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India to retire first kilo-class submarine this year

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 4/22/2021 11:41:40 AM

New Delhi, Apr 21 The Indian Navy is decommissioning the INS Sindhudhvaj, a Kilo-class submarine, sometime this year. It will set in motion a process of phasing out of a class of boats that have formed the backbone of the navy’s underseas fleet for nearly three decades. The decommissioning ceremony was due in Mumbai this April but is now delayed by two months awaiting clearances from the defence ministry. The Sindhudhvaj was acquired from the Soviet Union in 1987. With its retirement, the navy’s submarine arm dips to 14 units. Seven of these submarines are of the Kilo class variety. Dubbed the ‘Kilo’ class by NATO, the Project 877 EKMs are one of the world’s commonly visible conventional submarines with 62 units currently in service across nine navies in the world. India acquired eight such subs between 1986 and 1991. It later acquired two more submarines from the Russian Federation, between 1998 and 2000. They were the navy’s first submarines that could fire anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles from beneath the surface, making them a formidable force multiplier in the naval fleet. One unit, the INS Sindhurakshak, was lost in an accident in 2013 and a second, the Sindhuvir, was transferred to the Myanmar navy last year. The Kilos are being replaced by the French Scorpene submarines which are being built under licence by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. Three of the ‘Kalvari class’ have so far been inducted; the third, the INS Karanj, was commissioned in Mumbai on March 11 this year. Three more Scorpenes, the Vela, Vagir and Vagsheer are to be commissioned by 2023. But these will not meet the navy’s requirements for a force of 24 conventional submarines.