Indian Navy Saves Its Massively Damaged Guided Missile Frigate Betwa

India's Ministry of Defense document shows that more than two dozen accidents have been reported involving naval warships and submarines since 2011.

India has saved its most spirited ship that tipped over at a Mumbai dockyard last December. Defense sources say that INS Betwa, a guided missile frigate, is back on even keel. The Indian Navy hopes that the ship will be operational by 2018. The Indian Navy has spent approximately three million dollar in the process. Winner of the Indian Navy's "most spirited ship" award for the year 2016 had tipped over on December 5 during undocking evolution and it was suspected that the dock-block mechanism had failed. The accident had left two sailors dead and 14 injured.

"The ship was made upright on Tuesday night and is now floating on even keel. The condition is good. There is some water inside which is being pumped out," Navy Spokesperson Capt DK Sharma said. The ship would now be moved to a nearby dock either Hughes or Duncan.

US-based Resolve Marine Group had been contracted by the Indian Navy to bring the ship to level position as it lacked crane big enough to lift the big ship. Resolve Marine Group had also salvaged the Indian Navy submarine Sindhurakshak that sank in the Mumbai Naval Dockyard on August 14, 2013. However, the submarine has not been able to perform its operations at full capability till date.

The 126.5-meter highly-prized 3,850-ton guided missile frigate Betwa had been commissioned in 2004. INS Betwa can sail with a speed of 27 knots and is armed with anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles and torpedoes.

Ukraine Pitches To Break Russian Monopoly in India

Ukraine has launched an aggressive effort to manage multiple overloaded armaments and weaponry that New Delhi acquired during the Soviet era and which have become a liability for the Indian defense forces.

Armed with the salutations of a government-level delegation (to negate the strains in the relationship between the two countries since Ukraine sold T-80 U tanks to Pakistan in the early 1990s) and with over a dozen defense companies showcasing new programs at Defexpo, Ukraine is attempting to embrace India and break the Russian monopoly on the Soviet-era platforms.

Perto Fedoruk, chief adviser to Ukraine’s largest defense industry consortium, Ukroboronprom, said: “We are here now [in] India for the long term to manage Soviet-era headaches, which India cannot manage alone.”

“For nearly a decade Russia has forcefully blocked our entry," Fedoruk said. "We have offered multiple solutions to give new life to Soviet-era weaponry [with Indian defense forces], as we are the original equipment manufacturer.”

According to a Ukrainian diplomat, “India cannot resolve the headaches of overloaded Soviet-era platforms without Ukraine."

Nikolay Gordienko, head of Ukroboronprom naval projects, said: “India has now permitted us to participate in defense programs independently, and we are offering a new solution to manage and refit the Soviet-era aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov [renamed as INS Vikramaditya], which is 50 percent cheaper than the Russian offer."

The Indian Navy is evaluating a proposal by Ukraine for overhaul and maintenance of gas turbines used in Delhi-class warships and the carrier Admiral Gorshkov.

The Ukroboronprom deputy director general of strategy, Artur Kheruvymov, said India plans to organize a “joint military technical commission for providing service support for Soviet-era weaponry."

"In addition, the two countries are also planning to form joint ventures in India for upgradation and overhaul and manufacture of spares for Soviet-built air defense systems, including the Kvadrat, OSA-AKM Strela-1, Tunguska, Shilka, portable IGLA and Strela-2 systems," Kheruvymov said.

Ukraine is doing more than $100 million in annual defense business with India, and aims to increase it to $500 million in the next three years, he said.

Over 700 defense contracts related to the delivery of spares, repair and upgrade valued at over $2 billion were signed and completed in the last 10 years.

“We have now managed to make a breakthrough,” according to the Ukrainian diplomat, who added: “India has now decided not to buy [the] electronic support measure system used to detect and track stealth aircraft and Vympel R-27 medium-range air-to-air missiles from us instead of from Russia.”

Ukraine has also offered to collaborate with India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to jointly develop multiple rocket launcher systems with a range of 100 kilometers — similar to Russian Grad systems.

“In addition, we will also be developing a variety of new electronic warfare systems with DRDO and a partnership has been sealed recently,” Fedoruk said.

Ukroboronprom is also sealing a partnership with state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to indigenize Russian T-90 main battle tanks and set up a facility to manufacture spares in India.

Ukraine has also entered into a partnership with state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics for supply of crucial spares for Russian Sukhoi aircraft.

Ministry of defence reconsidering blacklisting policy

In February 2013, Italian prosecutors arrested Giuseppe Orsi, the chief executive of Italian defence multinational, Finmeccanica on suspicion of paying bribes to facilitate the sale of VIP helicopters to India. Since then, the ministry of defence (MoD) has been in a quandary about whether to blacklist Finmeccanica and all its subsidiaries, or only AgustaWestland, the subsidiary that built and sold the AW-101 helicopters to India.

 Blacklisting all Finmeccanica companies - which include marine specialist, WASS; radar and communications specialist Selex Electronics Systems; aerospace giant, Alenia Aeromacchi; and armaments major, Otomelara - would undermine Indian tenders, in which they are important players.

On Saturday, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said the MoD would see how wrongdoers could be punished without blocking acquisitions and the flow of spares.

 "It is a serious challenge. We have to balance between two competing public interests. One is contracts are meant to be abided with and not violated, even by our suppliers. The other is the larger public interest in terms of our national security and defence preparedness. We are finding an answer. You will hear from us soon."

Referring to the AW-101 VIP helicopters, of which India had taken delivery of three before ending the contract with AgustaWestland for twelve, Jaitley said the decision "relates to cases where (a) violations have taken place and (b) the consequences of those violations affect our defence preparedness…particularly where parts and spares are to be made available."

