New Indian Nuclear Submarines
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New Indian Nuclear Submarines
On June 15, 2008, the Indian Navy will commission the INS Chakra, a 12,000-tonne Akula-II class nuclear-powered attack submarine, from the far eastern Russian port of Vladivostok. The submarine, which is being built at a shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, marks the fruition of a $650-million (Rs 2,600 crore) secret deal signed by the NDA government three-and-a-half years ago, which said that India would finance the construction of an unfinished Russian nuclear submarine hull and then lease it for 10 years. The impending acquisition of the Chakra gives India the long-awaited third leg of the nuclear triad—the others being air and land-based nuclear delivery platforms—widely regarded as the most survivable mode of launching nuclear weapons.
“It is the most crucial strategic capability we are acquiring after testing nuclear weapons in 1998,” says strategic analyst Bharat Karnad. Manned by a specially trained Indian crew, the Chakra—named after Krishna’s weapon—will undertake a 15-day passage through the South China Sea, with no port calls, to India, where it will be formally inducted as a component of India’s strategic forces command.
Nuclear submarines use a miniature nuclear reactor, to produce steam, which drives a turbine. Capable of tremendous underwater speed and almost unlimited endurance, they are in fact limited only by the endurance of their crew. The Akula-II submarine’s speed of 35 knots and diving depth of 600 m is twice that of a conventionally powered submarine. “However, a nuclear submarine is much more than just a submarine with a nuclear reactor,” says Rear Admiral (retired) Raja Menon. “It is the arbiter of power at sea,” he adds.
Armed with indigenously built nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with a range of over 1,000 km, the Chakra will be a potent addition to India’s strategic arsenal. A need which was felt after the Pokhran tests of 1998 when India enunciated a nuclear doctrine of ‘no first use’ and nuclear forces based on a triad of aircraft, mobile land-based missiles and sea-based assets, to ensure that its nuclear deterrent was “effective, enduring, diverse, flexible, and responsive to the requirements of credible minimum deterrence”. While the road and rail-mobile Agni series missiles afforded the land-based legs of the triad, the focus quickly shifted on inducting submarines armed with nuclear weapons. India’s Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), a euphemism for a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) project initiated in the 1970s was still a decade from induction.
Hence talks on leasing two Akula class submarines—later reduced to one—were begun by the Vajpayee government after the Kargil War in 1999. Code-named Project (I), it was part of the three key naval items on the list of the Indian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation initiated by the government in 2002. The other two items on the list were the purchase of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, and the lease of four Tu-22M strategic bombers (which has since been cancelled). Funds for the submarine lease were allotted by the Central Government, but never publicised. The deal for leasing the submarine was signed quietly in Delhi in January 2004 along with the Gorshkov deal, during Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov’s visit.
Yet for years, the government denied plans of leasing nuclear submarines. Ivanov, too, consistently denied reports of the lease, but in 2005, the Russian daily Kommersant noted that the unaccounted for spike in the country’s arms export earnings indicated that the lease had been paid up.
The Chakra will soon be joined by the indigenous ATV, under construction at a secret dry dock in Visakhapatnam. Construction of the 5,000-tonne ATV, a modified version of the Russian Charlie-II class is now nearly complete, and will be launched for sea trials next year. It will be inducted into the Indian Navy in 2009. Armed with indigenously developed ballistic missiles (future variants with the three-stage 5000-km range Agni 3), the ATV will mark India’s entry into the SSBN club and will mean the fruition of a long-delayed strategic programme.
The delays seem to have moved to the Russian side. Originally slated for induction on August 15 this year, the delivery of the Chakra has been delayed by 10 months for the same reasons that delayed the Gorshkov refit in Russia. Earlier this year, Russia escalated the cost of the N sub lease by $135 million (Rs 540 crore), which was rejected by the Indian Defence Ministry delegation. Ministry officials confirmed the advanced stage of both the lease and the projects and said that the Government was debating on when to bring both the programmes out of the closet.
