Spain Eyes Indian Submarine Deal, Touts Cost-Effective S-80 Plus

Spain's push for a major submarine contract with India is ramping up. Top defense official Amparo Valcarce will visit India next month to advance talks, offering the S-80 Plus submarine as a cost-competitive option in the Project-75 India (P-75I) program. Reports suggest Spain's bid undercuts its primary rival, Germany's TKMs U-212/214 submarines.

S-80 Plus: Key Features​

• Optimized Size: 80.8m length, 7.3m diameter, 3,000-tonne displacement.
• Efficient Crew: Reduced crew of 32, expandable for special operations.
• Impressive Performance: 19 knots submerged, 10+ knots surfaced.
• Cutting-Edge Stealth: Features BEST air-independent propulsion (AIP), enabling three weeks of submerged endurance at 4 knots (Note: BEST equipped from third submarine onwards).

Spain's emphasis on the S-80 Plus's cost-effectiveness and advanced features aims to position it as the ideal choice for India's submarine modernization program. Valcarce's visit signals Spain's determination to secure this lucrative deal.

 

[Pink Panther]

It would be better if we go with spanish submarine instead of German who are very unreliable and untrusteorthy.

 

[Sunny]

Spain which is trying to get a foothold in the Submarine market might offer us better terms than the Germans. We must use this opportunity to get the required TOT for us to develop our own submarines quickly.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

this sounds like a better deal, but german subs are more capable. anyways, i think India should worry about capability later and just focus on a good deal in timely manner. Once india has capability it can domestically produce more capable subs.

 

[desigandu]

India should think in terms of the following high level criteria - 1. capability; 2. TOT; 3. Price/Cost; 4. Geopolitics; Also it is essential that these are delivered on time, budget and helps our own P-76s...These should be the last foreign submarine collaboration India should undertake.

 

[Sumon Roy]

German Submarine is best of it's class

 

[Pink Panther]

India should think in terms of the following high level criteria - 1. capability; 2. TOT; 3. Price/Cost; 4. Geopolitics; Also it is essential that these are delivered on time, budget and helps our own P-76s...These should be the last foreign submarine collaboration India should undertake.

No one is going to offer anything more than 10-20% TOT.

 

[Anurag]

It would be better if we go with spanish submarine instead of German who are very unreliable and untrusteorthy.

German sub are a class apart from this offer as these sub are only upgraded versions of scorpion boats and coming to unreliable things most of the sub system of S-80 plus sub are imported ones while Spain may provide better offer but technically Germany will provide us more better systems... & What matter most is Navy's choice what they actually wanted in this tender.

 

[Sandeep]

No one is going to offer anything more than 10-20% TOT.

We got over 30% with the Kalvari submarine deal. Plus for the next 3 Kalvari submarines we will get a higher amount.

 

[Sandeep]

So far only Germany and Spain are left in the competition. The navy prefers to buy the German submarines which are more technologically advanced but more expensive. The only problem is that they are less keen on giving away any critical technology that we want along with giving a low amount of local production. India needs to quickly seal this P75I deal as it will take a long time to construct them and on average it will take at least 10+ years before they finish constructing all 6 submarines.

At the same time we need to also build another 3 Kalvari submarine with a higher amount of technology transferred and local production than the other submarines. At the same time India has to upgrade the technology and improve its capabilities so that it can deal with more modern threats as well as installing a AIP capability to all submarines.

At the same time we are still constructing another 2 nuclear powered ballistic submarine with a longer hull to increase our missile range which is very important so we need to speed up the construction and installing our equipment and technology. At the same time we need to design and develop another 6 nuclear attack submarines with a larger engine and carry nuclear missiles and our own indigenous torpedo. Despite that we are still looking at designing and developing another 3-6 large nuclear powered ballistic missile which can carry more and longer range missiles and these submarines will be twice the size of the Arihant class submarine. So looking at all of our submarine requirements we need to build more submarines at the same time to cut down on construction time but once these submarines enter service it will give us underwater superiority and capabilities.

 

[BCharlie]

It would be better if we go with spanish submarine instead of German who are very unreliable and untrusteorthy.

France, Germany, Israel, USA, Russia .. all know we have lots of money.. so, all are scurrying to get a piece from our foreign reserves. Now, Spain has jumped into the fray as its now eyeing our dollars.

 

[Pink Panther]

France, Germany, Israel, USA, Russia .. all know we have lots of money.. so, all are scurrying to get a piece from our foreign reserves. Now, Spain has jumped into the fray as its now eyeing our dollars.

Though spanish AIP tech is slightly inferior compared to Germany, theirs is not bad by no means, Spain’s Navantia has worked with us for many years on carrier and other ships, so we might get a better deal, main thing is they are not as untrustworthy as Germany, their S80 plus is just an elongated version of our Scorpene submarine.

 

[Pad UwU]

Let's just go who can offer best bang for the buck... As long it has ToT's thats enough we should not keep on too much obsession of ToT's because that's is cancerous and keep us out of project timeline

 

[Anil Kumar]

I think navy should buy 1 type 214 and 1 S80 submarine and for next 1 to 2 year test and check thoroughly and then decide by cost, strength, TOT etc which is best for their requirement scorpion, S80 or type 214. Otherwise this saga will continue for decades

 

[Rajesh]

It depends upon what all are the tot that is being offered . For the aip system we does have an option indigenously & rest depends the fate of the submarine. It is not that india dosen't have any capabilities in making subs and sub components,it is that extra bit which we don't have will decide the deal. If Germany offered a good sub but won't give tot for critical components then there is nothing special in German deal. The fate of the deal will depend on the level of tot which we are being offered so that india can go solo from project 76 onwards .