indian Navy supported by the Indian Government.

The SCORPENE® is a 2000 tons conventional-propulsion submarine designed and developed by Naval Group for all types of mission, such as surface vessel warfare, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes, special operations or intelligence gathering. Extremely stealthy and fast, it has a level of operating automation that allows a limited number of crew, which reduces its operating costs significantly. Its combat edge is highlighted by the fact that it has 6 weapon launching tubes, 18 weapons (torpedoes, missiles, mines).

With 14 submarines sold internationally by Naval Group, the SCORPENE® is an essential reference product in the area of conventional attack submarines (SSK) for Navies across the globe. The product is easily adapted for improvements requested by any naval customers. The progressive improvement through dedicated and experienced designers of Naval Group ensures this seamless advances and modern technology integrations.