The lease of the Akula-II submarine—originally slated for the cash-strapped Russian Navy and on which construction had ceased at the Amur shipyard in the 1990s—will make India the world’s sixth power to operate a nuclear submarine. It has only one precedent—the three-year transfer of a Charlie-I class nuclear attack submarine (also named Chakra) from the Soviet Union in January 1988, which took advantage of a loophole in international treaties. The treaties prohibit the sale of nuclear submarines but do not object to a lease, provided the submarines are not equipped with nuclear weapons or missiles with a range of over 300 km. The Chakra will be stripped of its inventory of strategic cruise missiles with a range of 3,000 km, as these violate the Missile Technology Control Regime, but India will not be prevented from equipping the submarine with its own missiles.
The present 10-year lease—which may be extended later—differs from that of the Charlie-I class submarine in some important aspects. While the latter’s reactor controls and missile launch area were manned by Soviet naval personnel, the new Chakra will be manned entirely by an Indian crew, which is to leave for Vladivostok in December. Nearly 300 Indian naval personnel, or three sets of crews, have already been trained to man the submarine at a specially constructed facility in Sosnovy Bor, a small town near St Petersburg in Russia. All personnel returned after completion of training this year.
Future ATV crews will also be trained on the Chakra, which offers a valuable training platform. “A leased submarine gives you a tremendous headstart in training crews,” says Menon. “It takes several years to produce a crew of nuclear submarine experts like hydroplane operators and watch keeping officers.” The new Chakra will make up for the expertise that was lost when the Charlie-I submarine was returned to the former Soviet Union but also add a strategic platform into India’s inventory.
“It is the most crucial strategic capability we are acquiring after testing nuclear weapons in 1998,” says strategic analyst Bharat Karnad. Manned by a specially trained Indian crew, the Chakra—named after Krishna’s weapon—will undertake a 15-day passage through the South China Sea, with no port calls, to India, where it will be formally inducted as a component of India’s strategic forces command.
Nuclear submarines use a miniature nuclear reactor, to produce steam, which drives a turbine. Capable of tremendous underwater speed and almost unlimited endurance, they are in fact limited only by the endurance of their crew. The Akula-II submarine’s speed of 35 knots and diving depth of 600 m is twice that of a conventionally powered submarine. “However, a nuclear submarine is much more than just a submarine with a nuclear reactor,” says Rear Admiral (retired) Raja Menon. “It is the arbiter of power at sea,” he adds.
Armed with indigenously built nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with a range of over 1,000 km, the Chakra will be a potent addition to India’s strategic arsenal. A need which was felt after the Pokhran tests of 1998 when India enunciated a nuclear doctrine of ‘no first use’ and nuclear forces based on a triad of aircraft, mobile land-based missiles and sea-based assets, to ensure that its nuclear deterrent was “effective, enduring, diverse, flexible, and responsive to the requirements of credible minimum deterrence”. While the road and rail-mobile Agni series missiles afforded the land-based legs of the triad, the focus quickly shifted on inducting submarines armed with nuclear weapons. India’s Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), a euphemism for a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) project initiated in the 1970s was still a decade from induction.
Hence talks on leasing two Akula class submarines—later reduced to one—were begun by the Vajpayee government after the Kargil War in 1999. Code-named Project (I), it was part of the three key naval items on the list of the Indian-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation initiated by the government in 2002. The other two items on the list were the purchase of the Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, and the lease of four Tu-22M strategic bombers (which has since been cancelled). Funds for the submarine lease were allotted by the Central Government, but never publicised. The deal for leasing the submarine was signed quietly in Delhi in January 2004 along with the Gorshkov deal, during Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov’s visit.
Yet for years, the government denied plans of leasing nuclear submarines. Ivanov, too, consistently denied reports of the lease, but in 2005, the Russian daily Kommersant noted that the unaccounted for spike in the country’s arms export earnings indicated that the lease had been paid up.