 The MoD has been alarmed by the potential consequences of blacklisting all Finmeccanica subsidiaries. WASS has been selected in a $300-million tender to supply 98 Black Shark torpedoes for the Scorpene submarines. A reconsideration of this would delay the operationalisation of the Scorpene, several years late. When the submarines start joining the navy's fleet in 2016, it will be armed only with the Exocet anti-ship missile. There will be no weapon to take on Pakistan's silent new Khalid-class submarines, the French Agosta-90B. WASS is also a contender for a new decoy system for torpedoes.

 Finmeccanica company, Otomelara, is the licensee for 76-millimetre (mm) guns, built by Bharat Heavy Electricals, which equip all Indian warships. Otomelara is a leading bidder in the navy contract for heavier 127 millimetre guns, considered more suitable than the lighter, older guns. It is being considered for supplying 12.7-mm stabilised guns.

 A subsidiary, Selex Electronics Systems (Selex ES), is fitting radar systems on the INS Vikrant, the navy's indigenous aircraft carrier being built by Cochin Shipyard. Cancelling this would cause major delay in a project three years behind schedule. Selex ES is bidding to upgrade the navy's Kamov-28 anti-submarine helicopter. It has completed trials for supplying an advanced pilotless target aircraft, for training air defence gunners.

 Meanwhile, Alenia Aeromacchi, a subsidiary, is a desired partner in the project for the Indian private sector to build 56 transport aircraft to replace the obsolescent Indian Air Force (IAF) Avro. Alenia's C-27J transport aircraft, a proven design, is considered closest to what the IAF desires.

 AgustaWestland is a leading contender for supplying the navy with a multi-role helicopter in the 12-tonne class, to fly from warships and perform the job the Sea King 42B has been doing for decades. With three AW-101 VIP helicopters delivered, ending the contract would create uncertainty about spares and support.

 Since the blacklisting of AgustaWestland, the United Progressive Alliance government failed to take a decision on Finmeccanica. Since it came to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has sent mixed messages.

 In June, Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh had indicated he would not favour trigger-happy blacklisting that may hinder Indian defence procurement by preventing many companies from responding to Indian tenders. Yet, earlier this month, the MoD sent a circular directing that, while tenders involving Finmeccanica companies could continue being evaluated, no Finmeccanica company would be awarded a contract.

INS INS Kamorta, India's first indigenously built anti-submarine warship, inducted

 

India's first indigenously built submarine hunting ship, INS Kamorta was handed over to the Navy byGarden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd. (GRSE) here Saturday, a defence statement said.

 

The super-sophisticated frontline warship will be formally handed over by GRSE chairman and managing director, Rear Admiral (retd) A.K. Verma to the Indian Navy at a brief ceremony at GRSE's fitting-out jetty.

 

INS Kamorta, first in its class of four ASW corvettes being built by GRSE for the Indian Navy, is the first Indian naval warship ever built in the country with almost 90 percent of indigenous content, a defence ministry release said.

 

It is also the first naval warship built in the country with indigenously developed special grade high-tensile (DMR249A) steel produced by Steel Authority of India. The hull of the ship encompasses the bulk of sensors and weapon systems that are also indigenously manufactured by various Indian industries.

 

The ASW corvette brings to fruition a significant project in India's pursuit for self-reliance in indigenous warship building, bringing closer home the navy's quest to be a "Builder's Navy" as well as a true "Blue-water Navy" with ships and submarines designed and built within the country.

 

Designed by Directorate of Naval Design (DND), the successful construction of ASW corvettes with advanced stealth features also bears testimony to GRSE's growing capabilities in building state-of-the-art naval combatants comparable with the best in the world, the release added.

Import-dependence impacting Indian forces' combat-readiness

The commissioning of INS Kolkata in Mazagon Docks Ltd (MDL) Mumbai, with due pomp and circumstance, on Aug 16 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was an event of considerable significance for both the Indian Navy (IN) and the nation. So far the biggest Indian-built warship to join the navy, the size, firepower and advanced technologies incorporated in this 7,500-tonne guided-missile destroyer make it a formidable weapon platform.

What places the Kolkata many notches above most of its contemporaries is the advanced multi-function radar embedded in its mast and a long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) to be delivered shortly.

 

Two sister ships of this class will join the IN in due course, adding more punch to our navy which is rapidly approaching world-class status. While the successful commissioning of this potent warship does call for celebrations, exaggerated claims about the levels of indigenisation and hyperbole about self-reliance also demand quiet introspection.

 Excessive self-delusion can prove just as damaging as unnecessary self-denigration; and nothing proves this better than the sorry state of defence research and production that has pushed India to No.1 position as an arms importer. Kolkata's commissioning is an opportune juncture to strike a balance sheet which may help us break out of the vicious circle of delayed indigenous projects and increasing import dependency.

 

On the positive side, the Directorate General of Naval Design, which started in the 1960s with the modified Leander class frigates, has over the years brought great credit for itself by creating a series of elegant, functional and combat-worthy warships of the Delhi, Shivalik and now the Kolkata class. The Kolkata's design claims 'stealth' features, which should render it difficult for the adversary to detect. The navy's unique Weapon and Electronic Systems Engineering Establishment (WESEE), undertook the herculean task of integrating the melange of Russian, Israeli, Dutch, French, Italian, and Indian systems which went into this ship. Nowhere else in the world is such a complex undertaking attempted, but WESEE's endeavours have been invariably rewarded with success. To WESEE also goes huge credit for developing the electronic nerve-centre of the ship, its combat management system or CMS - again a unique and sterling achievement.

 

MDL, a public sector shipbuilding yard, deserves praise for having skilfully built and steadily delivered high quality warships and submarines to the IN for the past half-century. At the same time there is no denying the fact that every MDL project has been dogged by huge time delays (Kolkata took 11 years to build) and embarrassing cost overruns, which have had an adverse impact on the navy's force levels and fiscal planning. Warship building is supported by a network of dedicated ancillary industries which produce most of the systems required for 'domestic and hotel services' on board warships. It is their contribution, added to the steel hull of the ship, welded in MDL, which appears to underpin inflated claims of indigenous content (perhaps by weight or volume) made for all our warships - including the Kolkata.

