Project 75 India is part of India's 30-yr-old submarine building plan that ends in 2030. Under this, India had to build 24 submarines as an effective deterrent against China and Pakistan.
A HDW Type 209 vessel, it is estimated to have less than 48 hours of oxygen supply left currently. Missing since this week, it is one of 5 submarines Indonesia operates.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration approached France, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Russia to submit proposals to build six submarines in India.
For an industry globally classified as hazardous, protections such as health insurance and a provident fund for workers are necessities. In Sivakasi, they remain elusive.
The industry forecasts exports are set to grow 16% in 2025-26, boosted by surplus domestic production and a drive to push into 26 underserved global markets with strong potential.
Indigenisation level will progressively increase up to 60 percent with key sub-assemblies, electronics and mechanical parts being manufactured locally.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
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