India’s second conventional submarine, INS Khanderi, built at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd will start sea trials this week at Mumbai coast.
INS Khanderi is slated to begin its long sea trials from Thursday.
INS Khanderi (S51) is the second of the Indian Navy’s six Kalvari-class submarines being built in India. It is a diesel-electric attack submarine which is designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS and being manufactured at Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai.
The submarine was launched in the presence of Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba and other dignitaries on 12 January 2017.
The Indian Navy has a current fleet of 13 ageing conventional submarines, with just half of them operational at any given time.
India also has two nuclear-powered submarines, INS Arihant and INS Chakra, but the latter does not have nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles as it has been bought on lease from Russia.
China, which has over 55 submarines, with at least eight of them being nuclear ones, often frequent the IOR. Indian Navy has tracked at least seven Chinese submarines – both nuclear and conventional – entering the regionn since December 2013.
INS Kalvari was to be ready by 2012, with the other five coming by 2017. Now, with the third submarine INS Vela to be “launched” later this year, all the six will be inducted by 2020 or so.
The Scorpene project faced huge time and cost overruns, the induction of new submarines comes as a big booster for the Navy, which is pitted against Pakistan in the West and China in the East.
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