During a visit by Defense Minister Pistorius to India, a joint construction of submarines with the country takes shape. The SPD politician is campaigning for the possible arms deal.
During a visit by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, German and Indian shipbuilders signed a declaration of intent for a multi-billion dollar submarine project. With the agreement protocol, representatives of ThyssenKrupp Marinesystems (TKMS) and the Indian shipyard Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders laid the foundation stone on Wednesday in Mumbai for a total of up to six submarines to be delivered.
“We have sent a very important signal today. You could say it is a milestone for a lighthouse project in a key technology,” said the SPD politician in the Indian port metropolis, where he visited the Indian armed forces’ facilities and the shipyard.
No decision made yet
The government in New Delhi is looking for a cooperation partner for the local production of six submarines in India, but has not yet decided. According to reports, bidders from Spain and South Korea are still in the running. An amount of more than five billion euros was recently mentioned as a possible volume of such a transaction. Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders is the only company in India that builds submarines and destroyers. The Indian company has 1500 employees.
In the event of an order, TKMS would be responsible for the construction and design of the submarines and for consulting activities, while Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders would be responsible for construction and delivery, the German company said. And: “The construction of the new submarines would take place in India and thus make a significant contribution to local value creation.”
Is this the first big step?
Specifically, the company is concerned with the potential construction of conventional submarines with air-independent propulsion. “We can look back on decades of trusting partnership with India. The boats that we built and delivered for the customer in the 1980s are still in use today,” explained TKMS boss Oliver Burkhard, who traveled to the signing ceremony. The project has been under negotiation for several years, but it could now become the first major step in deeper military cooperation between Germany and India.
The day before, after talks in New Delhi, Pistorius had called for India to be treated as a strategic partner along the lines of Australia and Japan, thereby significantly facilitating armaments cooperation. For Japan and Australia, simplified rules apply to armaments deals, since they do not belong to the group of so-called third countries, but are on an equal footing with NATO partners. You can buy from German armaments companies without a complex approval process, but the federal government can still object.
Source: Stern
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