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.

Arun Jaitley to review Scorpene submarine project in Mumbai today

Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley will on Monday review Scorpene submarine project here.

The six Scorpenes are being constructed at the Mazagon Dockyards Limited (MDL) in Mumbai under Project-75 under technology transfer from French firm DCNS.

The first of the six Scorpene submarines ordered by the Indian Navy from DCNS in 2005, as part of the technology transfer between the two countries, will be rolled out by 2014.

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.

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.

 

Indian Navy Wants To Fast-Track Purchase of Russian Subs

The Indian Defence Ministry’s delay in floating a tender for six conventional submarines appears to be helping Russia, as the Indian Navy is now asking the MoD to buy two Russian-built Amur-class subs to help restock the shrinking force.

 

The $12 billion global tender would cover the purchase of six conventional submarines with air independent propulsion (AIP) technology under the Indian Navy’s Project 75-I.

A high-level team from Rosoboronexport was in New Delhi two weeks ago to negotiate the sale or lease of two Amur-class subs, said a source in MoD who gave no details of the deliberations.

The Indian Navy also plans to build six conventional Scorpene submarines under license by DCNS of France at Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks. The delivery of those submarines has been delayed by more than four years. The first of the six submarines will now be inducted into the Navy by 2016 compared with the original delivery date of 2012.

“The delay in Scorpene delivery as well as the delay in [the 75-I] submarine project has led to extreme depletion of [the] submarine arm,” said retired Indian Navy Capt. Shyam Kumar Singh. “The next new submarine will be ready to join the fleet only in 2018. Therefore the earnest need to procure the submarines from Russia.”

Russia leased the nuclear submarine Chakra in 1984, the only country to lease a nuclear submarine to India.

The Indian Navy operates seven Russian-made Kilo-class and four German-made SSK submarines, the last of which joined service in the late 1990s.

In the past year, three Kilo-class submarines were unavailable due to accidents and delays by the state-run shipyard at Vizag.

Though the Navy has asked the MoD to negotiate the purchase of two Amur subs, there is a difference of opinion among service officials about whether to buy Russian or Western-built vessels.

One faction favors the Russian-made AIP submarines, finding them more safe and robust while another group, mostly younger, prefers Western submarines based on a better score in electronics, control and sensors.

“Russian submarines are cheaper to maintain as the Indian Navy has invested heavily in creating relevant infrastructure to support the boats,” a senior Navy officer said. “Besides, there is adequate training on Russian submarines.”

Another officer rebutted: “While the Russian submarines are cheaper to buy initially, their support is expensive and has become an issue with the Indian Navy. While the French and the Western submarines are easier to maintain there are issues of transfer of technology of critical systems.”

While the Navy is facing depleting submarine fleet strength, there is uncertainty over the floating of the $12 billion tender under Project 75-I, now delayed by more than four years. The MoD has not given a reason for the delay in floating the tender.

“The project will not be scrapped,” Singh said. “However, the initial specifications were drawn sometime in 2006-07. It has already been eight years since then. Even if the tender is floated now, it will take at least 10 years for the first submarine to be built at the fastest and [it will be] outdated. The chances are that the specification may be changed. This could be the reason for delay in floating the formal tender.”

The overseas defense shipyards that have shown interest in Project 75-I include DCNS, for its Scorpene with AIP system; HDW of Germany with its Type 214 with Siemens Fuel Cell AIP submarine; Russia with its Amur-class submarine; and Fincantieri of Italy with its S-1000 submarine.

The strength of the Indian Navy submarine fleet has dwindled from a total of 21 vessels in the 1980s to 14. Yet China has more than 60 boats, a point of major concern to the Indian Navy, an official said.

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.

Fire in cables led to INS Sindhuratna mishap: Navy

INS Sindhuratna was caused due to problems in the cable and not the battery compartment, as was being feared earlier, Navy officials said here.

The investigations are still going on into the incident and other two accidents involving the Kilo class submarines of the Navy in the last seven months, they said.

The battery pit has been found to be fully safe and the fire took place in the compartment above it, Navy officials said.

Former Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi resigned after the accident involving the Sindhuratna taking moral responsibility of the ten accidents involving maritime force's assets.

