DRDO and WDB Set to Finalize Design of Project-76 Submarine with 70-80% Indigenous Content by Late 2025

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Warship Design Bureau (WDB) are collaborating on Project-76, an ambitious endeavor to design and develop a new generation of indigenous conventional submarines for the Indian Navy. This project is expected to significantly bolster India's self-reliance in underwater warfare capabilities.

By late 2025, the DRDO and WDB are anticipated to finalize the design of these 3,000-4,000-ton submarines. The project approval is expected to be granted sometime between 2028 and 2029, paving the way for construction.

The Indian Navy envisions a fleet of six submarines built under Project-76, with a remarkable 70-80% indigenous content. This emphasis on domestic production is expected to stimulate India's defence manufacturing sector and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.

Project-76 builds upon the foundation laid by Project-75I, which aims to procure six next-generation submarines through international collaboration. This new project represents a natural progression towards greater self-sufficiency in submarine acquisition for the Indian Navy.

France has offered its pump-jet propulsion technology for the program, aiming to enhance efficiency across most of the submarine's performance range. Project-76 will also incorporate design elements from both Project-75I and Project-75 submarine design programs.

 

[sanket]

I think that 6 will naturally progress into 9 or 10 if those subs proved good, as it's happening for Scorpenes now!

Manufacturing Subs is Time consuming , it is better to place order figure signing the deal , Now Scorpene 3 Follow-on Subs will take Time for Induction may b end of Decade or Early in Decade , if order is place with good Figure Every year atleast one Sub may b delivered .

 

[beencensured]

If design is finalized by 2025-26 the Project-76 would actually be ahead of Project-75i.

Anyways, don't expect much from 75i.

What are they going to learn that they have not already learned? All BS of ARM Lobbyist, inferiority complex children that have not been weaned off mother's milk.

 

[desigandu]

1. If the design is finalised by 2025-26, we need final project approval within a year of that. Only then cam construction begin in 2028-29, with the first boats entering service sometime in the second half of the 2030s (right in time to replace the last of the Kilo-class and Type 209-1500 boats).

2. We need 12 SSKs, not 6. Coupled with the 3 planned SSNs under Project 75A, this would give us 30 attack submarines, which is a bare minimum.

2. A 3,000 to 4,000 ton displacement indicates that the boats may well have a VLS module. If such a module is not present, perhaps the Project could be broken into two batches of 6 boats each, with Batch 2 incorporating a VLS module (8-16 cells for SLCMs).

UVLS - 12-16 cells with long range SLCMs, 6 heavy torpedo launchers, teardrop design with pump jet propulsion given 4000 tons of displacement (let us design for high power) AIP and Lithium Ion batteries (yes both) must be a key requirement - agree with 12 boats, 1 per year starting 2035…

 

[Dredd]

India should go for 9 Subs under project 76 instead of 6 . it takes Time to manufacture subs order should place before production stage & not after 6 subs are delivered.

Project76 is on paper since 90s, its more than 25 years now, and we still don't have draft design ready. Let them first get PDR THEN WE CAN TALK ABOUT NUMBERS.

 

[Anant]

UVLS - 12-16 cells with long range SLCMs, 6 heavy torpedo launchers, teardrop design with pump jet propulsion given 4000 tons of displacement (let us design for high power) AIP and Lithium Ion batteries (yes both) must be a key requirement - agree with 12 boats, 1 per year starting 2035…

Pumpjets, I am very iffy on. That is simply because of their power efficiency for a given input power. The rest of it is something I wholeheartedly agree with.

 

[Anant]

If design is finalized by 2025-26, does that leave enough time to learn from P75I and incorporate what we learn into the design? More time should be taken for design IMO

It doesn't, but if we wait for P-75I's lessons to be incorporated, we'll just end up adding another 5-10 years to the timeline, which isn't feasible.

 

[Anant]

We need abut 24 of these types of submarines as that would suit in 2030-2040 period relevant to economic and military status which India will emerge as a pre-eminent superpower in this period. Also many subs will retire in this period. Obvious they can make significant upgrade after each batch.

