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New head for India's N-powered submarine project
By Rahul Bedi, New Delhi, May 17: India's decades-old super secret nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) programme, known as the advanced technology vessel (ATV), is expected to get a new head over the next few months.
Vice Admiral A.K. Singh, who retired recently as the Eastern Fleet Commander, is likely to succeed former Vice Admiral P.C. Bhasin as director general (DG) of the classified ATV project, said highly placed officials who did not want to be named.
For many years the ATV project, which is directly under the prime minister's oversight, has been headed by retired naval officers, making it easier for the Indian Navy to deny all knowledge of it.
Singh, a submariner who also headed India's only tri-service Andaman and Nicobar command and the Coast Guard, will in all likelihood oversee the ATV's projected commissioning that is expected around 2011-12 following sea trials projected to begin some two years earlier, sources said.
The retired admiral also commanded INS Chakra, the former Soviet Charlie-I class SSN that the navy leased for three years till 1991 to gain operational experience with nuclear powered submarines.
Around three years ago Adm Bhasin, former chief of materials, succeeded Vice Adm R.N. Ganesh as the ATV's DG. Adm Ganesh like Adm Singh also commanded INS Chakra.
More recently, however, senior officials, including military officers have tacitly acknowledged the ATV's existence.
Periodically the officials have made oblique references to the secret programme that is being undertaken at Visakhapatnam under the joint supervision of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) since 1976, two years after the country conducted its first underground atomic test.
Indian defence and atomic scientists, meanwhile, claim to have successfully developed the ATV's reactor.
Official sources said the 100 MW reactor developed jointly by the DAE, DRDO and the navy that went critical in October 2004 at Kalpakkam near Chennai was now 'fully operational'.
A miniaturised version is under construction for integration into the ATV at Visakhapatnam.
In July 2006, former defence minister Pranab Mukherjee inspected the ATV's reactor project while participating in the 20th anniversary celebrations of the commissioning of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam.
Earlier, in October 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited the ATV facility when he launched the construction of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor.
The Proto-type Testing Centre at Kalpakkam will be used to test the submarine's turbines and propellers whilst a similar facility at Visakhapatnam will run trials on its main turbines and gearbox, defence sources said.
Officials familiar with the ATV project said the highly enriched uranium fuel for the reactor had been supplied by the Rare Materials Project (RMP), Ratnahalli near Mysore in the south.
The four to five years' delay in the reactor reaching criticality was due to the extended time taken by RMP to produce an adequate quantity of uranium, they claimed.
While many components of the reactor like the steam-generator and the control rod mechanism had been fabricated in the country, senior naval sources said Moscow had reportedly helped Indian scientists overcome technical hurdles.
This included 'assistance' not only in designing the ATV's reactor but also 'guidelines' in eventually mating it with the SSN's hull. Officials from both sides deny all such collaboration.
Based on the Soviet SSN of the 670A Skat series (NATO classification: Charlie I class)- the 124 m long 4000 ton ATV is expected to be launched by next year and ready for sea trials by 2009-10 over a decade behind schedule. Commissioning will follow thereafter.
The involvement of Mumbai-based private defence contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) that began in 2001 helped kick-start the stalled ATV project.
L&T was awarded the contract to build the SSN's hull (code named P 4102) at its Hazira dockyard facility in Gujarat and had already floated sections of it on a barge to Visakhapatnam giving fillip to the hitherto moribund programme.
In a related development the navy also plans on leasing - and eventually purchasing - two Russian Project 971 Akula-class (Bars) SSN's for an unspecified period for around $700 million each with the option of acquiring a third similar boat.
This is being executed to bolster India's deterrence based on a triad of weapons delivered by aircraft, mobile land-based missiles and sea-based platforms.
And though Delhi and Moscow deny the lease arrangement, recent reports from Moscow quoting senior Russian Navy officers state that SSN Nerpa, which is being readied for sea trials, is one of the two nuclear submarines that will eventually be leased to India.
Originally laid down in 1986 and abandoned due to a financial crunch, the Nerpa is expected to join the Russian Federations Pacific Fleet next year. Official sources said an Indian Navy crew is presently in Russia 'familiarising' itself with the SSN prior to its arrival in India sometime next year.
--- IANS
http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews .
By Rahul Bedi, New Delhi, May 17: India's decades-old super secret nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) programme, known as the advanced technology vessel (ATV), is expected to get a new head over the next few months.
Vice Admiral A.K. Singh, who retired recently as the Eastern Fleet Commander, is likely to succeed former Vice Admiral P.C. Bhasin as director general (DG) of the classified ATV project, said highly placed officials who did not want to be named.
For many years the ATV project, which is directly under the prime minister's oversight, has been headed by retired naval officers, making it easier for the Indian Navy to deny all knowledge of it.
Singh, a submariner who also headed India's only tri-service Andaman and Nicobar command and the Coast Guard, will in all likelihood oversee the ATV's projected commissioning that is expected around 2011-12 following sea trials projected to begin some two years earlier, sources said.
The retired admiral also commanded INS Chakra, the former Soviet Charlie-I class SSN that the navy leased for three years till 1991 to gain operational experience with nuclear powered submarines.
Around three years ago Adm Bhasin, former chief of materials, succeeded Vice Adm R.N. Ganesh as the ATV's DG. Adm Ganesh like Adm Singh also commanded INS Chakra.
More recently, however, senior officials, including military officers have tacitly acknowledged the ATV's existence.
Periodically the officials have made oblique references to the secret programme that is being undertaken at Visakhapatnam under the joint supervision of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) since 1976, two years after the country conducted its first underground atomic test.
Indian defence and atomic scientists, meanwhile, claim to have successfully developed the ATV's reactor.
Official sources said the 100 MW reactor developed jointly by the DAE, DRDO and the navy that went critical in October 2004 at Kalpakkam near Chennai was now 'fully operational'.
A miniaturised version is under construction for integration into the ATV at Visakhapatnam.
In July 2006, former defence minister Pranab Mukherjee inspected the ATV's reactor project while participating in the 20th anniversary celebrations of the commissioning of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam.
Earlier, in October 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited the ATV facility when he launched the construction of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor.
The Proto-type Testing Centre at Kalpakkam will be used to test the submarine's turbines and propellers whilst a similar facility at Visakhapatnam will run trials on its main turbines and gearbox, defence sources said.
Officials familiar with the ATV project said the highly enriched uranium fuel for the reactor had been supplied by the Rare Materials Project (RMP), Ratnahalli near Mysore in the south.
The four to five years' delay in the reactor reaching criticality was due to the extended time taken by RMP to produce an adequate quantity of uranium, they claimed.
While many components of the reactor like the steam-generator and the control rod mechanism had been fabricated in the country, senior naval sources said Moscow had reportedly helped Indian scientists overcome technical hurdles.
This included 'assistance' not only in designing the ATV's reactor but also 'guidelines' in eventually mating it with the SSN's hull. Officials from both sides deny all such collaboration.
Based on the Soviet SSN of the 670A Skat series (NATO classification: Charlie I class)- the 124 m long 4000 ton ATV is expected to be launched by next year and ready for sea trials by 2009-10 over a decade behind schedule. Commissioning will follow thereafter.
The involvement of Mumbai-based private defence contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T) that began in 2001 helped kick-start the stalled ATV project.
L&T was awarded the contract to build the SSN's hull (code named P 4102) at its Hazira dockyard facility in Gujarat and had already floated sections of it on a barge to Visakhapatnam giving fillip to the hitherto moribund programme.
In a related development the navy also plans on leasing - and eventually purchasing - two Russian Project 971 Akula-class (Bars) SSN's for an unspecified period for around $700 million each with the option of acquiring a third similar boat.
This is being executed to bolster India's deterrence based on a triad of weapons delivered by aircraft, mobile land-based missiles and sea-based platforms.
And though Delhi and Moscow deny the lease arrangement, recent reports from Moscow quoting senior Russian Navy officers state that SSN Nerpa, which is being readied for sea trials, is one of the two nuclear submarines that will eventually be leased to India.
Originally laid down in 1986 and abandoned due to a financial crunch, the Nerpa is expected to join the Russian Federations Pacific Fleet next year. Official sources said an Indian Navy crew is presently in Russia 'familiarising' itself with the SSN prior to its arrival in India sometime next year.
--- IANS
http://www.newkerala.com/news5.php?action=fullnews .
