Manmohan Singh with Jacques Chirac (Reuters picture on top) at Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday. (Above) A Scorpene submarine

New Delhi, Sept. 12: The announcement by France’s President Jacques Chirac in Paris today that India was buying six Scorpene submarines brings relief to the Indian Navy but New Delhi is incurring a heavy cost to acquire the underwater platforms.

Exact estimates and schedules of the delivery of the submarines are still being kept under wraps but the latest figure of the costs came out of Paris today when the announcement was made in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The price tag for six Scorpene submarines is a hefty $3 billion, nearly Rs 13,000 crore.

The price quoted last year was $1.8 billion. India and France were renegotiating a higher price that Armaris, the French supplier, had demanded because of time overruns. The Scorpene is also being sold to Chile and to Malaysia.

In winning the contract despite strong lobbying by the German firm, HDW, France also confirms its position in the list of arms suppliers that is common to both India and Pakistan.

New Delhi and Islamabad use the excuse of threat perceptions to justify imports of more and more weapon systems. Pakistan’s navy has just concluded an acquisition programme of French-origin Agosta class submarines that involved both imports and joint production.

The French company, Thales, one of the partners in the joint venture Armaris that has won the Scorpene deal from India, said in a statement today that its share of the revenue from the sale would be worth Euro 600 million.

“I am particularly proud of this success in India, brought about by the Armaris branch,” Thales’s chairman and CEO Denis Ranque said in a statement faxed to Delhi.

“This is the second submarine programme after Malaysia to which Thales contributes both technological and commercial expertise, thanks to the excellence of its international network.”

The contract lays down that Armaris will assist shipbuilding defence public sector company Mazgaon Docks Ltd in co-production of the Scorpene submarines. Thales will supply key combat systems, including underwater sensors, communications, optronics and electronic warfare equipment.

Each of the 1,500 tonne Scorpene SSK submarines will be equipped with six torpedo tubes and EADS SM-39 Exocet missiles. Each submarine would be about 66.4 metres in length and have a crew of 31.

A surprising element of the contract states that India will be free to market co-produced Scorpene submarines to third countries.

Naval headquarters in New Delhi is reluctant to give details on the deal. Senior naval officers say the submarine is a weapon of stealth and it is appropriate that information on such armament is kept under wraps.