Thyssenkruppe partners MDL for potential Indian Navy submarine order

6 submarines, powered by air-independent propulsion, are planned to be built under Rs 45,000 cr programme

Thyssenkruppe Marine Systems (TKMS), the German shipbuilder, signed an agreement on Wednesday with India’s premier defence shipyard, Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL), to cooperate in building six state-of-the-art submarines for the Indian Navy.

The submarines, powered by air-independent propulsion (AIP), are planned to be built under a Rs 45,000 crore programme called Project 75-I under the “strategic partner” (SP) acquisition category. It requires qualified Indian firms to build a weapons platform in partnership with a foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) chosen by the defence ministry.

While conventional diesel-electric submarines can operate underwater silently for up to 48 hours, AIP-driven submarines remain