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'India's secret N-submarine project nearing completion'

I don't know where all this news comes from for god sake the missile shown in the pic is a 'Shaurya'. it is a land based tactical short range ballistic missile system ans it it not meant to be launched from an underwater plateform, though their may be other parallel development for such a system, but as per my source its should be 700 KMs not miles.


It is Sagarika - submarine-launched ballistic missile with a range of 750 kilometres (466 mi).

Sagarika - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


700 miles is the distance between Delhi & Chandipur
 
Hi zero,

First of all welcome to the forum! Hope you have an enjoyable stay here.

Thank you mate, hoping to have a great time with you in this forum

Indeed the missile shown in the pic is ‘Shourya’. But, does the report claim otherwise? Look at the caption of the fig; it says ‘A missile…..’ It doesn’t say that the pic is of K-15. I guess it was added only to increase the visual impact of the report in the unavailability of the pics of K-15.

You are mistaken with the range again. The report says the range of the missile is 435 miles which works out to be 700 km. 700 miles is the distance of Orissa from New Delhi!

oops I am sorry for I missed to read the article, my bad and I apologies.


Coming back to some of the points you raised in your posts-


There is absolutely no international treaty in the world that stops any country from selling or buying a nuclear powered submarine or nuclear powered ships. You can look up yourself if you want. A country will violate the Non-proliferation treaty (NPT) only if it provides detailed drawings and know how to build a Nuclear power plant to another country. Buying or selling of nuke subs does not violate the NPT in any way! This is a major drawback (from the west’s perspective) which has been effectively exploited by the Russians. However, most countries do have stringent internal policies which prevent them from selling advanced weapon systems such as nuke subs to other countries.

Also, your argument that India would have bought a nuke sub long back if it was possible to buy one does not hold for many reasons. One, we did not have the money to buy nuke subs few decades back. When we did have the money, we decided to build our own subs. USSR was pretty strong and wealthy till 86, so there was no need for them sell their advanced weapons for a few bucks. China has a no first use policy like us. Pakistan publicly declared its nuke arsenal and nuke policy only in 98, so a nuke sub which is predominantly a platform for second strike capability was required only post 98.

The plan for nuclear wants took birth right from the days of 1971 after the Indo-China war. The main theme of this wants are considered to be a PRC and not Pakistan. The ATV project is also considered to be a development of it, I am providing you this document for more reference. link


Right now I am not in a position to write any more and will discuss with you latter on, hope to have a fruitful discussion with you.

latter on I will also provide you information why long range bombers and nuclear sub. and missiles were not considered for sale to a third country under the same treaty.

The link provided itself should tell a lot of story, rest we will discuss latter on,

Till then cheers as we are going to have our own boomer soon in our arsenal.
 
It is Sagarika - submarine-launched ballistic missile with a range of 750 kilometres (466 mi).

Sagarika - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


700 miles is the distance between Delhi & Chandipur

Yes, Sagarika is described to be a 750km range SLBM and atleast one report says that, it had been tested from a pontoon, but this project (supposingly Project K-15) along with ATV are among the best kept secret of the Indian weapon development projects, moreover we have seen neither of that in real and the speculations are based on assumptions only. now ATV is declared for launch and we have a picture of a pontoon that will be used to launch submersible missile of the Agni III class under the Project K-15, which strongly indicated that such a project is in existence, it is quiet possible to have a 750 km range Sagarika but my doubt is while engaging these missiles the sub. should be too close to an enemy harbour which may prove to be an costly option of attacking an enemy by risking a strategic asset so close to the enemy. moreover thier is no photo release of as sagarika as that of the shouryas and the Agnis and the Prithvis, so my assumption is that if it have to be a SLBM it would be a Agni III class missile otherwise it would be a test plateform to validify future SLBMs such as Agni IIISL.
 