The Sindhuratna is one of the navy's fleet of nine Kilo class submarines. A tenth submarine, the INS Sindhurakshak exploded and sank in the naval dockyard on August 14, 2013 killing 18 crewmen on board. The Sindhuratna was moored nearby and suffered minor fire damage when the Sindhurakshak exploded.

The board of inquiry (BoI) into the February 26 accident has found that the fire in

The fire in submarine INS Sindhuratna, which resulted in the death of two officers and severely affected seven other sailors last week, was caused due to problems in the cables of the vessel.

Revealed: Delay in changing submarine batteries could have caused INS Sindhuratna tragedy

Red tape has crippled the blue water capabilities of the Indian Navyand the nation is now paying in blood for it.
 

A shortage of submarine batteries after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) objected to the acquisition process may well be the starting point of the series of unfortunate events that resulted in the INS Sindhuratna mishap early on Wednesday.
 

Sources say that the batteries on the INS Sindhuratna were not changed during its refit that ended in December 2013.

 

The facts that are now surfacing from the depths of the Arabian Sea point to running the ill-fated submarine on ageing batteries as the likeliest reason for the explosion that claimed the lives of two officers and injured seven sailors earlier this week.
 

The INS Sindhuratna is a diesel-electric vessel, and runs on battery power while submerged. That power is provided by 240 lead acid batteries that weigh about 800kg each.
 

These batteries tend to release flammable hydrogen gas, especially when they are being charged, and submarines have safety systems to address emergencies arising out of this. Old batteries are even worse.
 

The high level probe ordered by the Navy under Flag Officer (Submarines) Rear Admiral S.V. Bokhare will go into various aspects of the accident. It will be centered on finding the cause of explosion in the battery compartment that triggered the release of toxic gases.

The INS Sindhuratna was powered by Russian batteries during the early years of its life in the Indian Navy. Later, the Navy began procuring batteries from an established Indian vendor, Mumbai-based Standard Batteries Limited, later bought out by Exide.

 

 The Navy has bought batteries from Standard for a long time, and the two have had a smooth working relationship. Somewhere down the line, however, the battery purchase process was hit by objections raised by HILIFE Batteries, a Hyderabad-based competitor.

 

HILIFE took the Indian Navy to court, saying its products were superior and cheaper, and that it had been considered good enough to supply batteries for a DRDO submarine project. The MoD also intervened to end the "single vendor situation", a situation that is avoided in acquisition.

 

As the web of litigation grew, battery purchases were hit, sources say, adding that the INS Sindhuratna mishap was waiting to happen.

 

The Iranian Navy operates Kilo-class submarines of the same manufacturing batch as India's (see box) and uses Indian batteries that it replaces regularly. There has been no major mishap reported from Iran's Kilos, and that only points another finger at the old batteries on the INS Sindhuratna.
 

The fact that the Navy is operating Kilo-class submarines for close to 30 years now, much beyond their lifespan, is also a reflection of the breakdown of perspective planning in the MoD.

As per the 30-year perspective plan for submarines, the Navy should have 24 new submarines by 2022. In fact, 12 submarines should have been inducted by 2012 if the plan had remained on track. It is tragic, say old submariners, that the MoD was well aware of the problem and did nothing.
 

 The submarine fleet is centered on 10 Russian Kilo class and four German HDW type 209 submarines. Nuclear-powered INS Chakra was acquired two years ago, the only addition in the last three decades.
 

 The government has been told several times about the teething problems in the construction of six French Scorpene submarines which has delayed the entire acquisition programme. All the six Scorpenes are now expected to be inducted only by 2021.

 

Kilo-class submarines of Soviet design are among the most silent-and proportionately deadly-vessels of their kind. The Sindhuratna, commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1988, had undergone an extensive refit from May through December last year, and was being put through the second, submerged phase of trials that would certify it as operationally fit when disaster struck.
 

The accidents involving two Kilo-class submarines within a span of six months are now likely to speed up the plan for construction of a new line of underwater vessels.

 Iranian Kilo subs running perfectly on Indian batteries
 

The Iranian Navy operates three Kilo class submarines - Tareq, Noor and Yunesh - which are of the same vintage and type as the ones in the Indian Navy.

