"Wolf Pack" in the Arabian Sea: India's Eight Diverse Submarines Prove Combat Ready in Sea Exercise

The Arabian Sea recently became the stage for a powerful display of India's undersea dominance as the Indian Navy concluded a strategic exercise showcasing the operational readiness of eight submarines.

This unprecedented demonstration underscores India's growing prowess as a maritime power in the Indian Ocean region.

A Diverse and Deadly "Wolf Pack"​

While no official pictures were released, reports tell of a unique "wolf pack" convergence featuring submarines from several nations.

The Kilo-class (Sindhughosh class) submarines of Russian origin operated alongside the French-designed Scorpène class and German-supplied Shishumar class (Type 209) vessels.

India's ability to integrate these diverse technologies from multiple strategic partners demonstrates the sophistication of its naval forces.

High-Level Observation and Symbolic Tradition​

The exercise gained added significance with Vice Admiral Sanjay J Singh, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command (FOCINC WNC), personally embarking on one of the submarines. Observing firsthand, he praised the crew's professionalism and performance in this complex operation.

In a gesture of appreciation and respect, Vice Admiral Singh embraced a time-honored submariner's tradition. He reportedly "bottomed the submarine," tasting seawater to commemorate his first dive within the vessel – a symbol of deep connection to the underwater realm.

Strategic Implications​

This successful exercise wasn't just a show of force; it highlights India's ability to deploy and coordinate a diverse submarine fleet. This significantly bolsters the nation's maritime security and strategic position within the Indian Ocean.

With rising geopolitical tensions, developing a robust submarine capability becomes essential for India's defence.

A Force to be Reckoned With​

India has steadily modernized its submarine fleet, investing in indigenous production and foreign acquisitions.

Events like this exercise send a clear message: India's underwater might is a force to be reckoned with.

Potential adversaries must now consider the added challenge of countering a highly capable and coordinated Indian submarine force operating within its strategic waters.

 

[Pink Panther]

What else to say with only 8 Submarines, we need a lot of of Submarines, at-least 50+, for a Country the size of India and the number of Islands it possesses.

 

[kumar]

Need more subs.

 

[SK]

Indian Navy should consider to order additional 6 to 9 Kalvari-SSKs with DRDO's AIP system to rapidly strengthen it's underwater fleet.

It would be better to invest in at least 12 Super Kalvari-SSKs with DRDO's AIP system rather than releasing any more RFIs.

This will lead to Logistical synergy & Economy of Sales for Indian Navy & Shipbuilding industry.

 

[Anant]

Indian Navy should consider to order additional 6 to 9 Kalvari-SSKs with DRDO's AIP system to rapidly strengthen it's underwater fleet.

It would be better to invest in at least 12 Super Kalvari-SSKs with DRDO's AIP system rather than releasing any more RFIs.

This will lead to Logistical synergy & Economy of Sales for Indian Navy & Shipbuilding industry.

There is very little question of "rapidly" strengthening the underwater fleet. Naval procurement simply doesn't work that way.

That said, we are already in the process of getting 3 more Kalvaris and 6 boats under Project 75I. All of these will come equipped with AIP, and the 6 Kalvaris already built will be retrofitting with the system.

As for Project 76, that class seems to be in the design phase, and 12 subs are already planned, with the target being design finalisation by 2028 in order to start construction by 2030.

 

[SK]

There is very little question of "rapidly" strengthening the underwater fleet. Naval procurement simply doesn't work that way.

That said, we are already in the process of getting 3 more Kalvaris and 6 boats under Project 75I. All of these will come equipped with AIP, and the 6 Kalvaris already built will be retrofitting with the system.

As for Project 76, that class seems to be in the design phase, and 12 subs are already planned, with the target being design finalisation by 2028 in order to start construction by 2030.

Indian Shipbuilding industry has already manufactured 6 Kalvari-SSKs so there already exists expertise & tools to manufacture additional of these ships at a much fast rate with faster absorption of technology.

That won't be the case with a y new other SSKs under Project P-75I & there is No clear information about P-76.

Additional Kalvari-SSKs & Super Kalvari-SSK programs can allow IN to boost it's underwater fleets at a much faster rate & the Indian shipbuilding industry to absord technologies as well as create employment & expertise.

This will also lead to long term Logistical synergy & Economy of Scales that will save money that can be used for Minesweepers, SSNs etc.

There is Lock on most of your comments due to which I'm not usually able to reply to you. Thankfully there was No lock on your comment this time.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

Indian Shipbuilding industry has already manufactured 6 Kalvari-SSKs so there already exists expertise & tools to manufacture additional of these ships at a much fast rate with faster absorption of technology.

