Indigenous AIP Energy Module for Navy submarines enters Setting to Work Phase-2 at L&T Hazira
24 October 2026
The Setting to Work (STW) Phase-2 activity of the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system Energy Module was inaugurated on October 24, 2026. The module was developed indigenously by the Naval Materials Research Laboratory of DRDO. The ceremony took place at Larsen and Toubro's AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex in Hazira, Gujarat. Defence Secretary and Chairman DRDO Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh was the Chief Guest and joined virtually. Chief of Materiel of the Indian Navy Vice Admiral B Sivakumar and DRDO Director General (Naval Systems & Materials) Dr R Balamuralikrishnan attended at Hazira. An AIP system boosts the underwater endurance of diesel-electric submarines by reducing dependence on atmospheric oxygen. In the next phase the Energy Module will be energised for power production and then handed over to Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited for integration on a Kalvari-class submarine in early 2027.
In plain words
AIP Air Independent Propulsion — A system that lets a conventional submarine stay submerged longer by generating power without atmospheric oxygen.
NMRL Naval Materials Research Laboratory — A DRDO laboratory at Ambernath that works on naval materials and the indigenous AIP programme.