 

However, Iran is yet to face any serious accident. In fact, the Iranian Navy even routes its batteries from the same Indian vendor, Standard Batteries Limited.

 The sinking of INS Sindhurakshak in August last year and the accident on board the INS Sindhuratna on Wednesday has brought focus on the Russian-made submarines.

 A probe will indicate whether the fire in INS Sindhuratna was caused because of poor maintenance and inferior quality of spares, or because of some other fault.

 

Crossed the Bar and Resting on Their Oars - Two sailors found dead in Indian submarine accident

Two Indian naval officers were found dead Thursday after they went missing in a submarine fire off Mumbai’s coast, the latest in a string of accidents that have forced the navy’s chief to quit.

Seven other crew members were airlifted to hospital with breathing problems after smoke began to fill the vessel’s living quarters on Wednesday, an accident that comes only six months after another deadly submarine disaster in Mumbai.

“The two officers who were earlier declared missing have been located in the (submarine) compartment and after examination by Medical Officers both the officers were declared dead,” said an emailed statement from the defence ministry.

Admiral DK Joshi, the chief of naval staff, announced Wednesday night he was standing down to take “moral responsibility” for the accident on board the Russian-built INS Sindhuratna during exercises. 

Last August, 18 sailors were killed when the fully-armed submarine INS Sindhurakshak exploded in flames and sank in a military shipyard in Mumbai.

That disaster was thought to be the Indian Navy’s worst since the sinking of a frigate by a Pakistani submarine during a war with its neighbour in 1971. Various other naval accidents reported in recent months included a submarine running aground in Mumbai’s harbour, fires on a minesweeping vessel and an aircraft carrier, and a collision between a frigate and a fishing boat. The Indian navy has 14 submarines, but only between seven and nine are operational at any one time because of regular repair and refitting. Defence experts say the navy has an ageing fleet and has struggled with delays in the acquisition of new submarines and poor servicing.

Defence Minister AK Antony told reporters on Thursday that outgoing chief Joshi was “pretty much disturbed about the whole development”.

“He requested me to take his resignation with immediate effects,” Antony said.

While a full inquiry is expected to determine the exact cause of the latest accident, the navy said it appeared to have been due to sparks in a sleeping cabin.

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, smoke filled a compartment and triggered emergency measures, such as the closure of hatches which isolate sections of the submarine. The missing pair “might have been left in the cabin or at some other place as various cabins and compartments are isolated as part of the emergency measures”, PTI quoted an unnamed navy officer as saying on Wednesday.
The stricken submarine docked in Mumbai on Thursday morning, allowing the navy to ventilate the vessel and step up their search for the missing pair.

INS Sindhuratna is a kilo-class submarine which normally operates with a crew of 53 and can sail on its own for 45 days, the navy’s website says.

The submarine had only been handed back to the navy in December after undergoing a major refit, according to local reports.

It had been undergoing trials off the Mumbai coast as part of a clearance process for full operations when the incident occurred. 

Russia is still the biggest military supplier to India, but relations have been strained by major delays and cost overruns with a refurbished aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya.

India - Navy Chief quits over spate of submarine mishaps

India’s navy chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi resigned as chief of the Indian navy, owning “moral responsibility for the accidents and incidents during the past few months”, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. Admiral Joshi is the first Indian military commander to have resigned since General Kodandera Subayya Thimmaiah in 1959 -- and the only to have his resignation accepted by the government.

 

The naval chief's resignation came hours after a fire on board the newly-refitted Sindhuratna claimed the lives of two naval officers and injured seven -- the third in a series of submarine accidents, including an explosion on the Sindhurakshak which exploded and sank in Mumbai’s naval dockyard in August, 2013, killing 18 crew. Last month, the Sindhughosh ran ground on its way to Mumbai harbour, though without loss of life.

 

Experts that the resignation also came against concerns within the navy on the capabilities of its fleet, and “It is highly principled of the Admiral to offer his resignation”, said Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar, a prominent naval analyst and former officer “but I suspect the real reasons have to do with frustration over successive governments failing to modernise the submarine fleet”.

