France ready to offer naval SCALP missile with three Scorpene subs

The naval cruise missile has a range of 1000 kms after being launched from a Scorpene class submarine.

               Prime Minister Narendra Modi on INS Vikrant aircraft carrier

France has agreed to equip the Indian Navy's air independent propulsion (AIP) equipped submarine with a naval cruise missile that has a range that is twice that of the SCALP air to ground missile carried by Indian Air Force (IAF) Rafale fighters, in addition to offering to build three more Scorpene class submarines for the Indian Navy at Mazagon Dockyards in Mumbai.

The naval variant of the SCALP missile, which has been improved, can travel up to 1400 kilometers when launched from a warship and over 1000 kilometers when launched from a submarine. The turbojet-powered cruise missile approaches the target at subsonic speed while still on the ground, eliminating any potential enemy danger there, before ascending to the skies. The French Navy has been using the missile on its frigates since 2017 and on its Barracuda class submarines since 2022. After making a few minor technical adjustments to the torpedo tubes, the missile can also be employed aboard submarines of the Scorpene class.

Although representatives of the Indian Navy and foreign diplomats have observed the Naval SCALP in action in France, it is understood that the missile maker is willing to produce the cruise missile in India through the "Make in India" program.The Indian Navy's Project 75I will take a minimum of 15 years to complete, hence the decision was made to build three more submarines at MDL.The decision to build six Scorpene (Kalveri) class submarines was made in 1999, when Atal Bihari Vajapee was the Prime Minister and George Fernandes was the Defense Minister. This decision can be used to estimate how long the delay will be.In 2024, 25 years after the Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by PMVajpayee, approved the 30-year submarine program, the sixth of the submarines will be handed to the Indian Navy.

The Indian Navy has no choice but to combat the PLAN challenge in the Indo-Pacific because it cannot allow Beijing to dominate the sea lanes from the Gulf of Aden to the South China Sea with the help of India's former archrival Pakistan given the rapid expansion of the Chinese Navy, which is expected to patrol Indian Ocean waters by 2025.

The content of the two countries' bilateral relations with France makes it clear that PM Modi's visit would intensify their strategic partnership, with President Emmanuel Macron and his businesses just waiting for India to request the technology it needs.

Politically speaking, it is extremely intriguing that the US and France have offered PM Modi a state visit on the eve of the 2024 Lok Sabha general elections, but Manmohan Singh, the prime minister of the UPA, received the similar invitation just after the Congress won 206 seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The fact that President Joe Biden and President Macron have both praised Prime Minister Modi shows how highly they will regard the Indian leader in 2024.

Fact is, PM Modi and Biden get along well personally. He likes to bat straight and doesn't back down from India's strategic autonomy, whether it's in regards to the Ukraine War or an expansionist China.


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