 

However, we need to squarely face the fact that the ability of Indian built warships 'to move, to see and to fight' comes almost exclusively from high-technology systems imported from abroad. A media scan shows that the Kolkata's gas-turbine engines, generators, propellers and shafting, gear-box, gun systems, the surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, and radars are all imported. Most systems claimed as 'indigenous' have been assembled under licence - with minimal value-addition by Indian scientists. Thus, if the value of imported content is reckoned, it may come to as much as 70-80 percent of the ship's cost.

 

Here it is appropriate to cite two outstanding success stories related to the DRDO. One emanates from its Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) which has provided a state-of-the-art 'Humsa' sonar, as well as other anti-submarine warfare (ASW) devices for the Kolkata. The provenance of Humsa sonar goes to 1975 when a brilliant naval electronic engineer, Lieutenant Arogyaswamy Paul Raj, led a NPOL team to develop an advanced panoramic sonar; then at the cutting edge of technology. Since then, the IN and NPOL have worked in close collaboration to successfully develop a series of ASW systems that equip our front-line ships today.

 

The second instance relates to an offer made by the Israeli Navy to the IN in 2004-05, on behalf of their industry, of a long-range missile with superior anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence capabilities. The 'cherry on the cake' was to be the new multi-function phased-array radar that accompanied it. There was no altruism behind this offer; the small numbers required by the Israelis made the project economically unviable for them, and there were not many nations they could trust with such sensitive technology. Driving a hard bargain, the IN obtained Israeli agreement for joint development and co-production of systems.

 

Showing eminent good sense and pragmatism, the DRDO leadership agreed to the navy's proposal for a path-breaking tripartite collaborative arrangement with the Israelis for the development of the LR-SAM. The funding as well as manpower liabilities were shared by the IN and DRDO. The project, involving DRDO scientists, naval engineers and the defence-industry has rendered tremendous benefits to all three participants and, notwithstanding development delays, will bring the IN to front rank of navies technologically.

 

Are there any lessons to be learnt from the Kolkata experience? Should we not replicate success stories? As the new government takes stock, the import dependence of our armed forces must figure on top of its national security agenda, because it extracts a huge toll in terms of combat-readiness and renders 'strategic autonomy' a meaningless nostrum.

 

Trapped in a time-warp, our defence research and production establishments are verging on dysfunctionality, but there is no one to either take responsibility or demand accountability. The PM's recent exhortation to DRDO scientists to accelerate research and produce timely results will remain rhetorical till a dedicated Raksha Mantri sits in South Block.

India to Unveil First Warship to Deter Chinese Submarines

India will unveil its first home-built anti-submarine warship tomorrow in a move to deter China from conducting underwater patrols near its shores.

 

Defense Minister Arun Jaitley will commission the 3,300-ton INS Kamorta at the southeastern Vishakapatnam port. The move comes a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the largest indigenously built guided-missile destroyer and vowed to bolster the country’s defenses so “no one dares to cast an evil glance at India.”

 

India is playing catch-up to China, which built 20 such warships in the past two years and sent a nuclear submarine to the Indian Ocean in December for a two-month anti-piracy patrol. The waters are home to shipping lanes carrying about 80 percent of the world’s seaborne oil, mostly headed to China and Japan.

 

“As China grows into a naval, maritime power, it will be more and more active in the Indian Ocean,” Taylor Fravel, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies China’s ties with its neighbors, said by phone. “Of course, it will not be due to some hostility or targeted at India, but because of its economic interests in the Indian Ocean, as a lot of trade passes through. Such a presence will certainly raise questions in India, but it need not necessarily be a cause of major conflict.”

 

 

Warship Plans

 

India has lacked anti-submarine corvettes in its 135-warship fleet for more than a decade now, with the decommissioning of the last of the 10-ship Petya-class of 1960s-vintage Soviet corvettes in December 2003. It plans to build 42 more warships, including three more anti-submarine corvettes, over the next decade, according to Rear Admiral A.B. Singh, an Indian navy official.

 

About 90 percent of Kamorta’s components are local, with the hull developed by Steel Authority of India Ltd., medium-range guns by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. and torpedo launchers by Larsen & Toubro Ltd, India’s largest engineering company. The ship is two years behind schedule, according to Commodore B.B. Nagpal, the navy’s principal director for naval design.

 

“It’s a beef up of the Indian Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities against Chinese submarines,” Rear Admiral Raja Menon, a retired Indian official, said by phone, referring to the Kamorta, which is named after an Indian island that was a convict settlement in the 1800s.

 

Even so, he said, “Indian warship building is not comparable to an aggressively modernizing Chinese navy. There is no way we can match China’s efforts.”

 

China Surge

 

China has built 20 Jiangdao-class anti-submarine corvettes since February 2013, when it unveiled the first one. At least 10 more will join the Chinese naval service in the coming months, according to data from IHS Jane’s.

 

China’s Jiangdao-class anti-submarine ships are about half the size of the Kamorta and designed to operate in shallow water, said Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, a retired Indian navy officer. The Indian ship can store helicopters on board and possesses surface warfare and air defense capabilities, he said.

Jaitley, who’s also India’s finance minister, eased rules for foreign investment in the nation’s defense sector and raised spending 12 percent in the current fiscal year to help modernize the armed forces.

 

China spent $188 billion on defense in 2013, about four times more than India, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

 

Energy Needs

 

China has at least 52 submarines in its fleet, including three nuclear-missile vessels and three operating on nuclear power, the U.S. Congressional Research Service said in July, citing Jane’s Fighting Ships 2013-2014 and previous editions. India has a fleet of 14 diesel-electric submarines and a Russian-origin nuclear-powered submarine, according to the Indian Navy.