 

Dangerous fleet

 

Five of, of India’s thirteen conventionally-powered submarines, naval sources have told The Hindu, have exceeded their design life. The INS Sindhughosh, Sindhudhaj, the Sindhuraj, Sindhuvir and ill-fated Sindhuratna, all Russian-manufactured Kilo-class submarines, were all inducted between 1986 and 1988. The most recent of the Kilo-class fleet, the Sindhushastra, was puchased in 2000, preceded by the Sindhurakshak in 1997, and the Sindhuvijay was inducted in 1991.

 

The Sindhurakshak had suffered an earlier fire accident in 2010, which claimed the life of a sailor.

 

“In an ideal world”, a senior submarine commander said, “you’d want to keep a submarine in active service for no more than two decades or so. The navy has refitted its submarines to keep them running, but age obviously increases the risks of material failures significantly”.

 

The Navy has long complained of delays in submarine fleet modernisation, at a time when regional navies, notably China, are dramatically expanding their fleets. India also does not have a full-fledged submarine rescue vessel.

 

Vice Admiral Robin Dhowan will take over as Acting Naval Chief till a regular Chief is appointed.

India - Wife of submarine accident victim seeks enquiry

The wife of a person who died in the de-commissioned submarine INS Vagli in Chennai on January 27 has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court seeking compensation and a high-level enquiry into the incident.
 

The petitioner, B. Vijaya Bharathi of Villivakkam said that her husband, Bhavani Shankar, a Chemistry graduate had more than 20 years of experience in vessel-related engineering and was a specialist in the field. He was running ‘Akshaya Marine Engineering,’ a small company. The Tamil Nadu Government had proposed to establish a maritime heritage museum at Mamallapuram near here with the decommissioned submarine as the centre-piece of attraction.
 

Last month, her husband and other workmen were working on the vessel with the aim of getting it towed to Mamallapuram. On January 27, the workers developed giddiness and fell down allegedly due to gas leaking from the submarine. Her husband and another person, Mahendran, were declared dead.
 

The petitioner said that due to the accident, she lost her husband, who was the family’s sole breadwinner. She sent a representation to the authorities for conducting a high-level enquiry into the tragedy and seeking compensation. However, no action was taken. Hence, the present petition.
 

Justice R. Subbiah adjourned the matter for February 26.

 

Indian Navy has to take call on inducting Brahmos' submarine version

Brahmos Aerospace, an Indo-Russia joint venture and manufacturer of the cruise missile, is awaiting decision from the Indian Navy, to induct its submarine version, a top official said on Friday.

Brahmos has successfully test fired the underwater version in March last and "Indian Navy has to take a decision in this regard (induction)," A Shivathanu Pillai, Brahmos CEO, told reporters here.

Shivathanu Pillai, who was here to address the heads of various department and students of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, said the company recently test-fired the missile on Salvo mode.

 

After the successful test firing, eight cruise missiles could be fired on Salvo mode in the future, at different targets, he said.

Boosting Navy's firepower, the 290km-range BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully fired from a naval warship INS Trikand in salvo mode in the Arabian Sea recently.

On export of the cruise missiles, he said so far no decision has been taken for exports, since the requirement in Indian defence was very huge.

DRDO was continuously working to keep Indian soldiers healthy and energetic and trying to find food from ordinary things available in the nature.

It had developed an anti-oxidant juice from sea buck thorn, which were being marketed across the country, he said.

To promote research in biotechnology and nano-technology, DRDO has already set up a Centre for Life Sciences in Bharathiar University here and provided Rs 18 crore for the phase one project.

Another Rs seven crore was recently sanctioned for the phase-two out of Rs 22 crore, and the University will work with Agricultural University in the field of bio and nano technology, for benefit of farmers, he added.

In his address to students, Pillai said with shortage of water in India, researchers, scientists and farmers have to depend totally on technology, to get higher yield and production, to achieve the food security.

Dwelling on expert systems for agriculture, like space technology, solar and nuclear technologies, he said India has become food surplus now, by producing 262.7 million tonnes of foodgrains at the end of green revolution and second green revolution has set a target of 400 million tonnes by 2020.