That won't be the case with a y new other SSKs under Project P-75I & there is No clear information about P-76.

Additional Kalvari-SSKs & Super Kalvari-SSK programs can allow IN to boost it's underwater fleets at a much faster rate & the Indian shipbuilding industry to absord technologies as well as create employment & expertise.

This will also lead to long term Logistical synergy & Economy of Scales that will save money that can be used for Minesweepers, SSNs etc.

There is Lock on most of your comments due to which I'm not usually able to reply to you. Thankfully there was No lock on your comment this time.

We still import a significant amount of stuff for the kalvari subs. We are ordering 3 more so that domestic production line dies not go idle.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

There is very little question of "rapidly" strengthening the underwater fleet. Naval procurement simply doesn't work that way.

That said, we are already in the process of getting 3 more Kalvaris and 6 boats under Project 75I. All of these will come equipped with AIP, and the 6 Kalvaris already built will be retrofitting with the system.

As for Project 76, that class seems to be in the design phase, and 12 subs are already planned, with the target being design finalisation by 2028 in order to start construction by 2030.

Will the additional 3 kalvari subs come with drdo aip, or they will go for mid life retrofit same as other kalvari subs?

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

We should see P75I contract concluding in next few months, and hopefully price negotiations and contract signing is completed this year. This program is already too delayed.

 

[Santosh Kumar pal]

Private sector shipyard like L&T should involve in diesel-electric submarine for lndian Navy.
PSU shipyards can not meet the requirements of lndian Navy for lndian ocean,arabian sea and Bay of Bengal.

 

[Anant]

Will the additional 3 kalvari subs come with drdo aip, or they will go for mid life retrofit same as other kalvari subs?

The plan is for these to be built with the AIP system installed, since the earliest these boats would start construction would be 2026 or so. The system is ready or nearly ready, since Kalvari will go in for her retrofit next year.

 

[Anant]

We should see P75I contract concluding in next few months, and hopefully price negotiations and contract signing is completed this year. This program is already too delayed.

I have a feeling the final budget may be sanctioned by the end of FY25 or thereabouts. The end of CY24 seems too ambitious. The timeline I am suggesting would then mean a contract signing around July 2025, with construction starting in late 2026 or early 2027. That would mean commissioning in 2032-33 at the earliest, which then allows these boats to replace some of the Kilo- and Type 209s.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

I have a feeling the final budget may be sanctioned by the end of FY25 or thereabouts. The end of CY24 seems too ambitious. The timeline I am suggesting would then mean a contract signing around July 2025, with construction starting in late 2026 or early 2027. That would mean commissioning in 2032-33 at the earliest, which then allows these boats to replace some of the Kilo- and Type 209s.

oof, I hope you are wrong. I believe that India must have learnt from the P75 contract, and should expedite the process. This submarine contract is the most important for the navy right now. Do you know the timeline for the P75 project? Is your timeline based on that?

 

[Anant]

oof, I hope you are wrong. I believe that India must have learnt from the P75 contract, and should expedite the process. This submarine contract is the most important for the navy right now. Do you know the timeline for the P75 project? Is your timeline based on that?

See, I am also sincerely hoping we have learnt from the Project 75 contract. That said, while one can certainly expedite the sort of negotiations being done here, you can only push them to an extent. When it comes to price negotiations, ToT negotiations, etc., you need to be careful about where both sides are after each discussion to ensure you get the best deal. If you rush into the negotiation and try to close everything in a hurry, then the other side will capitalise on that.

That is essentially the reason I am saying that the detailed negotiations will take atleast 6-9 months. Once those are concluded and we have a winner, the deal and associated budget will be approved. Give them another 2-3 months (minimum) after that to sign the deal. Once that is done, the OEM and our winning yard will have to start setting up teams, drawing up procurement and detailed design plans, and start ordering long-lead items. All of that would mean it will take you atleast 15-18 months (and quite probably 2 years or so) to start construction. Once that is done, we can assume a 5-7 year cycle to the commissioning of the first boat. Do consider that the first boat will always take longer. For subsequent boats, this may come down.

But, when you add up all those timelines (taking the averages), you easily reach 2032-33 for the first boat. If everything goes right (which I am fairly certain won't be the case), that may come down to 2030-31, while if a lot of things go wrong (which I am also fairly certain won't be the case), it could get pushed back to 2035-36 even.

There is no "quick answer" when it comes to naval procurement. This isn't a fighter or a 200 ton patrol vessel that you can build in a few months if need be. That is also why I am very much in favour of approving IAC-II today, since an approval in 2024 will only see the carrier entering service in 2032-34 at the earliest.

