New Delhi, May 28, 2005

According to sources within HDW, the world renowned German submarine manufacturers, it should be possible for the Indian Navy to acquire state-of-the-art Type 214 submarines from them at a much cheaper price than the French equivalent that so far had been the only vessel so far under consideration and negotiation.

According to the management of HDW, "The Type 214 submarine is currently our ongoing production model and because of technological advances and efficient production processes we can build it far more economically than our competitors." He went on to add that depending upon the configuration and specifications, the platform could be as much cheaper than that being offered by DCN (the French makers of Scorpene) to India. He further clarified that the Indian Navy would have the flexibility to install and incorporate missiles, sensors, electronic suites, and weapon systems, from whichever source or manufacturer they chose, so as to get an optimum mix to suit its operational needs.

Addressing Indian fears of further inordinate delays in the acquisition programme, other officials of HDW, speaking on conditions of anonymity, mentioned that they could present a proposal to the Indian Government within 4 - 6 weeks and that, in their opinion, Mazagon Docks (MDL) at Mumbai, would require barely six months to gear up to start manufacturing the new Type 214 vessels. They based this confidence upon the demonstrated capability of MDL to independently maintain and refit the earlier Type 209 Shishumar class HDW submarines, two of which were built at MDL itself.

Incidentally, HDW can fit the subs with the tried and tested Fuel Cell based Air Independent System (AIP) that allows prolonged submerged operations in a silent mode. This AIP system is already in satisfactory service with a few European navies. The French on the other hand, only have an experimental version, which is yet to be proved in operations.