India is moving towards strengthening its navy with new generation submarines designed in Germany and built in India. The deal, worth about $8 billion (€7 billion), is expected to be signed this summer, according to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
The deal comes as the Indo-Pacific turns into an increasingly competitive region, with submarines playing a central role. China’s growing naval reach and Pakistan’s deepening military ties with Beijing are sharpening India’s sense of urgency.
The submarines in question are German-designed Type 214 boats, built by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, or TKMS. They are diesel-electric submarines, not nuclear powered. But they include the key technology that makes them especially valuable: air-independent propulsion (AIP).
This technology allows them to remain underwater for longer periods of time than other conventional submarines – making them harder to detect and better suited to patrolling crowded waters.
India’s sea routes are important
India has more than 11,000 kilometers (about 6,840 mi) of coastline, and more than 90% of its trade by volume is seaborne. But the Indian Ocean also has several chokepoints – narrow passages where maritime traffic can be disrupted. Any threat to these routes could soon become a threat to India’s economy.
“This is why it is so important for India to maintain freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Shari Malhotra, deputy director of the Strategic Studies Program at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi. “That’s why India wants to enhance its naval power. And these submarines will mark a major advancement in India’s maritime warfare capabilities.”
Submarines are useful in this environment because they can patrol silently, monitor enemy ships, and provide deterrence to strong surface fleets. They can act as a deterrent in times of crisis.
“Submarines are evolving into one of the most important capabilities in terms of sea power in the Indo-Pacific,” said Siddharth Kaushal, senior research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute in London. One reason, he said, is that “the surface there is increasingly becoming very heavily contested and even space-deprived.”
Why does AIP matter?
Traditional diesel-electric submarines must surface regularly to take in air for their engines. This makes them more visible and more vulnerable. AIP changes this. “AIP allows a submarine to remain underwater for long periods of time without the need for a snorkel like conventional submarines,” Kaushal said.
The German Type 214 uses fuel cells to generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen. It generates power silently and without exhaust, allowing the submarine to remain underwater for weeks. “This gives it some of the features of a nuclear submarine, while also retaining the advantages of a conventionally operated system,” Kaushal said.
Such submarines are smaller and cheaper than nuclear powered submarines. They are also very quiet – a big advantage in shallow or crowded waters. They can pose a sudden threat to much larger naval forces.
In a US-led naval exercise in 2005, a small Swedish AIP submarine slipped through heavy defenses and scored twice simulated hits on a US aircraft carrier. This seems to be exactly the kind of capability India wants to modernize its fleet.
“At the moment, India has a very small submarine fleet, most of which come from the Soviet era. So these are quite old,” Malhotra said. “India really wants to modernize these naval capabilities.”
China and Pakistan raise India’s concerns
India’s naval buildup is closely linked to that of its two nuclear-armed rivals: China and Pakistan. By number of ships, China now has the world’s largest navy with about 400 ships. Its main focus remains Taiwan and the South China Sea, but Beijing has expanded its presence elsewhere as well. “We have seen China’s growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean, which is an area of growing competition, but also Pakistan’s growing naval capabilities,” Malhotra said.
With the help of China, Pakistan is upgrading its submarine fleet. In 2015, Islamabad signed a deal worth about $5 billion for eight advanced submarines from China. Four are being built in China and four in Pakistan using Chinese technology. These Hangor-class submarines are based on the Chinese Type 039, known to NATO as the Yuan class. They also use AIP.
Pakistan buys about 80 percent of its weapons from China. That deepening military relationship has changed the balance in South Asia and increased pressure on India.
The risks are not theoretical. In May 2025, India and Pakistan fought for four days, raising fears of a wider war. India and China have also clashed on their disputed Himalayan border.
India is moving west – but not abandoning Russia
With Pakistan’s alliance with China, India is increasingly looking for partners to the West. For decades, the country followed very different paths. Since the mid-1960s, India was heavily dependent on Soviet Union arms. Most of its military equipment still comes from Russia, including warships, aircraft and armored vehicles.
But India has gradually diversified in the last decade. France, Israel, and the United States have become more important defense partners. Germany now wants to be part of that change.
“The deal is commercially important for Germany. But geopolitics is clearly its framework,” said Nina Haase, DW’s chief political correspondent. She accompanied German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on his visit to India in 2023, where he held high-level talks with Indian defense officials and political leaders.
“This trip has certainly shown a willingness to invest political capital,” Haase said. “Germany seeks to establish itself more strongly in the Indo-Pacific at a time when the global balance of power is changing and maritime security is becoming more contested. Supporting India’s naval capabilities is in line with Germany’s broader interests in freedom of navigation, safe sea lanes and the rules-based order.”
He said the deal gives India an “alternative to Russian goods”, which makes sense for Berlin while Russia continues its war against Ukraine. “In Berlin, India is being seen as a stable power in the Indo-Pacific,” Haase said.
Malhotra agreed that Berlin was trying to distance New Delhi from Moscow. But he warned against reading the submarine deal as a clean break with Russia. “India is protecting Russia rather than completely replacing it,” he said.
India continues to purchase and operate Russian systems. In March 2026, India signed a $238.5 million contract to acquire Russian Shtil-1 air defense missiles for its navy.
“Russian platforms remain important because they are more affordable. There are fewer strings attached when it comes to things like technology transfer,” Malhotra said.
Why is Germany willing to share sensitive technology?
The proposed deal between India and Germany is not just about selling submarines. The Type 214 boats will be built in Mumbai by Indian engineers trained by German experts. This means technology transfer – a sensitive issue in defense cooperation.
“Submarine technology generally remains a fairly closely guarded area,” Malhotra said. “India aims to develop its domestic expertise to build submarines and promote the development of the local defense industry, as well as reduce dependence on foreign suppliers.”
But many details of the submarine deal remain unclear – particularly how much technology will actually be transferred. Germany will likely want to protect its most sensitive components and intellectual property. Meanwhile, India would like to produce as much as possible at home. “The details will matter a lot as to what technology is being transferred and what capabilities will come directly from Germany,” Kaushal said.
Haase said, “Technology transfer always creates industrial, political, strategic, interdependence.” “This kind of cooperation strengthens trust and makes the relationship harder to reverse. From Berlin’s perspective, it is about strategic trust and long-term alignment,” Haase said. “Arms deals tie you to another country for a period of time.”
a deal with the border
For India, the submarine deal promises stronger deterrence, new jobs and greater self-reliance. This fits into New Delhi’s effort to secure its maritime backyard at a time of growing competition for sea power in the Indo-Pacific.
For Germany, the agreement offers major commercial benefits and the chance to play a bigger role in Indo-Pacific security – a region that Berlin views as strategically important.
But there are clear limits. India is coy, and Germany is overestimating how much political influence it can gain from this agreement. India’s foreign policy is shaped by a long tradition of non-alignment. Buying German submarines will not make the country an exclusive partner of Germany, the EU or NATO.
Type 214 submarines can significantly strengthen India’s position in the sea. Yet the broader trend is more troubling. The Indian Ocean is becoming more crowded and more heavily armed. More submarines means more patrols, closer encounters and greater risk of miscalculation. What starts as resistance can turn into aggression – with consequences that will be difficult to control.