Submarine crunch hits navy

[sudhir007]

Submarine crunch hits navy idrw.org

Despite sounding an alert to the ministry of defence last year, Indian Navy continues to face shortage of submarines.

After Russia delayed the release of Nerpa K-152, an Akula-II class, nuclear-powered attack submarine sought on lease by India
for 10 years, indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant, launched last year in Visakhapatnam, too may not be inducted into service on time.

Chief of naval staff admiral Nirmal Verma had said last year that Arihant would be inducted into service two years after its launch.

But the submarine’s reactor is yet to be started. Nerpa was supposed to join the navy as INS Chakra in June 2010, but will now join only towards the end of this year. The delay is affecting the training for Arihant.

Admiral Verma, however, said, “Arihant is expected to be inducted on time. I don’t see any delay.”

Sources told ‘DNA’ Nerpa was being modified to suit Indian requirements, but its trials were delayed after it met with an accident in 2008, killing 20 personnel onboard.

Now, safety aspects of the submarine are being reworked.

The navy’s last but one Foxtrot-class submarine, INS Vela, was decommissioned on Friday, while its only diesel-electric, kilo-Class submarine with an integrated Klub missile system, INS Sindhurakshak, left Visakhapatnam for repair and refit in Russia.

Sindhurakshak, which will take over a month to reach Russia, will be at the Zvezdochka shipyard for two years. It will be modernised under a contract signed between the two countries.

With the last of the Foxtrot-class submarines to be decommissioned by yearend and the first Scorpene, being built at Mumbai’s Mazgaon dock, slated to join only in 2015, the navy will be left with just 14 operational submarines.

The first of the six Scorpenes was slated to join the navy by 2012, but has been delayed by three years.

 

[Ammyy]

When second sub of Arihant class scheduled to laid down ???

 

[Arjun MBT]

When second sub of Arihant class scheduled to laid down ???

No Idea, It must be Under construction in Shipbuilding Centre Vishakapatnam

 

[schneider]

is the reactor critical? or tested???

 

[Arjun MBT]

is the reactor ciritcal? or tested???

Well, We have learned the technology and have applied in Arihant 1, So Upcoming Arihant class submarines would not be a Problem, unless and Otherwise we shift to a new class of N-Submarines

 

[schneider]

Well, We have learned the technology and have applied in Arihant 1, So Upcoming Arihant class submarines would not be a Problem, unless and Otherwise we shift to a new class of N-Submarines

so during induction it would dive on non nuclear power source.

 

[Arjun MBT]

so during induction it would dive on non nuclear power source.

Yes, But the Nuclear reactor would be Inside, and During Initial stages , It will be tested On the non Nuclear power source as you said rather running the Whole submarine on nuke reactor....

Well, When The Sea trials are completed, there You are sure that, your nuclear reactors in it are safe and are healthy and 100% reliable to use further and ready to be Inducted

 

[sudhir007]

 

[maithil]

our submarine problem has become critical now....i guess unless some accident happens we wont be ordering any U-boat..

 

[Hulk]

Why the Scorpean's are taking so long? What exactly is the problem. We seems to be doing awful job everywhere.

 

[Ammyy]

No Idea, It must be Under construction in Shipbuilding Centre Vishakapatnam

Well I am heart that Second one take less time ....

I think any professional can help us to understand about second sub of Arihant class

 

[schneider]

I think if once this indegenous technology is tested and proved then they can speed up the project.

 

[Dash]

Why the Scorpean's are taking so long? What exactly is the problem. We seems to be doing awful job everywhere.

There was a big problem with its TOT with DCNS accusing MDL not able enough to absorb technology and many other issues...

I have some links for you.

India's Scorpene submarine programme delayed

Minister of State for Defence, Pallam Raju: “French government is shirking their responsibility”

by Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 19th Dec 09

An air of resignation hangs over the East Yard, a giant workshop shed in Mumbai’s Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL), where six Scorpene submarines are to be fabricated for the Indian Navy. Two years ago, when Business Standard visited this facility, it hummed with activity as welders assembled the hull of the first Scorpene, which was to join the Indian Navy in 2012.

