Indian Navy News & Discussions

[soaringphnx]

Indian Navy Debate Merits of Conventional versus Nuclear-Powered Submarines​

An increasingly apparent reason for the Ministry of Defence's slow decision-making on a second submarine production line for the Indian Navy is: the deep divisions within the navy over India's submarine force. A debate rages between the submarine arm and the surface navy — particularly the dominant aviation wing — on whether the future lies in submarines or aircraft carriers. The navy's submariners, meanwhile, debate the merits of conventional versus nuclear-powered submarines.

Slowed by these internal debates, India's 30-Year Submarine Construction Plan, which the government approved in 1999, has languished. The 30-Year plan envisioned building 24 conventional submarines in India. Six were to be built from western technology and six with Russian collaboration; then Indian designers, having absorbed the best of both worlds, would build 12 submarines indigenously. Project 75, to build six Scorpene submarines (the "western" six), was contracted in 2005.


MoD believes it is still 4-6 years away from Project 75I, i.e. beginning work on the second six submarines. A senior retired admiral, reflecting the views of the submarine arm, blames the navy's "aircraft carrier lobby" for the delay in building submarines. He alleges: "The last two naval chiefs (Admirals Arun Prakash and Sureesh Mehta) were aviators, who had no interest in using the navy's limited budget for building submarines.

So they exploited the division of opinion amongst submariners — the nuclear-powered versus conventional submarine debate — to push submarine building into the future." Nuclear-powered submarines are of two types: ballistic missile submarines (called SSBNs) and attack submarines (referred to as SSNs). Both are propelled by power from a miniature on-board reactor, but SSBNs also fire nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. SSBNs are not a part of the fighting navy; they constitute a country's nuclear deterrent and fire their nuclear-tipped missiles on orders from the national leadership.

SSNs operate as part of a naval fleet, moving under nuclear power and sinking surface warships with conventional torpedoes and missiles. Interestingly, India is the only country that has chosen to build SSBNs (the recently-launched INS Arihant, and two successor submarines) before building an SSN force. The reason has been a deeply felt need to operationalise the nuclear triad — land, sea and air-based nuclear delivery systems that India's Draft Nuclear Doctrine stipulates as a secure second-strike capability.

But the possibility of an SSN force remains tantalisingly alive. In 2004 — when INS Arihant was being developed under the Advanced Technology Vessel, or ATV, programme — Admiral Arun Prakash, then navy chief, proposed that the ATV programme be enlarged to six SSBNs and four SSNs. This required the allocation of Rs 10,000 crore for the DRDO to develop the necessary technologies. Pranab Mukherjee, then the defence minister, backed the allocation of this funding.

But, according to sources close to the ATV project, once AK Antony took over as defence minister in 2006, he backed off, insisting that the Prime Minister's Office should take all decisions relating to India's strategic nuclear programme. The proposal for funding technology development lapsed. But the Director General of the DRDO, Dr VK Saraswat, confirms that an SSN could be developed without difficulty. Talking to Business Standard, Saraswat said, "I have no charter to build an SSN at the moment.

But once the government takes a policy decision… we can start working on it. The only major difference between a nuclear powered attack submarine (i.e. an SSN) and an SSBN is weaponry, and the size changes. The technology for design, packaging, and integration remains similar." Votaries of nuclear submarines, such as Rear Admiral (Retired) Raja Menon, argue that nuclear-powered submarines have a crucial advantage over conventional ones: endurance. While conventional (diesel-electric) submarines are more quiet and harder to detect while submerged, they are easily picked up when they surface to charge their batteries.

Furthermore, they move slowly underwater, unlike nuclear submarines, which can remain submerged almost indefinitely. This allows a single nuclear submarine — travelling underwater to its patrol station and remaining there, undetected, for months — to do the job of multiple conventional submarines, which give their position away when they surface at regular intervals. Admiral Menon explains, "A single SSN can dominate an area 1,000 nautical miles (1,850 km) away as effectively as three conventional submarines, which require one submarine on station, another transiting to relieve it, and a third transiting back to refuel.

