Rajnath Singh to meet defence ministers of USA and Germany this week

Singh will meet US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on Monday and German Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius on Tuesday

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet his counterparts from the US and Germany this coming week to expand India’s bilateral cooperation in defence and firming up the discussions to select a foreign vendor for the long-awaited Project-75I to build six conventional submarines with a novel capability of staying underwater for a longer time.

Singh will meet US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on June 5 and German Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius on June 6, following which the German minister will travel to Mumbai and visit Mazgaon Dockyard that manufactured six French-origin Kalvari class submarines and the Western Naval Command, which uses the boats.

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German company ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems is one of the two bidders that is in contention for the multi-billion dollar Indian deal along with the South Korean firm Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering. Three other international companies have exited the project.

Secretary Austin will arrive Sunday from Singapore on a two-day visit, which will be his second visit to India, the previous one being in March 2021.

Last week the Pentagon said that Secretary Austin’s visit would provide an opportunity to accelerate new defence innovation and industrial cooperation initiatives and expand operational cooperation between the US and Indian militaries.

The two ministers, sources said, will discuss a number of new defence cooperation projects that may be unveiled after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talks with US President Joe Biden in Washington two weeks later.

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The German minister, who is arriving from Indonesia, is on a four day trip during which he would also meet a few defence start-ups in an event in Delhi.

On Wednesday, he will travel to Mumbai where he will visit the Western Naval Command, headquarters and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited.

The German and Korean companies that are left in the fray for the mega submarine building project are the only ones with air-independent propulsion technologies – a key requirement for the Indian Navy for Project-75I.

While the defence ministry is yet to take a call, the submarine building yard at the MDL is empty as five of six Kalvari-class submarines have been inducted and the sixth one is undergoing trials.