WASS Submarine Systems has signed a contract with the Indian Navy to supply its modern, high-powered 533-mm Black Shark Advanced torpedoes. The order is worth 200 million euros.
For this money, the company supply 48 Black Shark Advanced torpedoes, as well as launch systems for these torpedoes as well as other related equipment. Delivery is scheduled for 2028-2030. These torpedoes are planned to be installed on diesel-electric submarines of the Kalvari class, of which India currently has 6 units.
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However, this contract should have been concluded about 15 years ago, in 2010, as it was then that this company won the tender for the supply of 98 torpedoes. In 2013, a corruption scandal suddenly broke out, which prevented the further implementation of the contract for the supply of torpedoes.
The fact is that in the same 2010, AgustaWestland signed a contract with India for the supply of 11 AW101 helicopters for 600 million euros. However, it later turned out that in order to win the tender, the company's representatives bribed Indian officials as well as high-ranking officials. In particular, the flight ceiling requirement was lowered from 6,000 meters to 4,500 meters.
But it would seem, what is the point of WASS Submarine Systems here? The thing is that AgustaWestland was a subsidiary of Finmeccanica (now Leonardo), just like WASS Submarine Systems. After the scandal broke out, India blacklisted Finmeccanica along with all its subsidiaries.
But, time goes by, and in 2024-2025 WASS Submarine Systems was sold to another company - Fincantieri. Probably because of this the company was removed from the blacklist and the conclusion of the contract became possible again.
Due to one corruption scandal with a completely different company, India was forced to wait 15 years before concluding the contract, and if we count the first deliveries, it turns out as many as 18 years. All this time, modern Indian Kalvari-class submarines have been forced to use old German SUT torpedoes, which have been in service since 1980.
The first Kalvari submarine was commissioned in 2017, and the last sixth was commissioned just on January 15, 2025. They were built by the French Naval Group in cooperation with the Indian Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited. Kalvari is the Indian name for the French export submarines of the Scorpène class.
As Defense Express reported earlier, russia offers India 3 old subs for under $1B days after Ukraine sank newer version in Novorossiysk. We also wrote on what was known about India's leased russian nuclear submarine and its missile capabilities.
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