If the patrol area is farther than 1,000 nautical miles, a single SSN does the job of five conventional submarines. That is why the US Navy fields an all-nuclear force." But Menon accepts that the Indian Navy would always need conventional submarines. India's coastal waters are so shallow that SSNs, which typically weigh 4,000-5,000 tonnes, run the risk of scraping the bottom. Conventional submarines, which normally weigh around 1500-3000 tonnes, are needed for dominating the coastal areas.

 

[soaringphnx]

US helicopter firm makes commercial offer to Indian Navy​

In a bid to counter bad press that they are receiving, the US helicopter company Sikorsky has made a commercial offer to the Indian Navy. The offer includes servicing and spares for six obsolete Sikorsky UH-3H Sea King helicopters that came onboard the USS Trenton renamed as INS Jalashva which have received a lot of flak for their sub standard quality.

The comptroller and auditor general has strongly criticised the quality of the machines on the aircraft carrier that came through US government foreign military sales.

According to the CAG the ($39 million) machines did not come equipped with any type of weather or surface surveillance radar and the defence ministry failed to secure any “guarantee for the replacement of defective rotables due to obsolescence”.

Talking to FE, AVM (retd) AJS Walia, managing director for India and South Asia, Sikorsky Aircraft said that, “We have sent an unsolicited letter to the Indian Navy offering to provide whatever support they want. We have also offered to supply spares which will finish by 2010.”

“These helicopters came through the government to government route. It was not a commercial deal. And that we are offering now will be a commercial deal between us and the Indian Navy,” Walia added.

According to the comptroller and auditor general, the 1960s vintage aircraft - decommissioned by the US Navy in 2005 - were “life-expired and had defects that could compromise their operational effectiveness”.

The INS Jalashva, is the second largest ship with the Indian Navy, after the aircraft carrier Viraat and is believed to ‘add punch to India’s maritime forces’ with its capacity to participate in naval operations, peacekeeping operations, tri-service operations and humanitarian relief.

The US Congress had cleared the transfer of the vessel under the Foreign Military Sales Program in August 2005 and the government signed the ‘Letter of Acceptance’ on July 31, 2006.

 

[rajgoynar]

Navy to get six new submarines



With its effective submarine strength coming down drastically to 14, the Indian Navy has started the process to procure six new next generation submarines that will be equipped with Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) to give them longer endurance. The order is expected to be worth over Rs 30,000 crore at current rates. The Navy on Tuesday sent out Request for Information (RFI) to major submarine manufacturers across the world for six conventional submarines that would be built at Indian and foreign shipyards.


Navy to get six new submarines

 

[marcos98]

Navy alerts Goa coastal residents about super sonic boom

Panaji:
Indian Navy has asked the coastal residents in Goa not to get worried as that they might hear large noise of super sonic boom as MiG-29K supersonic flights were practicing off the coast.

Indian Navy Public Relation Officer (PRO) Cdr M C Joshi has said that the residents may hear sonic boom sounds and they need not panic as it is associated with the training of MiG-29K aircrafts, which is happening off Goa coast.

The defence official said that without disturbing the resident population of Goa, MiG-29K pilots at INS Hansa will fly all flights involving supersonic profiles deep into the sea and at very high altitudes.

"There is still a possibility that sonic booms could be heard by the local population and our fishing communities from time to time," he added.

In February this year, the residents had panicked after three loud sounds were heard in the sea

The state government had initiated inquiry into the cause of the sound and later had found out that the noise was related to MiG-29K.

The PRO has said that the MiG-29K is an advanced multirole fourth generation Air Superiority Fighter at present being operated from the Indian Navy's premier naval air station INS Hansa at Dabolim.

This aircraft has the capability to go supersonic at almost twice the speed of sound, in order to overtake enemy fighters and shoot them down.

"Supersonic flights are associated with 'sonic booms'.

A sonic boom is a sound which is similar to a loud explosion generated by the shock waves formed on the airplane in supersonic flight," he said.

In certain atmospheric conditions, sonic booms from a supersonic aircraft may reach distances as far as 20 to 40 kilometers," he said.

Joshi said that the ability to fly at supersonic speed is of great advantage to a fighter pilot in a combat situation and it is therefore important that supersonic flying is practiced to maintain a high level of operational readiness.

He said that the booms are absolutely harmless to life, health and property.

Supersonic flights have been undertaken by the IAF all over the country since the 1970s and are an absolutely normal part of fighter training.