Refitted Aircraft Carrier to Leave for India November 30 – Deputy Premier

A Russian-built aircraft carrier refitted for the Indian Navy will finally leave for India on November 30, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Monday, following an overhaul that is years late, and cost over twice the original budgeted price.

The carrier Vikramaditya, which is now five years past its original 2008 delivery date, was supposed to have been handed over to India in December 2012 after the contract was renegotiated, but had to undergo additional repairs after last year’s sea trials revealed that the vessel's boilers were not fully functional due to problems with their insulation.

“The problems revealed during sea trials last year have been fixed,” Rogozin, who oversees Russia’s defense and space industries, said at a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

“The ship is ready a month ahead of the handover ceremony and will leave our territorial waters on November 30,” Rogozin said.

Russian arms exports monopoly Rosoboronexport said in September that the Vikramaditya will be handed over to India on November 15 and was expected arrive at the Indian naval base at the port of Mumbai by February.

 

The warship, previously known as the Admiral Gorshkov, is a Project 1143.4 or modified Kiev class aircraft carrier commissioned by the Soviet Navy in 1987 and decommissioned in 1996 after cuts to the Russian Navy fleet.

The refit of the ship has lurched from one crisis to another since India and Russia signed a $947 million deal in 2004 for its purchase and refit according to the Times of India. Delivery has been delayed three times, pushing up the cost of refurbishing the vessel to $2.3 billion, sparking acrimony between Moscow and New Delhi over the contract.

The Indian Navy has already taken delivery of some of the carrier's MiG-29K naval fighter aircraft, that were completed before their parent ship was ready for sea.

EdgeTech Announces the Delivery of 12 LMCS Minehunting Systems to the Indian Navy

EdgeTech, the world’s leading provider of commercial and military side scan sonar systems, has just completed delivery of 12 advanced sonar systems for the Indian Navy. EdgeTech was awarded the contract after a performance trial with a competing side scan sonar manufacturer; the LMCS System was selected based on its superior performance and meeting or exceeding all the trial requirements of the Indian Navy. The company supplied their Littoral Mine Countermeasure Sonar (LMCS) System employing dual detection and classification capabilities configured to work with SeeByte’s SeeTrack Automated Target Recognition (ATR) software. These systems are the designated upgrade to the Indian Navy’s Pondicherry Class Minesweepers as well as for use on other non-MCM vessels for minehunting.

INS Vikramaditya, India's second aircraft carrier, out at sea again

The INS Vikramaditya, India's second aircraft carrier, is out at sea again. By this time tomorrow, the 45,550-ton vessel built at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, north Russia, will be sailing through the Barents Sea.

Over the next two months at least, the ship will be put through stringent testing in the Barents Sea and the White sea. "If all goes well, the Indian tri-colour will be flying atop the INS Vikramaditya this November, after which it will start its journey to India," a senior Navy officer told NDTV.

The INS Vikramaditya, formerly known as Admiral Gorskhov, was to have joined the Indian Navy last year. However, the insulation tiles of its boilers cracked during full power trials, which entail pushing the ship to maximum speed at sea and then testing all systems for accuracy and endurance. 

The fire-brick lining - made of special ceramic to help maintain optimum temperature in the boilers - on the inside of the insulation had come off. A senior official told NDTV that the entire insulation was ripped off and a new one has been installed.

A 500-member Indian Navy team, which was training on-board the Admiral Gorshkov then had spotted the problem with the warship's boilers, especially when the vessel hit top speed of about 30 knots (around 55 kmph).

The repairs delayed delivery of the ship by a year. "Tests carried out in the dry docks have also been successful," the official said.

India and Russia had signed a $2.3-billion (Rs. 14,000 crore approximately at present valuation) contract for refitting the aircraft carrier, which served in the erstwhile Soviet Navy. The first contract was signed in 2004, when no other country was ready to sell such technology to India.

During the sea trails now, all systems of the ship, including its sensor and weapon and propulsion system will be tested and full power trails will be conducted again. A contingent of Indian Navy officials are on board to oversee and inspect the trials.

Tangled in red tape, India's submarine fleet sinking

The navy's desperate attempts to rescue its sinking underwater combat arm have been dealt a double whammy. First, the ongoing project to construct six Scorpene submarines has been delayed by another 14-18 months, with the first vessel now slated to roll out of Mazagon Dock Limited(MDL) by November 2016 at the earliest.

