Delivery of first Scorpene submarine delayed: Government to Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI: Government has revised the delivery schedule of the first Scorpene submarine, which was originally to be inducted in December 2012, mainly due to the difficulties in procuring material from foreign vendors by Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL), Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, in his written reply to a question, said the shipyard has undertaken augmentation of the manpower, infrastructure and industrial means in a phased manner to meet the production target and the the production capabilities have also been augmented.

"The original schedule of delivery of the first submarine was December 2012, which has since been revised. The difficulties faced by the M/s MDL during the course of procurement of materials from foreign vendors had mainly let to the delay," Parrikar told the House.

DCNS of France is building six Scorpene submarines under Project 75 through their domestic partner Mazgaon Docks Ltd (MDL) in Mumbai, he said.

The Minister also informed the House said that the DCNS deputes its personnel/consultants to guide the construction of the submarines as per the collaborative agreement.

The delivery of first of the six diesel-electric submarines, which are planned to be deployed on the western sea-board in Karwar, has already been delayed by over four years due to various factors.

In November last year, then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had reviewed the progress of the project and said that the construction of the submarines was progressing on schedule and the first vessel would be delivered by September 2016.