France’s Naval Group pulls out of India’s P-75I submarine proj | Military Choice

France’s Naval Group pulls out of India’s P-75I submarine project #GKbyMilitaryChoice

French company Naval Group said it is unable to participate in India's P-75I project, under which six conventional submarines are to be domestically built for the Indian Navy, due to conditions mentioned in the request for proposal (RFP) related to air independent propulsion (AIP) system. Best Book for Current Affairs & General Knowledge Preparation

AIP system allows a conventional submarine to stay submerged in water at higher speeds for a longer period of time.

In June last year, the Defence Ministry had cleared the P-75I project and subsequently, RFPs were issued to two shortlisted Indian companies – private company Larsen and Toubro and State-run Mazagon Docks Limited.

The two Indian companies [called strategic partners] have to tie up with one of the five shortlisted foreign companies – ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (Germany), Navantia (Spain) and Naval Group (France), Daewoo (South Korea) and Rosoboronexport (Russia) – and then respond to the RFP.

Laurent Videau, Country and Managing Director, Naval Group India, said, "Due to certain conditions in the RFP, the two strategic partners could not forward the request to us and few other FOEMs (foreign original equipment manufacturers) and thus we have not been able to place an official bid for the project."

"However, the present RFP requires that the fuel cell AIP (air independent propulsion) be sea proven, which is not the case for us yet since the French Navy does not use such a propulsion system," he said.

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