Yes, Sagarika is described to be a 750km range SLBM and atleast one report says that, it had been tested from a pontoon, but this project (supposingly Project K-15) along with ATV are among the best kept secret of the Indian weapon development projects, moreover we have seen neither of that in real and the speculations are based on assumptions only. now ATV is declared for launch and we have a picture of a pontoon that will be used to launch submersible missile of the Agni III class under the Project K-15, which strongly indicated that such a project is in existence, it is quiet possible to have a 750 km range Sagarika but my doubt is while engaging these missiles the sub. should be too close to an enemy harbour which may prove to be an costly option of attacking an enemy by risking a strategic asset so close to the enemy. moreover thier is no photo release of as sagarika as that of the shouryas and the Agnis and the Prithvis, so my assumption is that if it have to be a SLBM it would be a Agni III class missile otherwise it would be a test plateform to validify future SLBMs such as Agni IIISL.

land variant of Sagarika, known as Shaurya, I think both are same
 
There is absolutely no international treaty in the world that stops any country from selling or buying a nuclear powered submarine or nuclear powered ships.
Wait.
I have read this article too.
It comes under CTBT or NPT which prevent selling of nuclear powered submarines and ships.
Will look it up and let you know.
I read in a newspaper somewhere.
 
land variant of Sagarika, known as Shaurya, I think both are same

many experts also says like that, one more assumption that also can be made is Project K-15 is the code name for SLBM, if it is so than sagarika and the photo of the pontoon we have seen can be termed under the same K-15 project. It depends upon individual speculation as no valid report have been published yet.
 

Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009

New Delhi: More than two decades after it was conceived, India’s first indigenously built nuclear submarine, for long called the Advanced Technology Vehicle project, is set for a quiet launch towards the end of this month. Christened INS Chakra after the Charlie class nuclear submarine taken on lease from the Soviet Union in 1988 for three years, it will be put out in the waters of the Bay of Bengal in Visakhapatnam harbour for sea trials.

Top government sources told The Indian Express that the Navy has been cleared for two more 7,000 tonne-Chakra class submarines with an in-principle clearance for another two of the same class. Completing the nuclear triad as envisaged in the Indian nuclear doctrine, INS Chakra will carry intermediate range submarine-launched missiles that have already been tested twice on the eastern coast.

The submarine was scheduled to be launched on July 26 but the date has now been changed because it also happens to be Kargil Victory Day and the government has no intention of sending any message to the neighbourhood.(how considerate of us!) As of now, the plan is to quietly launch the submarine without fanfare or overt publicity. Even Defence Minister A K Antony is not expected to be present for the launch.

It will be nearly a year before the Chakra class submarine can take to the sea as the nuclear engine and its super structure will undergo rigorous tests in a special enclosure in the Vizag shipyard. For now, it will be put out in the waters, checked, fitted with parts and then put through tests in the waters. The tests and fitments over, it will be formally commissioned towards the end of next year.

Launched in the mid-1980s, the ATV project is now headed by Vice Admiral B Kanan whose wife Nirmala, incidentally, is the younger sister of Indian Ambassador to China and Foreign Secretary-designate Nirupama Rao. The submarine is going to be tested on India’s eastern seaboard and earlier plans of moving it to Karwar in Goa have been shelved for the time being. Instead, the first of the two Russian Akula(so the confusion persists!) class nuclear submarines that India is taking on lease will be deployed on the western seaboard.

The Chakra class submarine bridges a key gap in India’s minimum nuclear deterrence as the armed forces already have platforms for nuclear weapon delivery from sky and land through proven intermediate range nuclear missiles and aircraft-borne bombs.

The need for a nuclear submarine was felt by New Delhi as Beijing is moving towards a sea-based doctrine and already has one Xia class and two Jin class nuclear submarines with JL-1 and 2 series submarine-launched nuclear missiles. Each of these submarines carries up to 12 JL-1 or 2 strategic missiles. Even Pakistan has eight tactical submarines that have deep sea diving capability with advanced air propulsion and Harpoon missiles.

