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| The INS Vagir. Photo c/o DefPro Mumbai. |
The Indian Navy has commissioned its fifth Kalvari-class diesel-electric attack submarine on 23 January 2023.
The submarine, named INS Vagir, is the second to the last ship of the class for the Indian Navy under its P-75 submarine program, and is based on an Indian-specified version of the Scorpene-class submarine design from French shipbuilder Naval Group.
The new submarine was commissioned at the Naval Dockyard Mumbai, with Indian Navy Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R. Hari Kumar as the Guest of Honour.
“Vagir” in the Indian language means “Sand Shark”, which represents stealth and fearlessness, both the qualities that are synonymous to the ethos of submariners.
The INS Vagir was built by Indian shipbuilder Mazagon Dock Ltd’s shipyard in Mumbai, with assistance from Naval Group which designed and provided the technology for the submarines.
It started sea trials on February 2022 and was completed in 11 months.
According to Admiral R Hari Kumar, the INS Vagir is the third submarine to be inducted with the Indian Navy in the last 24 months, which underscores the maturity of the Indian shipbuilding and defense industry.
The Kalvari-class submarines are powered by two 1,250kW MAN diesel engines, 360 battery cells and a permanently magnetized propulsion motor allowing it to have an operational range of around 6,500 nautical miles. While not equipped with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, all ships of the class are designed to allow it to be installed in the future.
It would be armed with heavyweight torpedoes and the MBDA SM39 Exocet submarine-launched anti-ship cruise missile.
With this commissioning, the INS Vagir will join its sisterships INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj, and INS Vela, while Mazagon Dock Ltd is undergoing fitting-out works and is scheduled to conduct its sea trials later this year, and delivery to the Indian Navy by 2024.
[1] Naval News
[2[ NDTV
[3] The Hindu
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