New Delhi, Nov 25

INS Vela, the fourth submarine in the series of six submarines of Project-75, was commissioned on 25 Nov 21 in the presence of Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff. The formal commissioning ceremony took place at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. The Scorpene Class submarines are being built in India by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai, under collaboration with M/s Naval Group (earlier DCNS), France. The commissioning of the 4th in class submarine is a major milestone achieved today. INS Vela would form part of the Western Naval Command’s Submarine fleet and would be another potent part of its arsenal.

Member of Parliament Shri Arvind Sawant, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited Vice Admiral Narayan Prasad (Retd) and other senior civil & military officials of Ministry of Defence were present during the commissioning ceremony of INS Vela. Crew of the erstwhile ‘Vela’, a Russian origin Foxtrot Class Submarine, which was decommissioned in 2010, were also present amongst the guests on this occasion.

The Scorpene submarines are extremely potent platforms, they have advanced stealth features and are also equipped with both long range guided torpedoes as well as anti-ship missiles. These submarines have a state of the art SONAR and sensor suite permitting outstanding operational capabilities. They also have an advanced Permanent Magnetic Synchronous motor (PERMASYN) as its propulsion motor.

The delivery of Vela is yet another affirmation of the impetus being given by the Indian Navy towards consolidating its position as a ‘Builder’s Navy’ as also indicative of MDL’s capabilities as a premier ship and submarine building yard. The commissioning of the submarine is coinciding with ‘Azaadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ celebrations.

Alain Guillou, EVP International Development at Naval Group - “I would like to congratulate our  partner MDL and the teams of Naval Group for the successful delivery of the fourth Scorpene® submarine to the Indian Navy. Naval Group is very proud to be part of the P75 Kalvari program  which is a major component of the long-lasting Indo-French partnership. We are committed to  significantly enhance the level of indigenisation in future projects of the Indian Navy by building  upon and nurturing the know-how and skills in India.” 

The Scorpene® is a 2000 tons conventional-propulsion submarine designed and developed by  Naval Group for all types of mission, such as surface vessel warfare, anti-submarine warfare,  long-range strikes, special operations or intelligence gathering. Extremely stealthy and fast, it  has a level of operating automation that allows a limited number of crew, which reduces its  operating costs significantly. Its combat edge is highlighted by the fact that it has 6 weapon  launching tubes, 18 weapons (torpedoes, missiles, mines).