 

Chinese warships voyaged to the Gulf of Aden for the first time to join anti-piracy patrols in December 2008, two months after India deployed its warships in that role, and have since maintained a presence there. About half of China’s oil imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz and three-quarters of Japan’s, according to data from the Observer Research Foundation.

 

China’s growth means its future energy needs can be met only by supplies from the Gulf region, Africa and North America, according to a 2010 study from the U.S. Defense Department. Such supply points will keep China reliant on maritime transport even as it seeks to develop pipelines to avoid sensitive sea routes such as the Strait of Malacca, it said.

 

Exclusive: This is INS Arihant, First Made-in-India Nuclear Submarine

The INS Arihant, country's first made-at-home nuclear submarine is being built in top secret conditions at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

NDTV's Science Editor Pallava Bagla has accessed the first images of the 6,000-tonne vessel, the first of a class of three nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines with a displacement of 6,000 tonnes. She is designed to carry four nuclear-tipped submarine-launched ballistic missiles called the K-4 which have a range of 3,500 kilometres or a dozen Bo 5 missiles which can strike targets about 700 kilometres away.

The heart of the Arihant is its nuclear reactor, an Indian designed-and-built 83MW pressurized water reactor. The Arihant still faces its biggest trial - the test launch of a ballistic missile while submerged. It is only once that happens that the Arihant will be battle-worthy.

When the submarine is declared fighting-fit, India will become one of only six countries in the world with the knowledge of designing, engineering and operating a nuclear submarine.

Nuclear submarines are the ultimate stealth weapon. Highly mobile and technically capable of remaining underwater for months if required, a ballistic missile submarine effectively gives a nuclear power like India the ability to keep shifting a mobile nuclear base which needs to be prepared to strike after authorized launch codes are transmitted from the country's nuclear command. Detecting nuclear submarines underwater has become a finely calibrated art practiced by the superpowers through decades of the Cold War. The more quiet a nuclear submarine, the more stealthy it is.

 

 

India presently operates another nuclear submarine, the INS Chakra, a nuclear attack submarine of the Akula-2 class from Russia. The Chakra does not carry nuclear weapons but would likely be deployed with the Arihant during its pre-commissioning trials to protect this key nuclear asset.

Like other key strategic weapons systems, the INS Arihant is being developed under the aegis of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which is accountable to the Defence Ministry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the agency in Delhi today and said, "At least five DRDO labs should be identified exclusively for innovation with young scientists up to the age of 35 years. They should be managed by leaders also in the same age group".

 

"DRDO is becoming hollow at the bottom," says Dr Avinash Chander, the agency's chief. He said he can induct only about 70 fresh scientists every year instead of the nearly 300 recruits it used to add annually till recently.

India ramps up defence along China border

India has started ramping up military defences in the Ladakh sector of Jammu and Kashmir that faces China, especially after Beijing has ringed the area with at least six airfields, fighter aircraft, all terrain vehicles and special forces that are backed by top-class metalled roads right up to the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

 

New Delhi will be moving an armoured brigade — some 150 T-72 tanks — to Ladakh and also have Smerch multi-barrel rocket launch units placed at key locations. These are capable of hitting targets 70-80 kms away.

 

An armoured regiment — 46 tanks — had moved in last year to join the Kiari-based 70 Brigade and is now located at a forward sector, 20 km inside the LAC, where India suffered a setback in the 1962 conflict with China. This is separate from the upcoming Armoured Brigade that will be directly controlled by the Leh-based 14 Corps. Its three Regiments, comprising 46 tanks each, will be co-located with existing infantry and artillery regiments of the Indian Army. Meaning an armoured component will be available from the northern most tip, that is the base of the Karokaram pass at Daulat Baig Oldie, to the south eastern extreme of Demchok and Chumar, sources said. Adding up the numbers would mean that over the next 18 months India would have stationed 200 of the T-72 tanks in Ladakh and all night-sight equipped.

 

Ladakh being a plateau is ideal tank country. The only effort is in bringing the tanks through the narrow and high Himlayan passes on the Srinagar-Leh route or the Manali-Leh route.

 

The existing numbers of tanks are just not enough in case of an attack, especially after the Indian side was alerted of threat by way of a specialised exercise by the Chinese to have rapid movement across Tibet and Xinjiang, both abutting Ladakh. The Lanzhou Military Area Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China carried out rapid movement exercises in 2012. The first tank regiment moved to Ladakh in 2013.

 

New Delhi’s fears got an official stamp in March 2013 when the State Council of China published a white paper titled “The Diversified Employment of China’s Armed Forces” that talked about these rapid movements. It claimed the PLA extensively practised the move to concentrate troops. “Trans-military area command movements have been carried out. In 2012, the Chengdu MAC and Lanzhou MAC carried out the exercise.” Lanzhou and Chengdu — are dedicated to India. The Lanzhou MAC is tasked for J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, while the Chengdu MAC is for Chinese frontiers facing Nepal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. China in total has seven MACs.

 

China has ringed J&K with new airfields. The Ngari Gunsa airbase in Tibet has come up just 200 km east of Demchok in India. North of J&K, airbases at Kashgar, Yarkand, Hotan and Qeimo (Cherchen) in Xinjiang can be used to launch an attack.

More tanks and artillery

• New Delhi will be moving an armoured brigade, nearly 150 T-72 tanks, to Ladakh and also have Smerch multi-barrel rocket launch units placed at key locations
• An armoured regiment, 46 tanks, had moved in last year to join the Kiari-based 70 Brigade and is now located at a forward sector, 20 km inside the Line of Actual Control
• Three Regiments, comprising 46 tanks each, of Armoured Brigade will be co-located with existing infantry and artillery regiments of the Indian Army

Rafale fighter jet deal contract with France almost ready: Indian Defence ministry

The much-awaited multi-billion Rafale combat aircraft deal with France has moved a step further with the defence ministry finalizing a 'draft contract', according to top defence ministry officials.

