India on Thursday launched the second of the Scorpene-class submarine, INS Khanderi- a proud moment for its builders, Mazagon Dock Limited and the Indian Navy.
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INS Khanderi is a diesel-electric attack submarine being built on technology from French defence major, DCNS. It succeeds the INS Kalvari that will soon be inducted into Navy. INS Khanderi is expected to be delivered to the Navy by the end of 2017.
But according to a report in Sputnik News, the submarine has not been outfitted with the most crucial torpedoes due to the ambivalence in the defence ministry about allocation of the money necessary for the weapons.
INS Khanderi was expected to be fitted with 98 Black Shark torpedoes, costing around $200million, which is made by WASS, an auxiliary of Italian company Leonardo-Finmeccanica.
But in May 2016, the defence ministry cancelled it as a corruption scandal surfaced involving party members of then ruling government, Indian National Congress (INC) in the deal for VVIP choppers with AgustaWestland.
AgustaWestland is a subsidiary of Leonardo.
India was to use the Black Shark torpedoes for all the six submarines to be built in India.
India's submarine program has been delayed due to several reasons. Expansion of infrastructure at Mazagon Dock Limited, material purchasing and lack of high-technology has been cited as some of the reasons. The ensuing delays in construction had also stonewalled the outfitting of torpedoes in both INS Khanderi and INS Kalveri.
Recently, the whole project was threatened after classified documents linked to Scorpene-submarine construction in India went online and were accessed by an Australian newspaper.
However, the report might have not taken into consideration the indigenous attempts in torpedo development. Though there are no official records to suggest that India has successfully completed these tests and indigenous ones are up for induction.
India did no install any Close-In Warfare System (CIWS) when it inducted its aircraft carrier INS Vikramditya.
Moreover, there is no reason to believe, submarine designers would have thought about the issue as they need to plan the submarine according to the torpedo numbers, its safety and so on. India could also have had found an alternative for WASS' Black Shark torpedoes, which are heavyweight torpedoes.
