L&T and Spain's Navantia to jointly bid for $5-bn submarine tender from Indian Navy

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Monday said that it has signed a Teaming Agreement (TA) with Spain-based Navantia for the purpose of submission of a techno-commercial bid for the Indian Navy’s prestigious P75 submarine program.

The agreement was signed in the presence of S N Subrahmanyan, L&T CEO & MD and Augustin Alvarez Blanco, Naval Construction Vice President, and Member of the Board – Navantia

Subrahmanyan said: “L&T is proud to collaborate with Navantia for this prestigious program of strategic importance for the nation’s security. Navantia’s glorious 300-year-old track record in naval construction & technical expertise gives us a competitive advantage in this program and offer the Bio-Ethanol Stealth Technology (BEST) and environmentally Green AIP solution.”

Blanco said,“It gives us great joy to be in a position to be the design and technology partner for P75(I). We are also in collaboration with L&T for the Landing Platform Dock (LPD) program whose tender is eagerly awaited. With these two prestigious programs for the Indian Navy, Navantia is proud to be making a key contribution towards fulfilling the defence needs of India, a nation with which Spain shares excellent relationship.”

The partnership comes a month after Germany's Thyssenkrupp and India's Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders – the only other qualified domestic firm for the tender – signed an agreement to take part in the bidding.

In March, Centre approved a budget of Rs 56,000 crore for its navy, which has 16 conventional submarines, 11 of which are more than two decades old, along with two indigenous nuclear-powered submarines.

Project 75 (I) requires the Indian bidder to tie up with a Foreign Collaborator (FC) and execute the program for delivery of six conventional submarines equipped with Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP), while achieving targetted Indigenous Content.

Expected to be valued at over Euro 4.8 billion, the project is the India‘s largest defence acquisition project. This would also be followed by a 30-year lifecycle sustenance contract of similar value. P75(I) would be the first program to be processed under the ambitious Strategic Partnership (SP) model of acquisition of the Ministry of Defence.

As per the agreement, Navantia would carry out the design of P75(I) submarines based on its S80 class of submarines, the first of which was launched in 2021 and is undergoing sea trials prior to its delivery to Spanish Navy at the end of 2023.

Apart from S80 class, Navantia has been involved in design and construction of Scorpéne class of submarines together with DCNS (Now Naval Group) of France, which have been exported to Chile and Malaysia. Navantia has also been involved in the Scorpene submarines (Kalvari class) built in India including handholding of the Indian yard. P75(I) program calls for integration of an AIP system.

"Navantia’s state-of-the-art 3rd Generation AIP solution is the most advanced and efficient AIP system in the world, apart from also being the most compact, easiest to exploit and maintain and environment friendly. It uses bioethanol as a source of hydrogen which is known to be cost efficient, easily available, and does not call for any special infrastructure," said L&T in a stock exchange filing.

L&T and Navantia are also seeking cooperation in other military programmes as well as in green energy opportunities, including offshore wind through Navantia Seanergies division.

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