 

[SpArK]

Indian Navy Floats Tender For Six New Conventional Attack Submarines

The Indian Navy has floated a tender to acquire six new conventional attack submarines as part of Project 75(I), the submarine line that will run parallel to the Scorpene line in Mumbai. The RFI (see below) has been sent to shipbuilders that include Russia's Rubin for the Amur 1650 and HDW for the Class-214.


Livefist - The Best of Indian Defence: Indian Navy Floats Tender For Six New Conventional Attack Submarines

 

[SpArK]

AMUR1650

 

[SpArK]

CLASS-214

 

[jha]

Only problem with U-214 is the absence of vertical SILOs...Will this be added ..?
problem with LADA is not tested AIP...

 

[SpArK]

50,000cr deal for 6 subs: Govt invites bids from firms


NEW DELHI: The ball has formally been set rolling for what will be India's biggest-ever defence project till now: the acquisition of six new-generation stealth submarines, with land-attack capabilities, for over Rs 50,000 crore.

The government has now issued a global request for information (RFI) to armament majors to submit their initial offers by the end of this month for the six submarines to be constructed under 'Project-75 India'.

This comes after the Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC), chaired by defence minister A K Antony, cleared P-75I in June, as was first reported by TOI.

The gigantic naval project will clearly overtake the Rs 42,000 crore project to procure 126 multi-role fighters for IAF, so far dubbed the "mother of all defence deals", which is in the final selection phase now.

Under P-75I, while two submarines will be imported from the foreign collaborator's shipyard, the other four will be built indigenously under transfer of technology. Three of these will be constructed at Mazagon Docks (MDL) in Mumbai, and the fourth at Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) in Visakhapatnam.

MDL is already engaged in building six French Scorpene submarines under Project-75, currently valued at Rs 23,562 crore, which incidentally is running three years behind the 2012-2017 schedule set for it earlier. "Giving one submarine to HSL under P-75I is clearly aimed at establishing a robust second submarine line there, in addition to MDL, for future projects like P-76," said a senior official.

Interestingly, the RFI says the foreign collaborator has to specify the air-independent propulsion (AIP) being offered for the project. Conventional diesel-electric submarines have to surface every few days to get oxygen to recharge their batteries. But with AIP systems, they can stay submerged for much longer periods, narrowing the gap with nuclear-powered submarines which can operate underwater for virtually unlimited periods.

Read more: 50,000cr deal for 6 subs: Govt invites bids from firms - The Times of India 50,000cr deal for 6 subs: Govt invites bids from firms - The Times of India

 

[rajgoynar]

For a grieving mother, Navy will trawl Jammu lake searching for her son



A team of divers from the Indian Navy will leave for Mansar Lake near Jammu tomorrow morning on an unusual mission: to trace the body, or what remains of it, of a young Kashmiri medical student, Syed Zuhaib Rizvi.

Rizvi disappeared on the banks of the lake on May 14. Suggestions that he killed himself by jumping into the water have not been accepted by his mother, who has camped at Mansar and in Jammu for nearly four months, pressing the police for a thorough probe.

And Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has now carried her voice to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself.

The Navy divers, it is learnt, are being rushed following direct intervention by the Prime Minister’s Office. Sources said Omar also raised the issue with senior functionaries of the Union Ministries of Home and Defence.

“The state government made a request to the Union government to send divers from the Indian Navy as they are trained to undertake such missions. They also have the necessary equipment. We have been informed that a team of 6-8 divers will reach Mansar tomorrow evening and begin their task on Saturday,” Pawan Kotwal, Divisional Commissioner of Jammu, told The Indian Express over the phone.



For a grieving mother, Navy will trawl Jammu lake searching for her son

 

[sudhir007]

Navy Chief to visit U.S. next week

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma will visit the United States next week. Admiral Verma’s first trip to the U.S. comes days ahead of Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s scheduled visit.

The visit is yet another step in the growing strategic defence relations and engagement between the armed forces of the two countries. Admiral Verma will tour several places, including Washington and Hawaii, headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), and witness the progress of the P-8I Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft the Indian Navy is procuring from the U.S.