 

Rafale was declared the lowest bidder in Janaury 2012 but the deal has not been inked so far on account of escalation in the cost. The Cost Negotiation Committee, which was set up in February 2012 to work out the modalities for the deal has not reached a conclusion after 30 months of negotiations.

 

The government raised its concerns over this last month, during the visit of French foreign minister Laurent Fabius to New Delhi.

 

"Yes, we are in the process of finalizing the draft contract for the deal. And we also expect the Cost Negotiation Committee to submit its report soon," said a senior defence ministry official, who was privy to the developments.

 

But the official refused to give a time frame for inking the deal. "It is very difficult to predict any date for signing the contract. But, it should happen in the next few months," the officer said, requesting anonymity.

 

The Indian Air Force (IAF), which is coping with a depleted combat strength, claims that even if the deal is signed by the end of the year the first lot of Rafale aircraft would arrive only by 2017, by which time the IAF would have to phase out its MiG-21 squadrons.

 

The likelihood of an early signing is encouraging. Besides, the ruling NDA government has promised to address all the needs of the armed forces to ensure defence preparedness.

 

According to officials privy to the development, the defence ministry has asked representatives of M/s Dassault Aviation – the French manufacturer of Rafale aircraft – to revise the price structure which has gone beyond expected estimates.

 

Officials claim that when the tender was floated in 2007 the cost of the programme was $12 billion (Rs42,000 crore).When the lowest bidder was declared in January 2012, the cost of the deal shot up to $18 billion (Rs90,000 crore). Now with the inclusion of transfer of technology, the life cycle cost and creation of an assembly line, the deal has climbed to a whopping $20 billion.

 

The air force is seeking to replace its aging MiG-21s with a modern fighter and the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) fits between India's high-end Sukhoi-30MKIs and the low-end Tejas LCA lightweight fighter. The IAF has a sanctioned strength of 45 fighter jet squadrons. However, only 30 squadrons are operational as old aircraft have been retired.

 

Eighteen of the 126 new aircraft are to be purchased directly from Dassault and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will manufacture 108 under a licence, at a new facility in Bangalore.

 

Defence minister Arun Jaitley informed parliament last week that "given the complexity of the procurement case, the process of negotiations with Dassault Aviation on various aspects of the commercial proposal and provisions of draft contract is on."

 

Dassault Aviation emerged as L-1 bidder for procurement of the MMRCA based on its quotation.

Sukhoi PAK-FA to be armed with IMPOSSIBLE-TO-EVADE K-77M missile

Sukhoi's PAK-FA fifth generation fighter plane being jointly developed by Russia and India is all set to be armed with never-seen-before advanced air engagement system.
 

 

The K-77M air-to-air missile will combine fire-and-forget guidance and single-shot-kill that will triumph over any evasive manoeuvres by the target.
 

"The major innovation of the K-77M air-to-air missile is its guidance system, based on an active phased array antenna (APAA) of its own, Izvestia daily reports. With APAA onboard, the missile has zero reaction time to unexpected evolutions of the target, which means that once it locks on an aircraft, it would hit it no matter what aerial acrobatics the target would perform to shake off the inbound killer missile," quoted Russia Today.

 

 

The APAA is the most modern technology and is extremely expensive to produce. It consists of large number of cone-shaped cells installed on the nose of the missile. The information obtained from all the cells help system complete a picture and engages the target.

 

The Sukhoi PAK-FA
 

Indian Air Force has signed partnership deal with its most trusted ally- Russia, to jointly develop a Fifth Generation Fighter Place that is expected to be ready by 2022. The Indian version would be based on currently in-development Russian Sukhoi PAK-FA T-50 prototype.

 

 

The aircraft will be jointly developed by Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) and the Sukhoi concern in Moscow. Once operational, it will replace the existing fleet of, Soviet-era, MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-30MKI.

 

 

 Under the USD11-million deal, India will receive its first working prototype by 2014, followed by a second prototype in 2017 and the third in 2019, from Russia.
 

The three prototypes would be subjected to extensive evaluation to test various components, onboard systems and general handling of weapon delivery.

Development of Sukhoi FGFA on course, full-scale development contract being drafted

The front-end engineering design of Sukhoi FGFA, the fifth generation fighter plane being jointly developed by Russia and India for Indian Air Force has been completed.

 

The United Aircraf Corporation (UAC), the company beghind the designing of the state-of-the-art fighter jet, is under the process of preparing the contract for full-scale development of the jet.

The Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) is a fifth-generation fighter being developed by India and Russia.

 

The Indian model will bear slight difference from its Russian counterpart based upon the needs of Indian Air Force.

FGFA was the earlier designation for the Indian version, while the combined project is now called the Perspective Multi-Role Fighter (PMF).

Two separate prototypes will be developed, one by Russia and a separate one by India.

 According to erstwhile HAL chairman A.K. Baweja (speaking shortly after the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Committee meeting on 18 September 2008), both the Russian and Indian versions of the aircraft will be single-seater. The first aircraft is to begin testing in India in 2014, with introduction into service expected by 2022.

 

Last year, India and Russia signed a contract to arm the jet with never-seen-before advanced air engagement system.

The K-77M air-to-air missile will combine fire-and-forget guidance and single-shot-kill that will triumph over any evasive manoeuvres by the target.

"The major innovation of the K-77M air-to-air missile is its guidance system, based on an active phased array antenna (APAA) of its own, Izvestia daily reports. With APAA onboard, the missile has zero reaction time to unexpected evolutions of the target, which means that once it locks on an aircraft, it would hit it no matter what aerial acrobatics the target would perform to shake off the inbound killer missile," quoted Russia Today.