They can make upgrades with each batch. Whether they will do so is another matter, however. With Bhikaristan poised to have 8-11 submarines in service, and China moving towards a goal of 60-70 boats, we would need 30 or so at the very least.

 

[Anant]

Project76 is on paper since 90s, its more than 25 years now, and we still don't have draft design ready. Let them first get PDR THEN WE CAN TALK ABOUT NUMBERS.

Um, what is today Project 76 was only theorised as part of the 1999 submarine program. Moreover, the Project only starred picking up speed around 5 years back. Let's see how it goes forward now.

 

[Anant]

There is actually a good reason for SSKs. The Bay of Bengal especially is not a very deep sea and also is more muddy, making it a good use case for smaller SSK to hide efeectively in the sedimentary waters.

On the contrary, the only three nations that have transitioned completely to SSNs - America, Britain, and France, have different approaches about littoral defence.

France maintains a sizeable coastal naval force, and generally maintains a part of the oceanic fleet in home waters too. That makes it convenient for them to engage an enemy force using these forces rather than building SSKs.

The UK does not have a sizeable coastal naval force, but what they do have are a multitude of patrol ASW aircraft and shore-based airpower to attack an enemy force. Moreover, as their present naval expansion concludes, even they will start maintaining a strong naval force in home waters.

The Americans leave most coastal defence work to older ships of their Navy and the US Coast Guard. Even so, there have been calls for them to invest in a series of SSKs (around 16-24 small, coastal-ish boats). For them, coastal defence is also managed by the USAF, Air National Guard, and others. Moreover, while the US generally has few large warships ready for combat in home waters, the presence of their ships around the world also allows them to rapidly redeploy.

In India's case, we have a sizeable Coast Guard, but they can't do anything major against an enemy force. We don't have a large air force or a large naval strike force. As such, for us, any coastal defence would have to be done by the Navy (which would also have to use it's limited assets to engage enemy shipping and the like). For these, we do need SSKs.

Finally, making that switch to an all-SSN fleet is also ridiculously expensive. We do not have the kind of money needed for that. Also remember that NATO militaries are slightly smaller than they otherwise would be because of NATO.

 

[Pad UwU]

We need 24 of this kind of subs for war preparation 😹😹😹

 

[desigandu]

Pumpjets, I am very iffy on. That is simply because of their power efficiency for a given input power. The rest of it is something I wholeheartedly agree with.

I agree to some extent but won't pumpjets on a 4000t SSK make it a big deal, given even by 2040, we may have only 3+ SSNs! Also, are there any SSKs with pump jets today or in planning, and if not is the technical challenge achievable or impossible (including potential weight/stealth etc considerations)...we could do it in phases - lot 1 6 subs without pumpjets and the 2nd 6 with pumpjets...we must think big and go for it as our industrial base gets better - easier said than done...

 

[Anant]

I agree to some extent but won't pumpjets on a 4000t SSK make it a big deal, given even by 2040, we may have only 3+ SSNs! Also, are there any SSKs with pump jets today or in planning, and if not is the technical challenge achievable or impossible (including potential weight/stealth etc considerations)...we could do it in phases - lot 1 6 subs without pumpjets and the 2nd 6 with pumpjets...we must think big and go for it as our industrial base gets better - easier said than done...

Sir, the thing with pumpjets is power efficiency. I would recommend a YouTube video by H. I. Sutton (a very renowned OSINT naval analyst). He explains it in a lot of detail.

Coming to pumpjet-equipped SSKs, the only such submarine in the world is the Russian Kilo-class submarine Alrosa. That ship was fitted with a pumpjet as an experiment for pumpjet SSKs and to test out that pumpjet design that is also used on the Borei-class SSBNs. The system itself was good, but Alrosa's refitting is considered to be a failure. As a result, there are no other Kilo-class boats being refitted similarly. Also, as far as memory serves, there are no SSKs with pumpjets planned.