Committed to India’s 'aatmanirbhar Bharat' plans for maritime defence: French Naval Group

New Delhi, May 04: French company Naval Group said that it remains fully committed to India's 'aatmanirbhar Bharat' plans for maritime defence. It also said that it shared the same bilateral trust and strategic ties that marked the relationship between the two countries.

We continue to strengthen our existing commitments and close association with the industry and the Indian Navy... as such focusing efforts on integration of indigenous technology, such as AIP (air independent propulsion) from DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) in Indian Navy submarines," the firm said a tweet.

The group cited conditions that were mentioned in Request for Proposal (RFP) related to the AIP system that allows conventional submarines to stay submerged at higher speeds for longer periods.

Laurent Videau, Naval Group India's chief told PTI that due to certain conditions in the RFP, the two strategic partners could not forward the request to us and few other FOEMs (foreign original equipment manufacturers) and thus we have not been able to place an official bid for the project.

The present RFP requires that the fuel cell AIP be sea-proven, which is not the case for us yet since the French Navy does not use such propulsion system, he also said.

The announcement came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to France to meet with recently re-elected President Emmanuel Macron.