 

A few small production pushes for LCA

A newly created division for the light combat aircraft (LCA) and a bid to make 80 per cent of its components locally are among recent moves taken to spur production of the made-in-India fighter plane once it crosses the last milestone for airworthiness, according to its developer and production agencies.

 

The LCA Division was carved out a few months ago at the manufacturing partner, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. here.

 

In the last one year, R&D agency Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and HAL met small- and mid-sized component manufacturers several times and encouraged them to take up some more components. They aim to raise the LCA’s indigenous content to 80 per cent in three years, up from the present 50 to 55 per cent. The steps are meant to double the rate of delivering the aircraft to the Air Force.

 

Production target

 

Chief of Defence Research and Development Organisation Avinash Chander, and HAL and ADA officials met about 50 Indian vendors at one such meeting. HAL Chairman R.K. Tyagi told them that starting 2015–16, “we aim to roll out 16 LCAs every year, [increasing] from the initial target of eight a year”.

 

Currently, 168 of the 344 LCA components are made in the country.

 

A key defence scientist involved in the programme said HAL and ADA would help manufacturers to pick up at least 10 more simple components and offer the use of government-owned manufacturing and test facilities.

 

“We have the capacity in the country and we have started the process [of increasing local manufacture]. This cost would not exceed the cost of imports. What is significant is, in the long run, this expanded vendor base will readily support future programmes such as the fifth generation fighter aircraft and the multi-role transport aircraft [that HAL and Russia are to co-develop], the advanced medium combat aircraft and LCA MkII,” the scientist told Submariners World.

 

The LCA already has a separate production facility and hangars set up at around Rs. 300 crore.

 

Under development for 25 years, the LCA will enter production and join the Air Force once it passes the last test for battle-readiness, the final operational clearance (FOC). Defence scientists maintain that the FOC should be possible before 2015 as planned.

 

India plans to buy 3 radar reconnaissance aircrafts A-50 in Russia

AEW&C aircrafts A-50 are used to detect and track air targets and surface vessels, warn automated systems of command posts and to control airplanes in sighting

 

India plans to buy three airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircrafts A-50 in Russia, a source in Russian governmental military and industrial commission told ITAR-TASS on Friday.

In 2003 India has already ordered three such warplanes and the contract was fulfilled in 2010.

“India is mulling possible delivery of another three AEW&C aircrafts, talks are on now,” the commission’s source said. He did not specify a timeline planned for a deal to strike.

 

The delivery of AEW&C aircrafts is planned “in the same configuration” as under the agreement in 2003, he said.

 

Meanwhile, the source added that after the A-50 delivery a contract for their maintenance was signed with India, “warplanes pass it successfully with assistance of Russian specialists.”

 

A-50 built on the base of a military transport airplane Ilyushin Il-76MD was brought into service in 1989. AEW&C aircrafts A-50 are used to detect and track air targets and surface vessels, warn automated systems of command posts and to control airplanes in sighting.

INS Kolkata, the Biggest Naval Destroyer, is the weakest link in Defence

Its ironic, but true. INS Kolkata is ready to be launched by the Prime Minister of India-Narendra Modi on Saturday, but it is yet to be battle-ready. Built with an aim to be India's biggest and most powerful guided missile destroyer, this 7,500 ton warship lacks basic weaponry, which cuts down the possibility of detecting incoming missiles and submarines.The ship was under construction for the past 11 years, with a little help from Ukraine and Israel.

 

However, the Israel-built long range surface-to-air missile called the Barak NG is still under construction. The weapon is designed to identify a missile from a range of 100 kilometers and intercept at a range of upto 500 meteres.The missile is ready, but the boosters to propel the missile (at 2 machs), which has been taken up by DRDO have failed.The ship will therefore be laced with a lesser Barack-1 version, which has a shorter range of 10-12 kilometers.

 

Moreover, the ship is also devoid of Active Electronic owed Array Sonar (ATAS), which is attached at the back of the ship to detect any enemy intrusion.Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral AB Singh said,"The lack of ATAS is an unfortunate void."To add icing to the cake, INS Kolkata's main engines were supplied by Ukraine, a country that is war-ridden, which means the long-term availabilty of spares is uncertain.

 

LCA business partners decide to increase indigenisation

The business partners working on India's prestigious Light Combat Aircraft - a lightweight multirole fighter jet - have decided to ensure the indigenous content of components used in the aircraft touches 80 per cent in the next three years.

At the indigenous strategic partners' meet of LCA organised by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited here, Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, Avinash Chander said it is possible to achieve such a goal since 165 out of 344 Line Replacement Units (LRUs) are already made in India.

In his address to the vendors on Monday, representing around 50 companies, he pointed out that LCA dream had been achieved in-spite of denial of technology, according to an HAL release.

"It is clear that we have capability and the government will do everything possible to strengthen the knowledge base.

Even funding can be provided and national facilities (such as testing) may be shared with private players to bring down costs to create a vibrant aerospace eco-system", he added.

HAL Chairman R K Tyagi said the production of LCA is on track with the creation of dedicated production division at HAL Bangalore.

"We are aiming to roll-out 16 LCAs every year from the initial target of eight per year. Having specific business partners on such an important project has been of great help", he added.

T Suvarna Raju, Director (Design and Development, HAL) in his address said coming together of stakeholders is necessary to understand and share the knowledge since India is poised to have its own fighter aircraft comparable to the best in the world.

Yet Another 'Failure' for Akash Missile

Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel on Tuesday conducted a user trial of surface-to-air sophisticated missile Akash from a defence base off the Odisha coast. The missile targeted at Mirage aircraft reportedly failed to deliver the desired results.

 

Defence sources said the indigenously developed missile was test fired from the launching complex - III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea. The missile was to hit the Italian aircraft Mirage, flown prior to the weapon’s launch in a simulated coordination.

 

While DRDO officials claimed that the missile met all mission parameters, sources at the test range told this paper that the missile failed to destroy the target due to delay in take off. “There was a slight disturbance in simulation following a few seconds delay in take off for which the missile failed to hit the target,” the source informed.

