Navy's destroyer project sets sail

[Gabbar]

Navy's destroyer project sets sail



The Indian Navy’s firepower is going to be significantly boosted with the addition of four heavy warships. The navy’s design chief, Rear Admiral MK Badhwar, has confirmed for the first time, to Business Standard, that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) — the top procurement body in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) — has cleared Project 15-B, the construction of four 6800-tonne destroyers by Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai (MDL).

There was no competitive bidding for Project 15-B, since MDL is the only Indian shipyard large enough to build destroyers, which are significantly larger than frigates. MDL is currently completing Project 15-A, the construction of three destroyers of the Kolkata Class; Project 15-B (the class has not been named yet) is a “follow-on project”, i.e. it is only incrementally different from Project 15-A.

Asked when manufacture will begin, Admiral Badhwar said, “The Indian Navy has asked MDL for a quotation. Once that is received, an MoD Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) will negotiate a price with MDL for the four destroyers. After the price is agreed upon, the MoD will accord final sanction for the project.”

The navy intends to drive a hard bargain with MDL. Admiral Badhwar explains, “The three Kolkata class destroyers built under Project 15-A cost about Rs 3800 crore each, i.e. about Rs 11,000 crore. Project 15-B should logically be cheaper.”

At that price, Project 15-B will save more than a billion dollars per warship. Australia bought its F100 frigates (at 3,000 tonne, significantly smaller and more lightly armed than the destroyers that will be built under Project 15-B) from Spanish shipyard, Navantia, for the equivalent of Rs 9,000 crore per frigate.

Crucial to how cheaply, and how fast, Project 15-B can be built is the issue of how different these warships will be from their predecessors in the Kolkata Class Project 15-A. Project 15-A has taken longer than anticipated because it incorporated significant changes and upgrades from its predecessor, Project 15 (three Delhi Class destroyers). But Project 15-B, MDL hopes, will have fewer design challenges; it will differ from its predecessor only in weaponry and sensors.

Vice Admiral HS Malhi, chairman and managing director (CMD) of MDL explains, “If there are no major changes in Project 15-B, we can definitely cut down the build time. If the vendors can use the same manufacturing equipment, if the same drawings can be used, it makes a big difference. Standardisation is the key.”

Admiral Malhi points, as an example, to the US Navy’s DDG-51 programme, in which 62 destroyers have already been churned out with standardised hulls and propulsion systems.

MDL’s CMD points out, “If you have that kind of production line, the speed of building and the cost of building comes down dramatically.”

This is the Catch-22 situation facing Indian warship-building. The shipyards want larger orders of warships with standardised designs. But the Indian Navy has tended to place smaller orders of 3-4 ships; the navy says construction delays by the shipyards mean that designs get outdated by the time the ships are rolled out.

This impasse, however, appears to be dissolving. The design similarities between Projects 15-A (three destroyers) and 15-B (four destroyers) could effectively combine those into a combined seven-destroyer order. Similarly, Project 17-A is being planned as an order for seven stealth frigates.

MDL believes that, since Project 15-B is a follow on of the 15-A, the design and planning period will be less than 1½ years. Once the design is finalised, the navy wants the first destroyer to roll out within four years, with the others completed at one-year intervals. By that ambitious timeline, if the order is placed on MDL by end-2009, the first 15-B destroyer would be commissioned in mid-2015.

Navy's destroyer project sets sail .

 

[notsuperstitious]

The project 15B is supposed to be far more stealthier than the Kolkatta class destroyers. Yet this article implies there will not be much changes in design (changes only in weaponry and sensors)

Doesn't compute.

 

[white_pawn]

Now thats the way to go. . Hope the Negotiations goes well and smoothly so no dalay happen and the commissioning starts as per mentioned date. By the way are any details revaled of what would the difference between the project 15A & 15b making or what new technology would be added.

 

[LCA]

May be this radar can get added to the 15-B.

If possible then it will make them more potent.

EL/M-2248 MF-STAR Naval Multi-Mission Radar

EL/M-2248 MF-STAR Naval Multi-Mission Radar

The MF-STAR is a multi-function S-band solid-state active conformal phased array radar system for the new generation of military ships. As the ship's primary sensor the radar provides 3D long-range air surveillance. At medium range it will automatically track and classify threat and simultaneously, search the horizon for potential missile threats. In parallel, it supports multiple engagements by offensive and defensive weapons. Designated EL/M-2248 the radar system delivers high quality arena situation picture and weapons support, under the toughest target/environment conditions in the existing and future naval arena.

Incorporating advanced technology and robust system architecture; the MF-STAR employs multi-beam and pulse Doppler techniques as-well-as robust ECCM techniques to extract fast, low RCS targets from complex clutter and jamming environments.

EL/M-2248 - MF-STAR is a multi-function solid-state active conformal phased array radar system designed for the new generation of naval vessels designed for both Blue water and Littoral warfare. The system can operate in multiple functions simultaneously, delivering high-quality situation picture, supporting offensive weapons, while performing self-defense and battlegroup protection roles. MF-STAR employs multi-beam and pulse doppler techniques using advanced beam forming techniques embedded with robust ECCM techniques to extract fast, low RCS targets from complex clutter and jamming environments. The agile radar operates in multiple simultaneous modes, offering short search frames and Track While Scan (TWS) revisit time. The system also offers rapid tracking update rate and high accuracy for priority targets. The radar will automatically establish tracks of high flying targets at ranges beyond 250km and at low flying targets, at ranges above of 25 km.

Weighing about seven tons, the radar uses four flat lightweight antennae operating in the S-band that can be tailored to fit even relatively small ships, from corvettes and above. Hardware architecture and technology ensure high system availability, low maintenance and low life cycle cost.
For weapons guidance, MF-STAR Supports different operating modes of missile systems including mid-course guidance of active/semi-active anti-air missiles and Illumination enslavement for semi-active missiles, thus making dedicated guidance radar systems redundant. Also incorporates is an automatic splash detection and measurement, to support naval gunnery in maritime security and close-in defense role.

This radar is currently under development, in anticipation for fielding with the Israel Navy next generation Saar 5+ corvette as well as with other modern vessels, planned for procurement or upgrading by foreign navies. The system is integrated as part of the advanced version of the Barak missile known as Barak-NG and Indian MR-SAM (also designated as Barak 8).

Elta has already implemented its static phased array radar technology in several programs, including the Phalcon airborne early warning (AEW) system, as well as the early warning radar for the Arrow missile interceptor system, and the new artiller/air defense Multi-Mission Radar.

 

[heartwinlion]

does anybody have any ideas about weapon