New Delhi, Feb. 2 -- The Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 propelled India's quest for a made-in-India submarine. Post the war, a staff requirement of a 1500 ton platform was drafted. While the Mazagon Docks (MDL) of Mumbai (then Bombay) was picked up as the preferred manufacturing facility, the Indian Navy evaluated five contenders in great detail. Quite interestingly, the Soviet Union at that time did not have any feasible platform to meet the Indian requirements. Finally, the Type 209-1 of Howal Deutsch Werke (HDW) of Germany (then FRG) was selected, and a contract was signed on 11 December 1981. Eventually, the Type 1500 model (also known as Type 209/1500) was developed by IKL (Ingenieurkontor Lubeck) to meet the Indian staff requiremen...