New propulsion system to boost submarines’ staying power under water almost ready: DRDO chief

MUMBAI: A revolutionary air-independent propulsion system for submarines has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which will enhance the capability of the Navy, DRDO chairperson Samir V Kamat announced on Saturday during the commencement ceremony of IIT Bombay.

Kamat said the land-based prototype of the system was tested in 2021 and the full version is now in the final stages of preparation at the L&T Hazira plant in Gujarat.

“It will be handed over to Mazagon Dock in Mumbai, where it will be installed in the 14th submarine,” he said.

The system is being designed and developed by DRDO’s Naval Materials Research Laboratory.

Kamat said the main advantage of the new system is that it will have a force multiplier effect on the lethality of the diesel electric submarines enhancing what is known as the submerged endurance. In layman’s parlance it means it can remain submerged for a long time.

He said the DRDO is developing a torpedo mounted on a missile which can destroy a submarine 400 km away. Also under development at DRDO is a hypersonic glide missile and a laser-directed energy weapon.

On the integrated guided missile development programme, he said the Agni and Prithvi missiles are used for deterrence. “Thanks to them we have so far not faced any major attack,” he said.

Kamat said the Akash missile and the airborne early warning aircraft developed by DRDO played a major and decisive role in Operation Sindoor last year.