Indian submarine INS Vagir will reach Fremantle, Australia on Sunday on its maiden extended range deployment to that country, which is currently hosting the Malabar exercise involving the navies of India, US, Japan and Australia, officials aware of the matter said on Saturday.
The Vagir, which is the navy’s fifth Kalvari class submarine, was commissioned into the Indian Navy in January 2023. To be sure, the submarine is not involved in the 10-day Malabar drills that began on August 11.
The deployment of INS Vagir is a testament to the reach and sustenance of Indian Navy submarines, the Indian Navy said in a statement.
“The extended range deployment is the maiden deployment by an Indian Navy submarine to Australia and showcases the capability and professional acumen of the navy to undertake sustained operations at extended ranges from the base port (Mumbai) for prolonged durations.”
In Australia, INS Vagir will participate in various exercises with Royal Australian Navy (RAN) units on the west coast of Australia. The ongoing Malabar drills are being conducted off the east coast of Australia. Two Indian warships, the indigenously built INS Sahyadri and INS Kolkata, and a P-8I submarine hunter plane are taking part in the Malabar exercise.
During the ongoing deployment of INS Vagir; basic, intermediate and advanced-level anti-submarine exercises are scheduled, the statement said. “In addition, the RAN submarine and Indian Naval P-8I aircraft are scheduled to exercise with INS Vagir. This deployment will further augment the cooperation and synergy between the Indian Navy and RAN.” On its way to Australia, INS Vagir visited Colombo as part of the International Day of Yoga celebrations on June 21.
India’s defence acquisition council (DAC), headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh, in July cleared the procurement of three more Scorpene submarines as a follow-on order to an earlier deal under which Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) has built six Scorpene or Kalvari class submarines with technology from France’s Naval Group under a ₹23,562-crore programme called Project-75.
