First Scorpene submarine to roll out in 2015

French defence shipbuilder DCNS and SEC Industries inaugurated a dedicated facility in Hyderabad for making key components for the six Scorpene submarines being built for the Indian Navy.

Union minister of state for defence MM Pallam Raju said India was re-building its lost skill sets for submarine building with French technology. This would be the next step of indigenisation of submarine project after HDW Germany submarine contract was dumped in 1980.

This relates to the indigenisation process for the Rs20,000-crore Scorpene submarine project, being developed with DCNS technology. The first of these will be rolled out by 2015. From then on, one submarine will be rolled out every nine months. The entire delivery will be completed by 2018.