L&T plays crucial role in building India's first nuclear-powered submarine

Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today said it has played a critical role in building India’s first nuclear powered submarine, which was launched today.

Based on the design provided by the Navy and Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDO), L&T’s submarine design centre carried out detailed engineering, using the latest 3D modeling and product data management software, said a press release.

"We feel very proud to have contributed significantly to realizing India’s dream of an indigenous nuclear submarine. Over the last four decades, L&T has played a crucial pioneering role in building India’s strategic sectors by successfully executing several technology-intensive and challenging projects," said A M Naik, chairman and managing director of L&T.

Building the first nuclear submarine was the latest milestone in L&T's association with the Indian Navy and the DRDO. L&T was looking forward to building more submarines and warships, he said.

In May, the company had entered into an agreement to float a joint venture (JV) with the largest defence equipment maker in Europe, EADS Defence and Security, to tap the Rs 50,000 crore Indian defence market. The JV is to design, develop and manufacture electronic warfare equipment, radars, military avionics and mobile systems for military requirements. L&T was planning to invest about Rs 2,000 crore over the next three years on defence-related business, Naik had said.

In addition to being the country’s first nuclear-powered indigenous submarine, the new vessel is also the largest and heaviest vessel ever built in India. L&T made the single largest contribution in the construction of this vessel, right from the stage of plate cutting to launch, said the release.

L&T also has co-operation agreements with three major nuclear reactor makers. These are Atomstroyexport (ASE), part of Rosatom of Russia, Toshiba Westinghouse of the US and Atomic Energy of Canada (AEC). The company is also in talks with General Electric Hitachi of the US and Areva of France.