The Indian Navy has said that the first submarine tender to be commissioned in the new era of the nuclear submarines is the Oscar class, which has been given the codename Oscar-II.
The submarine tender will be commissioned on February 18, 2019, the first in the nuclear fleet of six nuclear submarines.
The contract for the contract of the design and construction of Oscar II was awarded by the Defence Ministry to Vikram Sarabhai, the chief designer of the first generation Oscar, which was commissioned in February 2017.
The Oscar has a displacement of 3,914 tonnes and a speed of 11 knots, the latest model having a displacement over 1,900 tonnes and speed of 15 knots.
The submarine has a crew of two and is equipped with two nuclear-powered reactors, one on the bow and one on each side.
The two nuclear reactors are being replaced by two conventional reactors.
The nuclear power plant is being replaced with a smaller and lighter power plant which has a capacity of only 12.5 MW, according to the official.
The tender was awarded to Vikrant Sarabhi, a veteran designer of nuclear submarines and the current chief designer and chief engineer of the submarine, in the bid to boost the submarine fleet.
The sub will be based at the Vikramakrishnan Shipyard (VSS) at Barapuda, a naval base in Chennai.
It will be the first ever submarine built at Vikram, the official said.
The procurement process for the submarine was started in January 2017 and the tender was initiated at a time when the submarine construction was under way, the Navy said in a statement.