Mumbai, Nov 9 (IANS): The Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. (MDL) on Tuesday delivered the fourth Scorpene Submarine of Project P-71 to the Indian Navy which will be commissioned as INS Vela, officials said here.

The acceptance papers were signed by retired Vice-Admiral Narayan Prasad who is Chairman and Managing Director of MDL and Rear Admiral K.P. Arvindan, in the presence of top officials of IN and MDL.

With the delivery of Vela - preceded by submarines Kalvari, Khanderi, and Karanja - the MDL has lived up to its reputation as one of the country's leading shipyards and reaffirmed India's membership in the exclusive club of submarine building nations.

The fifth submarine in the series, Vagir, was launched on November 12, 2020 and has commenced her harbour trials and is likely to go for her maiden surface sortie on December 21, while the sixth one is in an advanced stage of outfitting.

Two SSK submarines built by MDL in 1992 and 1994 are still in service today, a testimony to MDL's quality of construction, and the company is carrying out a Medium Refit and Life Certification of INS Shishumar, the first SSK submarine.