INS Kalvari (S21) — Indian Navy Submarine Model, 36 in
INS Kalvari (S21) — Indian Navy Submarine Model, 36 in
How big is it?
Length about 91 cm / 36.0 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 36 in / 91 cm
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- CM570
The larger edition of India's Scorpène-class submarine, at 36 inches.
Specification
- 36 inches
- Handcrafted hull with fin and control surface detail
- Hydroplanes, rudder, propeller and casing detail
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
Building under licence
The Kalvari programme was never only about acquiring submarines — India could have bought them faster and cheaper off the shelf. It was about transferring the capability to build them.
Mazagon Dock in Mumbai constructed all six boats domestically, with French design support and progressively more Indian content in each hull. That is a slower and more expensive route to a submarine fleet, and the only route to a submarine industry.
The same logic drives Brazil's PROSUB programme with the same French partner, and it is why so many mid-sized navies now build rather than buy.
The name
Malayalam for tiger shark, carried first by India's original 1967 submarine.