Project 75I

Syllabus

• Prelims: Important Schemes
• Mains – GS 3 – Internal Security

In News: French defence major Naval Group announced that it is unable to participate in the P-75 India (P-75I).

What is Project 75I?

• Under this project, the Indian Navy intends to acquire six diesel-electric submarines, which will also feature advanced Air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems
• Project 75 (I), approved in 2007, is part of the Indian Navy’s 30 year Plan for indigenous submarine construction.
• It will be the developed under the strategic partnership model which was promulgated in 2017 to boost indigenous defence manufacturing.
• The strategic partnership model allows domestic defence manufacturers to join hands with leading foreign defence majors to produce high-end military platforms to reduce import dependence.
• Acquisitions under the Strategic Partnership model refer to participation of private Indian firms along with foreign OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) in line with AatmaNirbhar Bharat principle.

Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) System:

• Submarines are essentially of two types: conventional and nuclear.
• The conventional submarines use diesel-electric engines, which require them to surface almost daily to get atmospheric oxygen for fuel combustion.
• If fitted with an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system, the submarine will need to take in oxygen only once a week.

Fuel Cell Based AIP system:

• In a fuel cell based AIP, electrolytic fuel cell releases energy by combining hydrogen and oxygen, with only water as the waste product ensuring less marine pollution.
• The cells are highly efficient, and do not have moving parts, thus ensuring that the submarine has a low acoustic emissions of sound.

Why did Naval Group step back?

• It said it cannot meet conditions of the Request for Proposal (RFP) and will, therefore, not continue with its bid.
• The present RFP requires that the fuel cell AIP be sea proven, presently there is no such technology with the company

Source: Indian Express