More worryingly, the new project to construct six advanced stealth submarines, armed with both land-attack missile capabilities and air-independent propulsion for greater underwater endurance, is still stuck in political apathy and bureaucratic red-tape. It has already been examined by three committees after being granted "acceptance of necessity" in November 2007.

The finance ministry has now again returned the file for the over Rs 50,000-crore project, code-named Project-75India, to the defence ministry for clarifications.

"The draft Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) note for P-75I is simply being tossed around with no resolution in sight. The global tender or RFP (request for proposal) for it can be issued only after the CCS approves the file," said a source.

Even if the P-75I tender is floated today, it will take at least three years to ink the contract with the selected foreign collaborator, and another seven to eight years after that for the first submarine to be built.

With the over Rs 23,000 crore Scorpene (P-75) project already running four years behind the original 2012-17 induction schedule, alarms bells are now ringing. The navy is making do with just 14 aging conventional diesel-electric submarines — 10 Russian Kilo-class and four German HDW ones — which are to be progressively retired in the coming years despite life-extension refits. China and Pakistan, meanwhile, are adding muscle to their underwater combat fleets.

Way back in 1999, the CCS approved a 30-year submarine-building plan, which envisaged induction of 12 new submarines by 2012, followed by another dozen by 2030. But the government's inability to plan and take decisions means the navy is yet to get a single submarine 14 years later.

P-75I is embroiled in a debate over the "selection of Indian shipyards" and the "indigenization level to be achieved". While two submarines are to be imported, four will be constructed in India.

The navy wants private shipyards to be involved in the project to save time since MDL is overburdened with orders. But the MoD's defence production department has insisted that three will be built at MDL in Mumbai and one at Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam.

The Scorpene project, with contracts being inked with French firms in October 2005 has been grossly mismanaged, with huge time and cost overruns. The deal for the 'MDL procured material packages', including sensors, propulsion and the likes, with the French firms was signed only last December. The order for heavy-weight torpedoes to arm the submarines is also yet to be placed.

Projections show only five to six of the present 14 Indian submarines will be fully operational by 2020. Even with a few Scorpenes by then, India will remain far short of the minimum 18 conventional submarines required to deter Pakistan and China.

Naval ship INS Taragiri bows out of service

Indian naval ship INS Taragiri, the last of the six British-designed but indigenously built Nilgiri class frigates, will bow out of service Thursday after 33 years of glorious service to the nation, an official here said.

INS Taragiri, christened after a hill range in the Garhwal Himalayas, was commissioned May 16, 1980, and was the youngest of her sister ships -- Nilgiri, Himgiri, Dunagiri, Udaygiri and Vindhyagiri.

Cdr. Rahul Shankar, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Pune, and Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, is INS Taragiri's 27th and last commanding officer.

The Nilgiri class frigates were the advanced versions of the Leander class of British-designed frigates and built for the Indian Navy by Mazagaon Dock Ltd, Mumbai

 When the first ship in the class, INS Nilgiri, was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1972, it became a trend-setter as they incorporated increasingly higher levels of indigenization, state-of-the-art technology, weapons and sensors of that era, the official said.

Later, INS Taragiri and INS Vindhyagiri, the last two ships in that class, were significantly modified with the addition of a Seaking anti-submarine helicopter, A244S 321mm triple torpedo tubes and a Bofors anti-submarine twin barrel mortar.

Recognising the ship's considerably enhanced and potent anti-submarine capabilities, the ship's crest depicts a Pallas fishing eagel, a predatory Indian bird found in the foothills of Taragiri hills, signifying that INS Taragiri was "ready to pounce at the enemy underwater," the official added.

In recent years, it was also fitted with advance ship control systems to facilitate control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Thus, she retained her "cutting edge and functioned as the eye of the Western Naval Fleet for surveillance at extended ranges, blue water operations and network centric warfare, as also the chosen platform for coastal patrolling and anti-piracy operations," the official said.

The solemn de-commissioning ceremony will be held later in the afternoon in Mumbai, the official added.