Future Looking Bright for Indian Navy with Kalvari Trial

By siliconindia | Thursday, 05 May 2016, 05:39 Hrs

BENGALURU: India’s first submarine in 16 years, Kalvari, begins its trial voyage this week. Kalvari, which literally translates to tiger shark, is a part of the much anticipated mission “Project 75”, which was first announced in 2005. It is the first of the 6 such subs that are all based on the Scorpene-class submarines.

The project has been undertaken by Mumbai based ship builders Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in collaboration with French arms industry company DCNS.

In the coming months, the submarine will undergo number of tests which includes sea, surface, diving, weapons, noise trials, SONAR and more, so as to ensure that the submarine meets all the stipulated specifications that are expected of it.

The Commissioning of the submarine is contemplated to be sometime around September, with the rest of the vessels to be rolled out in successive nine month intervals.

There has been a general outcry for some time for these submarines to be out and running at the earliest since the Indian Navy is, as of now, reliant on 13 year old submarines with outdated technology, 10 of which have crossed the 25 year limit, which is the nominal prescribed lifetime of a submarine.

Although the trials have begun, the Kalvari is sadly, harmless since its main arsenal, the heavyweight torpedoes are still stuck in the AugustaWestland helicopter scam.

Apart from the Kalvari, another piece of hopeful news for the Navy is the indigenous nuclear powered submarine – the Arihant. A first-of-its-kind in India, the Arihant is undergoing trials and is expected to be commissioned shortly.