Naval Group’s Indian subsidiary has opened a technical workshop at Karwar shipyard, strategically close to the Indian Navy’s Ship Repair Yard; which shall be home to the nation’s fleet of aircraft carriers, warships and Kalvari-class submarines.

Naval Group India is the first subsidiary of any Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to establish it physical presence at Karwar, supporting India’s mission to expand INS Kadamba, also referred to as Project Sea Bird.

The new workshop will cater to maintenance activities related, but not limited to, combat systems, electrical systems (antenna switching unit, power components for sonar, torpedo interface module, air-surface detection system, starter panel and intercom) and mechanical systems.

“We stand ready to assist the Indian Navy in an adaptive manner for the maintenance of Kalvari-class submarines through upcoming refits and more,” the executive vice president for services Vincent Martinot-Lagarde stated.

“The opening of our technical workshop is a natural extension of the strategic bilateral cooperation shared between India and France in the field of underwater defence and deterrence in line with our continued commitment towards the Indian government’s ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ policy”.

Currently, India’s latest generation of six diesel-electric attack Kalvari-class submarines are modelled on French Naval Group’s Scorpene design.

Both submarine use an air-independent propulsor, which Naval Group designed in partnership with Spain’s shipbuilding firm Navantia.

The Indian Navy intends to use the submarines for missions including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) gathering, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and minelaying operations.

India becomes a defence and diplomatic hotbed amid multipolar competition

India’s defence industry has already proven to be a desirable prospective market that the United States have already begun to tap into; as a way of securing the subcontinent’s military support and diplomatic allegiance against China.

Under the India-US Defense Acceleration Ecosystem (Indus-X) that launched in June 2023, both governments formed closer defence industrial ties as they pledged to share ideas for innovation to strengthen their armed forces.

In fact, the US Department of Defense (DoD) announced its first Indus-X Senior Advisory Group meeting with the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on the 6 September, where the two governments focused on subsea communication and maritime ISR.