 

The test was aimed at gauging the flight consistency and effectiveness of the missile. The complete Akash missile system including targets was operated by IAF personnel exploiting the overall capabilities of system in different envelops. The missile has been already inducted into IAF and the system is in continuous production and induction.

 

As reported by ‘The Express’ earlier, the Akash system has a problem with its radar since long for which the Army had been denying to induct it in the forces for years. The launcher did not get required command in time to fire the missile leading to delay in take off in a couple of occasions in the past.

 

The missile has a range of 25 km to 30 km and an effective ceiling of 18 km. Fuelled by solid propellants, the weapon can fly at supersonic speed of around 2.5 Mach. The 5.8 metre long sleek missile has a launch weight of 720 kg and can carry a warhead of 50 kg.

 

Akash missile system has a passive phased array radar, which is capable of tracking 64 targets and controlling upto 12 missiles simultaneously. As claimed by the DRDO, it can be used to counter ballistic and cruise missiles, enemy aircraft and air-to-surface missiles.

Why sea-based nuclear weapons won't stabilise the Indo-Pacific

China, India and possibly Pakistan intend to deploy nuclear weapons at sea. Ultimately, such deployments may well have a stabilising effect — that is, they may reduce the risk of full-scale war and nuclear use. Sea-based nuclear weapons might, for instance, fit well with 'no-first-use' doctrines.

 They might also encourage reduced investment in more destabilising forces such as weapons fired from fixed sites, which are vulnerable and thus suited to a 'first strike'. And after all, sea-based nuclear weapons were widely seen as stabilising during the Cold War. 

 

However, we should beware of applying simple retrospective visions of the US-Soviet balance to the Asian strategic scene. There are various reasons to doubt that deployment of sea-based nuclear weapons in Indo-Pacific Asia will be stabilising. 

 

First, to state the obvious, there are three independent centres of nuclear power in Asia: China, India and Pakistan. And that is before counting the US and Russia, as well as North Korea, which one day could also want to base some of its weapons at sea. This fundamental element of the Asian nuclear scene will remain regardless of where weapons are based.

 

Second, although wanting the permanent presence of nuclear weapons at sea as a second-strike capability to guarantee their survival is arguably a stabilising factor, that may not be the driving motivation of all three countries. There seems to be strong interest in China and India, at least, in the symbolic value of strategic submarines, including for parochial or bureaucratic reasons. In addition, these two countries may prefer to avoid deploying nuclear-armed sea-launched ballistic missiles, in order to maximise political control over the weapons. It should also be added, regarding China, that the choice of a secure SSBN base on Hainan island, where berths are largely immune to a first strike, puts less pressure on Beijing to adopt a practice of continuous at-sea deterrence. 

 

Third, deployment of nuclear weapons at sea in Indo-Pacific Asia does not only mean strategic missiles based on submarines.

 

It may include cruise missiles on vulnerable surface platforms. It will also probably include theatre systems designed to target naval forces, notably by Pakistan. This would not be a stabilising factor if command-and-control dilemmas for such systems are resolved in a way that dilutes the ability of national authorities to maintain the highest degree of political control over the weapons at all times. It should be remembered that probably the closest call for the use of nuclear weapons since 1945 concerned naval theatre weapons: it was in Cuba in October 1962.

 

Fourth, Indo-Pacific waters lend themselves less easily to the deployment of non-detectable submarines than was the case for the Cold War confrontation, when the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans offered more opportunities. This is especially true since India and Pakistan are likely to field only medium-range systems for some time, forcing their submarines to operate relatively close to the adversary's shores. It is also worth mentioning that unlikely accidents can happen, as was the case in 2009 when British and French SSBNs collided, and it took them a while to realise what had happened.

 

More generally, the transition period towards the deployment of operational SSBNs by China, India and Pakistan is likely to be long, tortuous and dangerous, for technical and budgetary reasons. What happens if one (or two) of the three countries manages to have a secure sea-based second-strike capability well before the others? 

 

Simply put, it is impossible to argue that the deployment of sea-based nuclear weapons in Indo-Pacific Asia will be inherently stabilising.

The dangers of SSBN proliferation in Indo-Pacific Asia

It has become commonplace to lament the arms races underway in Indo-Pacific Asia.

 

China's military modernisation over the last two decades has helped provoke heightened political tensions and growing concern in capitals from Tokyo to New Delhi to Washington and Moscow.

 

North Korea's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems keeps tensions in Northeast Asia high. The Indian subcontinent is home to two nuclear powers that have fought four wars over the last 65 years. Many countries in the Asian littoral have undertaken serious rearmament programs, and across the region strategists see a proliferation of missiles of all types — anti-access systems, aerospace capabilities and naval platforms, among others

. 

Regional nuclear modernisation programs, especially the development of submarines (nuclear powered or conventional) armed with nuclear weapons, are of special concern.

 

China and India are committed to producing more nuclear-capable delivery systems and weapons with greater range, accuracy and features that make them more lethal and thus more threatening to potential adversaries. Meanwhile Pakistan is pursuing its own program to acquire more capable submarines from China. While no one is arguing, as yet, that Pakistan intends to acquire ballistic missile submarines, some analysts hint that nuclear-tipped cruise missiles are a real possibility. Given Pakistan's record on nuclear proliferation over the past decades, such fears appear real. 

 

With the possible exception of America, powers external to the Indo-Pacific (Russia, for example) are also pursuing strategic modernisation. Russia, lest anyone forget, is an Indo-Pacific nuclear power by virtue of its Pacific Fleet, complete with its latest model SSBNs (in the American lexicon: Ship, Submersible, Ballistic, Nuclear), the Borei class, armed with Bulava missiles. Even the US is investing in the research and development preliminary to building a replacement for the Ohio-class submarines that currently constitute the sea-based leg of the American nuclear triad. American strategic modernisation is not a driver in the region's strategic dynamics, but insofar as the US is executing an Asian 'pivot', American military capabilities, nuclear and conventional, remain important. 

