Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and DRDO chairman G Satheesh Reddy on Wednesday witnessed operation of a land-based prototype of the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarines, a statement said.
AIP has a force multiplier effect on lethality of a diesel electric submarine as it enhances the submerged endurance of the boat several folds. Fuel cell-based AIP has merits in performance compared to other technologies.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) programme to build a fuel cell-based AIP system for Indian Naval submarines has crossed several milestones in technology maturity, the statement said.
"Operation of the land-based prototype engineered to the form-and-fit of a submarine was witnessed by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singhin the presence of Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy at the Naval Materials Research Laboratory in Ambernath, Maharashtra," the statement added.
In his remarks, the Chief of the Naval Staff appreciated the breakthrough accomplishments achieved in this programme and said that it is of great value to the nation and Indian Navy in particular.
He urged DRDO and Indian Navy to continue the partnership to meet the timelines set for short and long-term goals.
The DRDO chairman assured that all efforts will be made to meet the performance standards and timelines of the programme so that induction of DRDO AIP into operational submarines could be achieved as per the schedule of the Indian Navy.