Indian Navy to sign Rs 90,000 crore Defence deals

Context: The Indian Navy is expecting to finalise the Rs 90,000 crore deals for 26 Rafale Marine combat aircraft and 3 additional Scorpene submarines by January 2025. 

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Rafale Aircraft;  Scorpène-class Submarine; Project 75. 

Major Highlights: 

• The Indian Navy has been negotiating with:
  • France for the purchase of 26 Rafale Marine fighter aircraft
  • French Naval Group for the construction of 3 additional Scorpene-class submarines at Mazagon Dockyards Limited.
• The 3 additional submarines will complement the six Scorpene-class submarines that have already been built by the dockyard. From the earlier contract, five submarines have been inducted under Project 75, and the sixth is expected to be commissioned in December 2024. 

What is Rafale Aircraft? 

• The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft.
• Designed and built by: Dassault Aviation
• It is referred to as an "omnirole" (conduct both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions simultaneously) 4.5th generation aircraft by Dassault.
  • India had ordered the 36 Rafale combat aircraft from France in a Rs 59,000-crore deal in September 2016. The delivery of all the jets to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in December 2022. 
  • For the Indian Navy, India selected the Rafale M over the American-made Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet. 

Read also: Rafale

What is Kalvari-class (Scorpène-class) Submarine?

• About: They are diesel-attack submarines based on the Scorpène design developed by Naval Group (France). 
• Under Project 75, six Scorpene-class submarines have been constructed indigenously (at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited Mumbai) with Transfer of Technology from France. 
• The project was initiated in 1997, and five submarines are currently commissioned.

Submarines under Project 75 (Kalvari-class): 

• INS Kalvari: Inducted in 2017 
• INS Kandheri: Inducted in 2019 
• INS Karanj: Inducted in 2021 
• INS Vela: Inducted 2021 
• INS Vagir: Inducted 2023
• INS Vagsheer: To be commissioned in December 2024. 

• Diesel Electric submarines: This class of submarines have Diesel Electric transmission systems and are attack submarines or the ‘hunter-killer’ type which are designed to target and sink adversary naval vessels.
• They have the capability of operating in a wide range of Naval combat including anti-warship and anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering and surveillance, underwater mining operations and naval mine laying.