The two Indian shipyards would have to collaborate with shortlisted OEM's, who are competing in the project which includes Russia's Rubin Design Bureau with the Amur 1650, France's Naval Group with a conventional Barracuda design, Spain's Navantia with the S-80 Plus, Germany's TKMS HDW 214 & South Korea’s DSME with the DSME 3000. As a part of Project-75I, Indian Navy is looking for a proven AIP system. Only 2 out of 5 OEMS have a proven AIP based submarines which are Germany & South Korea. The AIP are of many types and the one required by Indian Navy is Fuel Cell type AIP. Spanish Navintia is also constructing their latest S-80 class submarine with Fuel Cell based AIP, but its not operational yet. French Naval group has MESMA based AIP and there is no confirmation of Russian Fuel Cell based AIP. Last year it was reported that Germany’s TKMS had sent a letter to the government citing three major reasons for withdrawing from the contest. The Company highlights the rigidity of RFP, short timeline, Liability Clause & degree of Transfer of Technology. As per the latest report from Economics Time, Russia has also decided not to participate in the bid due to technical reasons. Which leaves only 3 OEMs participating with only South Korea having proven Fuel Cell based AIP system which also has concern about the transfer of technology.
DRDO’s AIP
In summary, the Project-75I is facing roadblock & delay with foreign OEMs over Fuel Cell based AIP, Transfer of technology & other technical reasons. On 8th March 2021, DRDO has demonstrated AIP system on a land-based prototype developed by the Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) of DRDO with the support of industry partners L&T and Thermax. The plant was operated in endurance mode and max power mode as per user requirements. The DRDO’s fuel cell-based AIP system uses phosphoric acid as an electrolyte that reacts with hydrogen (generated from sodium borohydride) and liquid oxygen to generate electricity. The DRDO fuel cell aims to give endurance of up to 14 days to a conventional submarine. The 270 Kilowatt fuel cell-based AIP system will begin to be fitted on the Scorpene submarines.
Future of DRDO’s AIP?
The DRDO’s ashore AIP system version has to be designed before it is ready to be fitted on the Kalvari class submarine in 2023. The re-designed version then has to then undergo sea trials for testing various parameters including performance and endurance. The best way forward for the Project 75I is to go ahead with French Naval group with a provision of DRDO’s AIP. The submarine can’t stay hidden forever, it MUST eventually come on surface somewhere to safely recharge & reload fuel and oxygen. AIP gives a small trickle charge to constantly top up the submarine’s battery but not enough to fully charge it up like the diesel engines, however it’s enough to slow down the battery drain. With AIP fitted submarines, the charge in battery can last up to several days or a week when compared to non-AIP bases submarines where the charge lasts only for 15–20 hours. A typical conventional power plant provides 3 megawatts maximum, and an AIP source around 10% of that. AIP does not normally provide the endurance or power to replace atmospheric dependent propulsion but allows longer submergence than a conventionally propelled submarine. AIP is usually implemented as a supplementary source of power which works with the traditional diesel engine handling surface propulsion. Most such systems generate electricity, which in turn drives an electric motor for propulsion or recharges the Submarine's batteries. AIP can be retrofitted into existing submarine hulls by inserting an additional hull section.
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