 

This short post will not attempt a net assessment of regional or bilateral rivalries. A full analysis would need to look more closely at all dimensions of military power as well as the impact of American forces in the region. But a simple scan of the table above allows one small observation for a region that may soon be in the grips of a full-blown nuclear arms race. The prospects for stable, long-term peace (meaning greater strategic stability, the reduction of crisis instability, and fewer opportunities for accidents, chance and misperception to lead to conflict) depend, in part, on taking steps sooner rather than later to rein in potentially destabilising developments. At present, regional SSBN programs are not so advanced, and the numbers of platforms and weapons are not so large, that steps cannot avert a widening arms race. 

 

Growing numbers of submarines with nuclear-armed ballistic missiles may preserve second-strike capabilities for their possessors (and thus, debatably, contribute to strategic stability). But in the increasingly crowded seas of  Indo-Pacific Asia, greater numbers also lead to more opportunities for accidents, chance and misperception.

 

Submarine accidents are not unknown: the national tragedy of a lost boat and its crew might quickly become a regional or even global crisis if reactors or nuclear weapons have problems. Submarine operations in cramped seas also raise the possibility that one side or another will encounter the other in a crisis, with unpredictable results. Slowly maturing command and control (C2 ) and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) technologies still have a ways to go (look how long it took in US and the Soviet Union to develop their systems).

 

Furthermore, few speak of the challenge of ensuring the political and professional reliability of crews (while the mature nuclear powers rarely focus today on crew reliability, such concerns were quite real in the not-so-distant past). Nor are SSBNs and ballistic missiles in the Indo-Pacific the only aspect of undersea warfare and nuclear weapons that should trouble us: surface fleets, mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare and so forth increase the danger of incidents at sea, and they could raise the potential for a nuclear crisis. Knowledgeable analysts are concerned that the next stage of the Indo-Pacific naval arms race will involve still more submarines with nuclear sea-launched cruise missiles. 

Three 'nots'

If regional actors (not just the states currently pursuing SSBNs but other concerned parties) are to act to avert further arms racing and stabilise the emerging undersea deterrent, they must recognise the situation for what it is. A nuclear arms race at sea is:

• Not simply a local or regional issue.
• Not simply a military issue.
• And not simply a navy or maritime issue.

A nuclear arms race at sea is a global problem with far-reaching implications for proliferation, conventional arms modernisation, and the possibility of arms control. The mere existence of such systems makes it more likely that the so-called nuclear taboo might finally be broken. An undersea nuclear race is deeply political because it affects the geopolitical rivalry among great and regional powers, not to mention alliance structures and patterns of regional governance.

 

For all regional military forces, such a nuclear arms race at sea is not simply the business of navies: SSBNs affect joint and combined operations in ways big and small, and blur important distinctions between conventional and nuclear systems. It is worrisome that despite some recent developments there has been, in general, asymmetric progress in developing weapons systems versus the C2, ISR, training/readiness, and nuclear doctrine necessary to deploy sea-based deterrent systems safely and reliably. 

 

Although prudence on the part of India, China and other regional powers may alleviate these concerns, it may not be sufficient for those interested in regional stability. In the end, although it is not fashionable to advocate for arms control much less naval arms control, strategists and policy makers should remember the words of Schelling and Halperin: 'the essential feature of arms control is the recognition of the common interest, of the possibility of reciprocation and cooperation even between potential enemies with respect to their militaries.' And, in the words of Robert Jervis, which seem especially prescient with regard to naval nuclear arms racing in the Indo-Pacific, 'because the security dilemma and crisis instability can exacerbate if not create conflicts, potential enemies will have an interest in developing arms control arrangements.'

India to indigenously build periscopes for navy

India, in a step towards enhancing its underwater operational capabilities, will equip its Navy submarines with indigenous periscopes.

Talking to an English Daily, The Tribune in Dehradun, Avinash Chander, Scientific Adviser to Union Defence Minister and Director General, Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO),

 

disclosed that a periscope constituted an important component of submarines and the DRDO was working towards giving the Indian Navy its first indigenous periscope within the next two years.

 

When a submarine is submerged, a periscope can provide a view of the objects on the surface of water and in the air. Chander said the DRDO was also working to install state-of-the-art fire control system and night vision devises in naval ships.

 

He disclosed that the DRDO was engaged in developing a sensor fabrication facility. The Rs7 billion project will enable indigenisation of sensors which will enhance efficiency of country’s weaponry.

Currently, these sensors were being imported from France, Israel and Russia. Chander said the country’s spending on Research and Development was minuscule, probably the lowest in the world.

Submarines: India Battles The Tides And Loses

March 3, 2014: On January 17th an Indian Kilo class submarine went aground while entering Mumbai harbor. This happened in part because of poor timing. The sub was supposed to enter the harbor at 4 PM but was delayed 90 minutes and when it did get going it didn’t make it because the tide was going out. Tugs were dispatched to help get the sub free at the next high tide and the boat was got free and docked. A close examination of the sub found no damage.

 

Mumbai harbour has a tricky tide, with the difference between high and low tide being about three meters (19 feet). When the tide changes, if often does so very quickly.

 

A board of inquiry will investigate the accident. It is already known that the navy has been tardy in awarding a contract for the dredging of the channel warships use to get in and out of the harbor. The Indian military has long been cursed with delays, often very long, in the awarding of procurement and service contracts. This has gotten worse lately because of increased efforts to eliminate corruption. In any event the channel was silting up and while there was still enough depth (at least 7 meters, or 21 feet, for a Kilo) that was no longer the case at low tide. The captain of the sub, and his navigation officer, may take a hit for this one.