SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
The German government which had kept TKMS away from Indian tender for six advanced submarines under Project-75 India said that if the Indian Navy and Ministry of Defence (MoD) is willing to remove certain liabilities clauses that could have been levied if there were delays in the delivery of the submarines, it could consider sending its proposals, after Indian have had to extend the bid twice this year to August 2023.
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) developed Type 214 submarines that met all the technical criteria set by the Indian Navy including the operational Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) module. TKMS claims that it will not be fully in charge of the local manufacturing of the submarines in India so it can’t be made liable for any delays that might happen in the program while it is been executed by an Indian shipyard.
TKMS had said that such liabilities can only be included when the deal is in the government to government framework and when the submarines are manufactured in its facilities where it has absolute control over each process of the production line.
India’s first indigenous Scorpene-class submarine INS Kalvari faced delays of 5 years after French submarine manufacturer DCNS faced issues in the Transfer of Technology (ToT) to Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL). Later Spanish submarine consortium partner, Armaris quit mid-way due to differences with its French partner.
The lack of liabilities clauses and later data leak on the Scorpene class from a sub-contractor of the French firm, allowed DCNS and Armaris to walk free without paying any penalty for delays, this was one of the main reasons it was included in the Project-75I tender process. idrw.org has been told the Indian Navy already has requested Defence Ministry to consider some relaxations in the liabilities clauses.
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