Since then rumours of delay, of as much as two years, have swirled around Project 75, under which the Scorpenes have been acquired. Now, Business Standard has learned that work on the first Scorpene submarine has ground to a halt, and it is unlikely to be ready before 2015. And, most disquietingly, that delay is due to a contracting blunder, stemming from the MoD’s propagation of a myth that significant parts of the submarine were being built from Indian components.

This led the MoD to create a special category called Mazagon Procured Materials, or MPM. Of the total project cost of Rs 18,798 crores, some Rs 2700 crores (Euro 400 million) were set aside for MDL to contract directly for submarine materials. But the impression created --- by giving MDL a budget for locally procuring materials and systems from multiple vendors --- was false. The bulk of the MPM budget, as the MoD knew, would go straight to a single vendor: French company, Armaris, with whom India signed the Scorpene contract. This would pay for critical submarine systems, including the engine, the generators and special submarine steels.

There was no question of competitive bidding for these items. Since they affected crucial aspects of the Scorpene’s performance, such as noise levels, they had to be bought from the original vendor, Armaris, for performance guarantees to be valid.

It is not clear why the MoD left these crucial Scorpene systems unpriced. What is clear is that French company DCNS, which took over Armaris in 2007, is now demanding close to Rs 4700 crores (Euro 700 million) for these items, almost twice what was budgeted.

Minister of State for Defence, Pallam Raju, has told Business Standard that DCNS is basing its higher demand on cost inflation since the contract was signed in October 2005. The MoD is asking the French government to intercede with DCNS, but Paris is unwilling to help.

Mr Raju says, “We expect the French government to play a role in ensuring that it (the MPM items) is not priced abnormally high. We understand their need to make a profit, but the price should not be abnormally high. But we feel that the French government is shirking their responsibility.”

The MoD has pleaded its case with a range of French officials, but in vain. Says Pallam Raju, “I visited Paris (in June 09) and I had a meeting with DCNS. They assured us that they will hold our hand, but we are not getting that comfort level. I projected [the case] to the French defence minister as well. [In November] we had a senior French MoD bureaucrat… come [to Delhi] and I reflected it to him as well.

The MoD blames DCNS’ takeover of Armaris for further complicating negotiations. But that does not answer why a contract that took nine years to finalise failed to fix prices for materials worth Rs 2700 crores.

Senior naval officers who are familiar with the negotiations point out, “The inclusion of so many crucial systems in the MPM package --- systems that everyone knew had to be bought from Armaris/DCNS --- was a grave contracting mistake. This was done to give the impression of greater indigenisation… since these would apparently be items that MDL was procuring. But this scheme has backfired badly.”

Naval planners are struggling to deal with a situation where the induction of Scorpene submarines remains far away. Only after the MoD and DCNS agree on a price will production begin in France of the engines, generators and other systems that are included in the MPM category. Technicians working on Project 75 estimate that, once a price is fixed and a contract signed, it will be 33-36 months before the items are delivered to MDL and fitted on the first Scorpene. Then will start the painstaking process of outfitting the rest of the vessel, fitting weapons and sensors and carrying out lengthy trials before handing over the submarine to the navy.

But work in the East Yard has not entirely stopped. Having completed the first hull, MDL is going ahead with fabricating the second and the third. Officials involved in Project 75 say this will allow submarines to be delivered at 9-month intervals, rather than the planned 12 months.

But until the MPM contract is signed, and the systems delivered, MDL’s East Yard will not be producing submarines, but 200-foot-long metal tubes for a project that began two decades ago, and has gradually become a symbol of ineffective defence planning.

 

[Ammyy]

@ Dash

you are talking about scorpian and m asking about Second sub of Arihant class

 

[Dash]

@ Dash

you are talking about scorpian and m asking about Second sub of Arihant class

Sorry, i was actually replying to Indian Rabit and quoted your post.

Second sub Ariahnt, well expect it to hit waters by 2016-17, at the same time IAC2 will be ready for launch.

and that will make perfect sense.