Indonesia postpones Scorpene steel-cutting milestone

An artist's visualisation of the Scorpene Evolved submarine in Indonesian waters. (Naval Group)

Indonesia has postponed the steel-cutting ceremony for its first Scorpene Evolved submarine to 7 August 2026.

A source from Indonesia's Ministry of Defense (MoD) confirmed the date in response to questions from Janes about an apparent delay to the milestone.

Indonesian shipbuilder PT PAL said on 2 July that the steel-cutting milestone for Indonesia's Scorpene submarine programme had been brought forward to July 2026 from an earlier target of September 2026.

The MoD source attributed the delay to the availability of senior defence leaders including Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Muhammad Ali.

The milestone will mark the formal start of construction of the lead boat and will be held at PT PAL's submarine production facilities in Surabaya.

Indonesia's Scorpene programme was formalised under a contract signed in March 2024 between the MoD, Naval Group, and PT PAL.

The contract covers the acquisition of two Scorpene Evolved diesel-electric attack submarines (SSKs) and includes technology-transfer provisions intended to establish an indigenous submarine-construction capability in Indonesia.

Both boats are scheduled to be built in Indonesia at PT PAL's dedicated submarine facilities, with technical assistance from Naval Group.

This programme is widely regarded as one of the most ambitious defence-industrial co-operation initiatives undertaken by Indonesia's naval sector.

The submarines will be based on Naval Group's Scorpene Evolved design, which replaces traditional air-independent propulsion arrangements found on some previous Scorpene variants with high-capacity lithium-ion batteries.

The design has a submerged displacement of approximately 2,000 tonnes, an overall length of about 70 m, and a crew complement of roughly 40 personnel.