Indian, US Navies to undertake submarine rescue operations

If an Indian submarine gets "disabled" deep underwater, the sailors are sunk since the country has only rudimentary submarine rescue facilities. Now, in a unique and complex endeavour, Indian and US Navies are coming together to practice the rescue of "trapped" submariners from deep under the sea.

The Indo-US submarine rescue exercise will start later this month, with the US Navy slated to fly down a submarine rescue system - a deep-submergence rescue vessel (DSRV) or a submarine rescue chamber (SRC) — to Mumbai, say sources.

The DSRV or SRC will then be shipped to the exercise area, where it will dive deep underwater to "mate" with the "disabled" submarine to rescue sailors in an intricate manoeuvre rarely practiced by Indian sailors.

A DSRV or "mini submarine", equipped with pressurised chambers, sonars and cameras, can rescue 24 sailors at a time from a depth up to 610 metres after "mating" with a stricken vessel's hatch. At present, Indian sailors only bank upon "submarine escape pressurized suits", or the help of diving support ships like INS Nireekshak, but they can be used only for relatively shallow depths.

Navy's endeavour to procure two DSRVs of its own, for just about Rs 1,000 crore, has been stuck in the doldrums for well over a decade now. As "an interim measure" in 1997, India had inked the contract with the US Navy for its "global submarine rescue fly-away kit" service, paying an initial $734,443 for it.

But the agreement also got derailed due to the post-Pokhran-II sanctions in 1998. It was later revived in 2004, but there has been a huge delay in setting up the requisite infrastructure needed for it. This also included fitting of "Padeyes" - holding devices welded into submarine escape hatches to secure the DSRV - on Indian submarines. The US rescue system, as per the deal, will be transported to India within 72 hours of an emergency.

Proper submarine rescue facilities are critical for India since it has an ageing fleet of 14 diesel-electric submarines — 10 Russian `Kilo' class and four German HDW ones — apart from the nuclear-powered INS Chakra leased from Russia earlier this year.

There are also six French Scorpene "killer" submarines, being constructed at Mazagon Docks under the Rs 23,562 crore 'Project-75', slated for delivery in 2015-20, three years behind schedule. India also hopes to make its own nuclear submarine INS Arihant operational next year, which is to be followed by two additional "follow-on vessels".