 

[Anant]

Indian Shipbuilding industry has already manufactured 6 Kalvari-SSKs so there already exists expertise & tools to manufacture additional of these ships at a much fast rate with faster absorption of technology.

That won't be the case with a y new other SSKs under Project P-75I & there is No clear information about P-76.

Additional Kalvari-SSKs & Super Kalvari-SSK programs can allow IN to boost it's underwater fleets at a much faster rate & the Indian shipbuilding industry to absord technologies as well as create employment & expertise.

This will also lead to long term Logistical synergy & Economy of Scales that will save money that can be used for Minesweepers, SSNs etc.

There is Lock on most of your comments due to which I'm not usually able to reply to you. Thankfully there was No lock on your comment this time.

Boss, while MDL has got some experience in building the Scorpene-class submarines, we still imported a lot of subsystems and the like. Unless you can indigenise all that (which almost certainly won't happen with a foreign design), you won't see drastic fall in ship construction time.

Moreover, the Project 75 boats (the three new Scorpenes that we are procuring) are already looking to be very expensive boats. Buying more will put undue strain on our Navy's finances, and all those savings you mentioned will never be realised.

Now, there is also the fact that there is no Super Kalvari design. It is something you would have to essentially work on from scratch, and most of the work that goes into designing a submarine would have to be re-done anyways. Even the AIP hull plug into the Kalvaris is going to require a lot of design rework.

The Navy needs MCMVs, SSNs, corvettes, frigates, SSKs, naval fighters, etc. However, the answer to those is to increase the Navy's share of the defence budget to 17-20% from the current 12-13% rather than trying to do unnecessary cost-cutting.

As for the locks on the comments, I assure you that isn't my fault. What I have observed is that Defence.in normally keeps 30 articles (that is, 2 pages) open for comments. We get 2 pages of articles every day, so what tends to happen is that once an article has been online for 24 hours, commenting on it closes and the comments can no longer be seen on the article itself. When that happens, you would see the lock symbol appear.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

See, I am also sincerely hoping we have learnt from the Project 75 contract. That said, while one can certainly expedite the sort of negotiations being done here, you can only push them to an extent. When it comes to price negotiations, ToT negotiations, etc., you need to be careful about where both sides are after each discussion to ensure you get the best deal. If you rush into the negotiation and try to close everything in a hurry, then the other side will capitalise on that.

That is essentially the reason I am saying that the detailed negotiations will take atleast 6-9 months. Once those are concluded and we have a winner, the deal and associated budget will be approved. Give them another 2-3 months (minimum) after that to sign the deal. Once that is done, the OEM and our winning yard will have to start setting up teams, drawing up procurement and detailed design plans, and start ordering long-lead items. All of that would mean it will take you atleast 15-18 months (and quite probably 2 years or so) to start construction. Once that is done, we can assume a 5-7 year cycle to the commissioning of the first boat. Do consider that the first boat will always take longer. For subsequent boats, this may come down.

But, when you add up all those timelines (taking the averages), you easily reach 2032-33 for the first boat. If everything goes right (which I am fairly certain won't be the case), that may come down to 2030-31, while if a lot of things go wrong (which I am also fairly certain won't be the case), it could get pushed back to 2035-36 even.

There is no "quick answer" when it comes to naval procurement. This isn't a fighter or a 200 ton patrol vessel that you can build in a few months if need be. That is also why I am very much in favour of approving IAC-II today, since an approval in 2024 will only see the carrier entering service in 2032-34 at the earliest.

you are correct. You explained the timeframe well. But I would disagree regarding giving approval for IAC-2. We dont have enough naval jets and helicopters to man 3 carriers today, and we wont by 2032-34. I think we should only get IAC-2 by 2040. By that time we would have enough TEDBF and IMRH would to man 1 vikrant class carrier. We dont have enough jets for 2 carriers right now. Navy also needs jets and helicopters for the bases at lakhadweep and andaman islands, our static ACs.
IAC-3 could be a 60,000 ton , CATOBAR type with EMALs to be inaugrated at 2047 at our 100th independence day, lol, and commission by 2050 to replace vikramaditya.

 

[BCharlie]

What else to say with only 8 Submarines, we need a lot of of Submarines, at-least 50+, for a Country the size of India and the number of Islands it possesses.

When a Wedding procession drives thru, maybe 8 or 10 cars are in it .. Only One car has the key person .. bridegroom & family. Rest are tag alongs. This procession of 8 is also the same effect .. It is better to keep subs in key locations with proper weapons loaded instead of putting them in a parade.