INS Vaghsheer, India’s sixth P75 Kalvari-class submarine, was officially commissioned into the Indian Navy on 15 January 2025 during a ceremony in Mumbai, France’s Naval Group has announced.
The submarine was built by Indian shipyard Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), based on Naval Group’s Scorpene design, under a technology transfer agreement in line with the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ policy.
Launched on 20 April 2022, INS Vaghsheer has completed successful sea trials and now joins its sister vessels – INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj, INS Vela and INS Vagir – which were commissioned respectively in December 2017, September 2019, March 2021, November 2021 and January 2023.
“We are honoured to be part of the success of the P75 programme: a cornerstone of the Indo-French strategic partnership and a key achievement in India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat policy,” Naval Group Chairman and CEO Pierre Éric Pommellet was quoted as saying. “Naval Group remains fully committed to supporting the Indian Navy through future projects alongside Indian industry partners,” he added.
The six submarines of the P75 programme are fitted with a number of systems built locally by qualified Indian technicians.
“MDL and Naval Group have developed a rich industrial ecosystem of more than 50 Indian companies, along with an Indian subsidiary employing more than 70 Indian engineers to support the Indian Navy,” Naval Group stated.
The Scorpene design is a 2,000-tonne conventional-propulsion submarine designed and developed by Naval Group for various missions, including anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes, special operations and intelligence gathering.
“Extremely stealthy and fast, it has a level of operating automation that allows a limited number of crew, which reduces its operating costs significantly,” Naval Group stated, adding that its “combat edge” is highlighted by the fact that it has six weapon tubes that can launch 18 different torpedoes and missiles.