Mumbai: Indian Navy launched its fifth scorpene submarine Vagir, on Thursday at the Mazagon Dock in South Mumbai. Vijaya Naik, wife of Minister of State for Defenece Shripad Naik, launched the submarine via video conferencing. The Scorpene submarine Vagir, having “Superior stealth features” like advanced acoustic absorption technique.

The minister of state for Defence Shripad Naik was the chief guest at the event and attended it through video link from Goa. INS Vagir is part of the six Kalvari-class submarines being built in India. The submarines, designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS, are being built as part of Indian Navy’s Project-75.

According to the official sources, these submarines can undertake missions like anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine lying, and area surveillance. Vagir is named after the Sand Fish, a deadly deep sea predator of the Indian Ocean. The first Vagir, a submarine from Russia, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on December 3, 1973, and was decommissioned on June 7, 2001 after almost three decades of service to the nation.

MDL in a press release said about the Scorpene submarine, “Building the Scorpene was indeed a challenge for MDL, as the complexity of the simplest of tasks increased exponentially due to all work having to be done in the most congested of spaces”. “The state-of-art technology used in the submarine has ensured superior stealth features such as advanced acoustic absorption techniques, low radiated noise levels, and hydro- dynamically optimized shape and also the ability to attack the enemy using precision guided weapons,” the release said.

The attack can be launched with both torpedoes and tube launched anti-ship missiles, whilst underwater or on surface, MDL said. “The stealth of this potent platform is enhanced by the special attention to her characteristic underwater signatures. These stealth features give it invulnerability, unmatched by most submarines,” it added.