The delivery of Scorpene submarines to the Indian Navy has been delayed by three years but this will not impact on its force levels, parliament was informed Monday.
"A programme of construction of six Scorpene submarines is currently underway at Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) under transfer of technology from a French company. As per the contract, the first submarine was scheduled to be delivered in December 2012 and thereafter one each every year till December 2017," Defence Minister A.K. Antony said during question hour in the Lok Sabha.
“There has been a delay due to initial teething problems, absorption of technology and augmentation of MDL purchased material. The first submarine is now expected to be delivered in the second half of 2015,” he added.
“However, the gap in submarine capacity has been addressed by modernisation with the state-of-the-art weapon and sensor fit on the existing submarines which have significantly enhanced their combatworthiness against any eventuality,” Antony pointed out.