All set for a quiet launch of India's first indigenous N-sub
 
India to launch first nuclear submarine: officials | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online

India is expected to launch a locally built nuclear-powered submarine later this month, making it one of only a handful of countries with the technology to produce such a vessel. Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, is scheduled to visit the Visakhapatnam naval base in Andhra Pradesh on July 26 to inspect the submarine before it is launched from its dry dock for sea trials, senior government officials said. The deployment of a nuclear-powered submarine would be a major step for the Indian navy, which is anxious to maintain its authority in the shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. The submarine could allow New Delhi to develop a nuclear weapon strike capability from the sea. The submarine, the INS Chakra, has been produced at a cost of $2.9bn under the country’s Advanced Technology Vessel Programme and is expected to go into full service in two years’ time. The vessel is based on the Russian Akula-I class submarine, and is powered by a single pressurised water reactor. Its nuclear reactor has been developed at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. India’s government is channelling spending towards the modernisation of India’s armed forces, to the ire of development agencies, who say the money would be better spent on poverty alleviation. The finance ministry raised military spending by 25 per cent in the national budget earlier this week.
Naval forces
India
55,000 troops (including 7,000 naval aviation and 1,200 marines)
16 submarines
8 destroyers
14 frigates
China
255,000 troops (including 26,000 naval aviation, 10,000 marines,
40,000 conscripts)
62 submarines
28 destroyers
50 frigates
Source: International Institute for Strategic Studies
India has plans to lease an Akula-class nuclear submarine from Moscow. It is also awaiting the delivery of a 30-year-old refitted Russian aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov . Additionally, India is building six French-designed Scorpene diesel submarines. The country lags behind China’s naval might in the region. C. Uday Bhaskar, director of the Delhi-based National Maritime Foundation and a respected military analyst, said Beijing had a fleet of eight nuclear submarines, some with ballistic missile capability, although it lacked an aircraft carrier. The Chinese navy has three times the number of combat vessels (about 630) as Indiaand a personnel strength of 225,000 — five times that of the Indian navy. “This [the building of the nuclear submarine] is a historic and big step forward,” said C. Raja Mohan, professor of South Asian studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “The project is quite indigenous and it opens the door for deploying nuclear weapons in the ocean.” An official spokesman declined to confirm that Mr Singh, who is currently attending the Group of Eight summit in Italy, would visit Visakhapatnam. But K. Santhanam, former chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, a state defence contractor, said: “This [visit] is partly a public relations exercise and partly to give a fillip to the [submarine] project.” India embarked on its quest for a nuclear submarine in 1982. They are considered better than conventional diesel counterparts as they can go deeper and faster and spend lengthy times at sea. Defence industry experts stressed that the commissioning of the INS Chakra may still have some way to go. “The technology required to build a small but powerful and safe reactor that can perform through the difficulties of a wartime environment is no easy task,” said one. “Some of India’s great projects in defence have gone on for decades and been unbelievably costly
 
Presentation on ATV breaks surface!
India’s nuclear submarine programme has been an open secret for well over two decades, despite the fact that successive governments has so far either denied its very existence or called it a mere technology demonstrator. But now the government’s official stamp on the top-secret project has finally surfaced through the stubborn blanket of secrecy.

Headlines Today has obtained access to a classified presentation made by India’s defence establishment to the National Security Advisory Board in 2008 drawing up full-fledged official overview of the top secret programme. Never before has a government document on the project, codenamed Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), ever come out. The presentation completely debunks the government’s recent indications that the project is aimed at building a technology demonstrator.

In fact, in big bold type, the submarine is declared to be a “platform for mutiple strategic deterrent” – in other words, a vessel that will ultimately carry and be capable of firing nuclear-tipped intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and have near limitless endurance out at sea. In that sense, the secret document once and for all settles all doubts about India’s nuclear deterrence at sea.

