It seems, the P-76 is currently in preliminary study stage, post which it'll be taken for a formal program sanction etc - so it's going to be atleast a decade+, for the first of these boats to be entering service.https://x.com/sriramthg/status/1816455828846555231 ---> Expect more PLAN submarines in the IOR. At a time when India's submarine fleet strength is nowhere near enough and we're still doing trial-trial games for P-75I instead of going ahead with P-76 on our own.
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The report also mentions, the mid-life refit of the Kalvari class boats, first of which is scheduled for next year and is supposed to incorporate the DRDO FCAIP plug, will take approx 2-3 years to complete - so minm 2027, maybe even later, for them to return back to service i.e, there'll be no immediate relief wrt the operational submarine capacity shortage.
Until and unless, some unconventional route, like leasing (10 year lease) of SSNs and maybe even, SSKs is considered - but lease from whom, Germany is it - sort of like a package-deal along-with the P75I?
Very, very minimal chance of that happening though!!
The report also states, there are efforts to increase the power-output of each of the indigenous FCAIP modules by ~15% - but for P76, the aim is for a whopping 20KW/module (~48% increase).
And with that the FCAIP output, with a stack of 24 fuel cells, is going to be mammoth 480KW etc - so it's safe to speculate that this in itself indicates the design-intent is of a minm 30-35K Ton class boat, and thus VLS based SLCM is a given.
Let's see!!
Statistics: Posted by maitya — 28 Jul 2024 09:40