The Naval Chief’s trip reciprocates the visits by U.S. PACOM Commander Admiral Robert F. Willard this week and Chief of Naval Operations Gary Roughead in April.

On Thursday Admiral Willard had indicated that both India and the U.S. have to work in the domain of cyber space and outer space, and it is likely that Admiral Verma will utilise the opportunity to interact in these spheres.

The P8I is based on the Boeing 737 commercial airplane and is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon that the company is developing for the U.S. Navy. India is the first overseas buyer for the aircraft. An agreement was signed in January 2009 for eight aircraft, with the first due to be delivered in 48 months.

Assembly of the first aircraft is due to begin in the last quarter of this year after the Indian Navy completed the final design review in July. This effectively locked the design for the aircraft, radar, communications, navigation, mission computing, acoustics and sensors as well as the ground and test support equipment, paving the way for the programme to start assembly of the plane, Boeing said.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will provide weapons bay door for the eight P-8I aircraft. Under the terms of the $4.7 million-contract, the HAL will deliver the first set of doors to Boeing in Seattle by the end of the year, the company said.

 

[sudhir007]

India, Brazil, South Africa warships begin maritime exercise in Durban

Indian warships today began a trilateral exercise with the navies of Brazil and South Africa in Durban off the African coast as part of their efforts to build inter-operability in carrying out maritime operations.

Four warships including a destroyer and two frigates from the Navy’s Western Fleet are participating in the biennial India-Brazil-South Africa Maritime (IBSAMAR) exercise, which would focus on visit-board-search-seize, anti-air and anti-submarine operations, apart from naval warfare manoeuvres such as fuelling in mid sea.

The exercise comes in the middle of a two-month long deployment of the Indian warships off the African coast when they also sail to Mauritius and Seychelles for carrying out anti-piracy patrols and visit ports in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa.

A Navy officer said here that the deployment would provide the Indian Navy “good opportunity to re-establish and further relations” with the navies of the African continent in areas of training and passage exercises.

“The exercise is to develop interoperability among the three navies so that they could carry out joint operations during times of need in the high seas,” the officer said.

Indian naval destroyer INS Mysore, frigates INS Tabar and INS Ganga along with tanker INS Aditya have joined IBSAMAR exercise. Brazil is participating with its warships, while South Africa has brought their submarines.

“This is the second edition of IBSAMAR. The first edition was held in 2008. This year’s exercise is a much more complex than the previous one,” the officer said.

This time there would be no aerial fleet of the Indian Navy participating in the IBSAMAR exercise, though South Africa was bringing in their aircraft, he added.

IBSAMAR is being held around the South African coast and there would be visits to Durban, Cape Town, Simon’s Town and Port Elizabeth as part of the exercise.

India is the lead Navy for this edition of IBSAMAR and Brazil will take upon the role in the next edition to be held in 2012.

 

[sudhir007]

Navy fishes to add subs

Its “silent arm” in danger of going into deep slumber, the navy is asking major submarine-makers to participate in a competition to replenish its fleet.

This week the Indian Navy sent requests for information (RFI) — the precursor to a global tender — for a “second-line” of six conventional attack submarines.

The submarine fleet of the navy that officially has 15 boats could be down to just half-a-dozen by the end of next year because they are being retired faster than the government can acquire new vessels and also because the procurement through a deal with France has fallen way behind schedule.

The Indian Navy seeks to maintain a submarine fleet that is capable of operating in an environment where adversarial (Chinese and Pakistani) vessels often intrude into waters around the country, tracking its ships and picking up and recording their electronic “signatures”.

The RFI has asked manufacturers for details of contemporary submarines that are already in service or on sea trials and are capable of operating in “dense ASW (anti-submarine warfare) and EW (electronic warfare) environment”.

The manufacturers have been asked to give the information by the end of this month.

The “first-line” of new submarines are the Scorpenes that are being bought from DCNS Armaris (a Franco-Spanish) venture.

Four of the six submarines under the 2005 contract are to be made through transfer of technology in Mazgaon Docks in Mumbai. But the $3.6-billion deal is in rough waters with the delivery of components delayed, the assembly line construction tardy and with the French having asked for the cost to be escalated to upwards of $6 billion.

The delivery of the Scorpenes was to begin from this year but now it looks unlikely before 2012.

