The sea trials for the Kalvari (S-50), first class submarine Scorpène made by Mazagon Dock Limited, in Mumbai. This is what the Indian Ministry of Defense communicates.
Over the next three months, the boat, which has already passed preliminary procedures off the coast of Mumbai, will undergo acoustic and immersion tests. Once the planned maneuvers were completed, the Kalvari (Tiger Shark) will enter service next September.
the class Scorpène it was designed to be primarily equipped with heavy torpedoes Black Shark of Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei. The Indian government specifies that at the moment the submarines will be armed only with MBDA anti-ship missiles Exocet SM-39. The supply of 98 torpedoes commissioned to Finmeccanica (today Leonardo-Finmeccanica), worth a total of $ 300 million, has been frozen by the Indian Ministry of Defense since 2012 due to alleged bribes on the 560 million tender for 12 AW101 helicopters AgustaWestland sold to India in 2010. The Indian Navy presses for the release in favor of the Italian torpedoes by invoking national defense needs.
While underlining the importance of heavy torpedoes - specify from the Indian admiralty - the Ministry of Defense will soon have to decide to this effect.
Il program '75' plans to build six Scorpène-class submarines by 2020. The Indian Navy signed a $ 4,6 billion contract with France in 2005 to build under license the platform designed by the DCNS companies. Work on the first boat began in May 2009.
Il Kalvari is the first Indian submarine designed to operate at greater depths than others of its same size, estimated at 300 meters (350 tests). The project uses a particular "specific high-performance steel" which allows it to operate at such depths while the entire class was built with safety techniques and protocols to attenuate any type of underwater sound emission. The very profile of the class Scorpène it should be hardly detectable by enemy sonars. The second boat, the Khanderi (S-51), will enter service in the 2017.
Class diesel-electric attack submarines Scorpène they were designed by the companies DCN and Navantia, united in the DCNS consortium. The platform is also equipped with additional air independent propulsion (the AIP module is Indian).
AIP systems allow the non-nuclear submarine to operate without using outside air. While the reactor of a nuclear submarine has to continuously pump coolant, generating a certain amount of detectable noise, battery-powered non-nuclear boats with AIP system would sail in silence. The AIP propulsion allows him to extend his navigation to a maximum of 70 days.
Long just under 70 meters, with a width of 6,2 meters and a displacement of 1700 tons, provides a crew of 31 men. Its maximum diving speed is estimated at 37 km / h while surface navigation can reach 22 km / h.
The six 533mm tubes are designed in primary form to launch heavy "Black Shark" torpedoes designed by Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacqui, anti-ship missiles Exocet about thirty mines.
(photo: DCNS / Defense Online)