Vice Admiral (Retd) AK Singh, who, while in service, was associated with the secretive project said, “It’s a phenomenal and welcome milestone. The secrecy is not surprising. India has done what all other great nations have done when they build strategic assets of this kind. It’s only once the submarine hits the water that the secrecy goes, and that will happen. The submarine will soon be put into the water, and in time provide India a crucial second-strike capability.”

The submarine is scheduled to be launched – a technical term for flooding of its dry-dock and eased into open water – at the end of this month, though it is not yet certain if Vijay Diwas on July 26 will be the chosen date.

Strategic affairs analyst Brahma Chellaney, who has written in the past about India’s nuclear deterrent, said on the channel that the success of India’s nuclear submarine is hinged almost wholly on how successfully India can test and operationalise a submarine-launched ballistic missile with ranges that can touch the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing. The presentation, in fact, makes it quite clear that the submarine will be a “platform for strategic position in line with GOI policy”.

“We must not jump the gun. It is critical at this stage to understand that the weapons platform for the submarine is what will make it a strategic asset,” Chellaney said.

The specifications and configuration of the submarine remain top secret, and the presentation makes specific mention of what goes into the boat, though it does establish that the submarine has been built with stealth physics characteristics, modern dynamics and modular architecture that will allow it to be upgraded with new and better systems easily in the future. Interestingly, after Headlines Today broadcast its report on the secret presentation, Defence Minister AK Antony declined to comment. He said, “I cannot comment on the country’s strategic capabilities,” which in itself is evolution from the tradition of absolute denial.

LiveFist: Presentation on ATV breaks surface!
 
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_401713.html

NEW DELHI - INDIA'S home-built nuclear submarine will make its first splash shortly, certainly before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addresses the nation on Aug 15, people familiar with the plans said.

'The original idea was for the PM to finish his independence day speech and then travel to Vizag to launch the submarine,' a senior official told The Straits Times, using the abbreviation for Vishakhapatnam, a city on India's eastern seaboard.

'But that was not considered feasible. So we are planning the event a few days ahead of that, depending on the PM's schedule.'

The launch of the nuclear-powered submarine will mark a milestone in the super-secret Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) programme and is the first step to completing India's nuclear triad: the ability to launch nuclear missiles from the air, land and now, sea.

Alongside that, India has been testing its sea-launched ballistic missiles.

'The August launch is essentially to float the tub in the dock,' sources said. 'Sea trials are still another 18 months away, but we are fully confident of the machine.'

Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in February that the project was in its final stages. 'Some years back, there were some bottlenecks in terms of supply of parts. It is over now. We will announce the vessel's launch whenever it is ready.'

The ATV programme charter is believed to be for an initial three submarines, probably the size of 6,000 tonnes each. It garners the combined resources of more than two dozen government and private organisations. Started in the 1970s, the trickiest part of the project was apparently to design the miniaturised nuclear reactor, for which some help came from Russia. The 100MW electrical reactor is said to use highly enriched uranium.

People familiar with the plans said the design includes several measures to prevent nuclear radiation in the event of a lethal accident. Two decades ago, Moscow loaned India a Charlie-class nuclear submarine so it could gain experience with nuclear submarines. That vessel joined the Indian Navy as the INS Chakra
 
India's nuclear-powered submarine ready



Published: July 13, 2009 at 9:48 AM


NEW DELHI, July 13 (UPI) -- If all goes as planned, India, according to various reports, will soon join the exclusive club of nations with their own domestically built nuclear-powered submarines, marking a giant leap for its naval defense.

More than 20 years in the making and until now known only as the Advanced Technology Vehicle project, the Indian navy's new nuclear-powered submarine named INS Chakra is expected to be launched in the coming weeks to begin its sea trials, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

The report said the 7,700-ton INS Chakra will undergo sea trials for several months after entering the waters of the Bay of Bengal from the Vishakhapatnam port in southeastern Andhra Pradesh state. It is designed to carry intermediate-range submarine-launched missiles that have already been tested on the eastern coast, the report said.