The contract for the Scorpenes had a provision for further orders. But the navy has decided against ordering from the same maker under the same contract because of the cost and time overruns.

Among the likely competitors are — the navy is expecting — Russia’s Rubin Design Bureau, Germany’s HDW (which was blacklisted in the past but is now cleared to compete), Sweden’s Kockums and DCNS Armaris. Along with transfer of technology, the cost of the second-line could be up to $10 billion or more.

The navy is also expecting the Russian-build Nerpa nuclear submarine to join its fleet by January 2011. There is no official word on the nuclear submarine that is being taken on a 10-year lease, the second time since the navy had the INS Chakra (also on lease from Russia) in the mid-1980s.

India’s own nuclear submarine (the INS Arihant), unveiled last year, is due for sea trials next year. The current submarine fleet is officially stated to comprise 10 Russian Kilo-class and four German HDW.

 

[SpArK]

Navy chief to visit US



New Delhi, Sept. 11: The navy chief, Admiral Nirmal Verma, is scheduled to visit the US in another high-level military visit in the run-up to the expected trip by US President Barack Obama to India.

Shortly after Admiral Verma’s return, defence minister A.K. Antony is slated to visit the US.

This week, the chief of the US Pacific Command (PACOM), Admiral Robert Willard, was in New Delhi, exchanging notes on the growth of the Chinese military and on India’s position on pending defence co-operation pacts like the Logistics Support Agreement and the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA).

Admiral Verma, who is slated to visit Washington DC and the US PACOM headquarters in Hawaii, will review the P-91 Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft that Boeing is making for the Indian Navy under a $4.7 million contract signed in January 2009.

The naval chief’s trip reciprocates the visits by US PACOM Commander Admiral Robert F. Willard this week and Chief of Naval Operations Gary Roughead in April.

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Nation | Navy chief to visit US

 

[SpArK]

Indian Navy Allocates Kamov-25 Helicopter for Study to Amrita University

Coimbatore: The Department of Aerospace Engineering at Amrita's Coimbatore campus recently acquired an anti-submarine, ship-board helicopter from the Indian Navy.

"We acquired this purely for educational purposes," stated Dr. V. Sivakumar, Associate Professor at the Department. With this, we will be able to demonstrate the role, function and working of various subsystems of an aircraft to students."

"Students will gain first-hand experience by working on subsystems of a real aircraft. They will do this as part of their Aircraft Design Laboratory class."

A Russian model named Kamov-25 aka KA-25, the helicopter can fly at a maximum speed of 220 km/hr and at an altitude of 3.5 km. It has a range of 450 km, which means that it can complete a flight of that distance without having to refuel.

A typical crew aboard a KA-25 might consist of two pilots and two or three equipment operators. Since the cabin is large enough to accommodate twelve people, the craft has been extensively used for troop transport, as well.

The model was inducted in the Indian Navy in 1980. Since then, the KA-25 fleet has been used in a large number of war and peace time operations, before being grounded in mid-2009 on account of aging.

"The helicopter is powered by two 671 kW Glushenkov GTD-3F turboshafts, that are mounted side-by-side; these drive the two contra-rotating rotors," explained Dr. Sivakumar.

"The use of folding three-blade coaxial rotors requires no tail rotor. Along with the triple tail fins, this ensures compact stowage aboard a ship."

"The helicopter's aerodynamically symmetrical layout, coupled with autopilot, sophisticated avionics suite and good handling qualities, enables a pilot to undertake a long-endurance combat task under any weather conditions."

Dr. J. Chandrashekhar, Chairperson of the Department, explained further.

"A conspicuous design feature of this aircraft is the flat bottom, under-nose radome that houses the search radar, which is an integral part of anti-submarine operations. The Kamov is fitted with a mission avionics suite and a weapons system which allows the helicopter to navigate above the water surface devoid of any reference points and fulfill the task of locating and destroying a submarine, both in manual and automatic mode."

"We hope that the helicopter will help students learn concepts through real models," he added.

Students seem to agree. "I think that we can learn the theoretical aspects of aerodynamics in a more practical way," stated Nikhil Mohan, second-year student of aerospace engineering.


Indian Navy Allocates Kamov-25 Helicopter for Study to Amrita University