PressTrust Of India
New Delhi, Feb 19: With a view to bolstering naval power, the Union Government has cleared indigenous construction of seven stealth frigates and six nuclear-powered submarines at a cost of about Rs 1lakh crore. Defence sources said Thursday that the decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security.
The plan on new submarines is part of the 30-year submarine building programme cleared in 1999, that will involve building of 24 submarines over a period of the next 30 years. The first project was the P75, under which six Scorpene-class submarines are being built in the country. Another project for six more submarines was cleared by the government last year and this project was titled P750. The ‘Request for Proposal’ for the project is likely to be issued in March, the sources said.
“The government has tweaked the project under which the CCS has taken a decision that the next six submarines would be nuclear-powered, unlike the conventional ones that were envisaged,” one of the sources said, explaining the recent decision. They said the total cost of both the project will be about Rs 1lakh crore. This would be different from the P75I project and was already envisaged when the 30-year project was cleared.
The government has also decided to go ahead with the ‘Project-17A’ for stealth frigates under which four will be constructed at Mazagon Docks in Mumbai and three at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers in Kolkata. The sources said this was a “follow on” order and money has been allocated for the same.