The INS Chakra is the first of five such nuclear-powered submarines India reportedly plans under its Advanced Technology Vessel program to complete its triad of air, land and sea-based nuclear weapons systems.

The nuclear-powered submarine is also seen as helping to strengthen the navy's presence in its traditional sea lanes in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean and to keep its sea lines of communication open and unhindered.

The Financial Times reported the INS Chakra, which cost about $2.9 billion, is based on the Russian Akula-I class submarine. Its pressurized water reactor was developed at the atomic research center in Kalpakkam in southern Tamil Nadu state.

"This is a historic and big step forward. The project is quite indigenous and it opens the door for deploying nuclear weapons in the ocean," C. Raja Mohan, professor of south Asian studies at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, told the Financial Times.


Separately, Indian media reports said Russia had resumed pre-delivery trials this month of its Akula class nuclear submarine to be leased to the Indian navy later this year.

The Financial Times said India also is waiting to take delivery of a 30-year-old refitted Russian aircraft carrier as wells as building six French-designed Scorpene diesel submarines.
 

NEW DELHI: India is set to begin sea trials of its first nuclear-powered submarine later this month, joining an elite club that includes neighbouring giant China, Defence Ministry officials said on Monday.

The Indian-developed submarine, which would provide the South Asian nation with an underwater ballistic missile launch capability, will begin trials in the Bay of Bengal, off the southern Indian city of Vishakapatnam.

“This will be the start of a series of strenuous trials which will continue for several months,” said one official who declined to be named.

The induction of the 7,000-ton vessel will put India alongside Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States in the club of nations with nuclear-powered submarines.

The Press Trust of India, quoting unnamed sources, reported the submarine would carry a ballistic missile system first tested in February 2008, but ministry officials declined to confirm or deny the report.

The submarine is the first in a planned fleet of five.

Domestic media last month quoted Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy chief of Russia's federal service for military-technical cooperation, as saying Moscow had agreed to lease a 12,000-ton Akula class nuclear submarine to India.

India is also in the final stages of negotiations for a refurbished Russian aircraft carrier. The vessel, Admiral Gorshkov, is scheduled to be delivered for sea trials by 2012.

New Delhi has also signed contracts worth 2.4 billion euros ($3 billion) with Armaris and European defence firm MBDA to acquire six Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines. afp
 

NEW DELHI: India is set to begin sea trials of its first nuclear-powered submarine later this month, joining an elite club that includes neighbouring giant China, Defence Ministry officials said on Monday.

The Indian-developed submarine, which would provide the South Asian nation with an underwater ballistic missile launch capability, will begin trials in the Bay of Bengal, off the southern Indian city of Vishakapatnam.

“This will be the start of a series of strenuous trials which will continue for several months,” said one official who declined to be named.

The induction of the 7,000-ton vessel will put India alongside Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States in the club of nations with nuclear-powered submarines.

The Press Trust of India, quoting unnamed sources, reported the submarine would carry a ballistic missile system first tested in February 2008, but ministry officials declined to confirm or deny the report.

The submarine is the first in a planned fleet of five.

Domestic media last month quoted Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy chief of Russia's federal service for military-technical cooperation, as saying Moscow had agreed to lease a 12,000-ton Akula class nuclear submarine to India.

India is also in the final stages of negotiations for a refurbished Russian aircraft carrier. The vessel, Admiral Gorshkov, is scheduled to be delivered for sea trials by 2012.

New Delhi has also signed contracts worth 2.4 billion euros ($3 billion) with Armaris and European defence firm MBDA to acquire six Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines. afp

When is China Leasing one of its nuke subs to Pakistan? I heard rumors but no confirmed report. I bet Pakistan would be greatly disturb during the launch.
 

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