The Chakra will soon be joined by the indigenous ATV, under construction at a secret dry dock in Visakhapatnam. Construction of the 5,000-tonne ATV, a modified version of the Russian Charlie-II class is now nearly complete, and will be launched for sea trials next year. It will be inducted into the Indian Navy in 2009. Armed with indigenously developed ballistic missiles (future variants with the three-stage 5000-km range Agni 3), the ATV will mark India’s entry into the SSBN club and will mean the fruition of a long-delayed strategic programme.
The delays seem to have moved to the Russian side. Originally slated for induction on August 15 this year, the delivery of the Chakra has been delayed by 10 months for the same reasons that delayed the Gorshkov refit in Russia. Earlier this year, Russia escalated the cost of the N sub lease by $135 million (Rs 540 crore), which was rejected by the Indian Defence Ministry delegation. Ministry officials confirmed the advanced stage of both the lease and the projects and said that the Government was debating on when to bring both the programmes out of the closet.
The lease of the Akula-II submarine—originally slated for the cash-strapped Russian Navy and on which construction had ceased at the Amur shipyard in the 1990s—will make India the world’s sixth power to operate a nuclear submarine. It has only one precedent—the three-year transfer of a Charlie-I class nuclear attack submarine (also named Chakra) from the Soviet Union in January 1988, which took advantage of a loophole in international treaties. The treaties prohibit the sale of nuclear submarines but do not object to a lease, provided the submarines are not equipped with nuclear weapons or missiles with a range of over 300 km. The Chakra will be stripped of its inventory of strategic cruise missiles with a range of 3,000 km, as these violate the Missile Technology Control Regime, but India will not be prevented from equipping the submarine with its own missiles.
The present 10-year lease—which may be extended later—differs from that of the Charlie-I class submarine in some important aspects. While the latter’s reactor controls and missile launch area were manned by Soviet naval personnel, the new Chakra will be manned entirely by an Indian crew, which is to leave for Vladivostok in December. Nearly 300 Indian naval personnel, or three sets of crews, have already been trained to man the submarine at a specially constructed facility in Sosnovy Bor, a small town near St Petersburg in Russia. All personnel returned after completion of training this year.
Future ATV crews will also be trained on the Chakra, which offers a valuable training platform. “A leased submarine gives you a tremendous headstart in training crews,” says Menon. “It takes several years to produce a crew of nuclear submarine experts like hydroplane operators and watch keeping officers.” The new Chakra will make up for the expertise that was lost when the Charlie-I submarine was returned to the former Soviet Union but also add a strategic platform into India’s inventory.
Y_G
Last edited by Yeller_Gait; 3rd Sep 2007 at 22:09. Reason: Edited to include full article as prune edits hyperlink.
Cunning Artificer
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I doubt if anyone is willing to lease an SSBM to Pakistan so I suppose it helps to keep them on the straight and narrow. In the present world situation a Hindu bomb somehow seems less threatening than an Islamic one. 
Just a shame they can't afford to provide health care, education or a decent diet for their population.
How much foreign aid does the UK provide to India? How much does it recieve from the world at large?
I think someone has their priorities wrong.......................
How much foreign aid does the UK provide to India? How much does it recieve from the world at large?
I think someone has their priorities wrong.......................
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OK, US, UK, USSR, India, France
No mention of the Home Port. Presumably they will make provision for Z Berths and suitably trained incident reaction teams.
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Today 10:35Agaricus bisporus" Quote:
will make India the world’s sixth power to operate a nuclear submarine.
OK, US, UK, USSR, India, France. Who is the other one?
Oklahoma has its own nuclear submarines? But how does it get them to the sea?
will make India the world’s sixth power to operate a nuclear submarine.
OK, US, UK, USSR, India, France. Who is the other one?
Oklahoma has its own nuclear submarines? But how does it get them to the sea?
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Oklahoma has its own nuclear submarines? But how does it get them to the sea?
Just a shame they can't afford to provide health care, education or a decent diet for their population.
How much foreign aid does the UK provide to India? How much does it recieve from the world at large?
I think someone has their priorities wrong.......................
How much foreign aid does the UK provide to India? How much does it recieve from the world at large?
I think someone has their priorities wrong.......................
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India Foriegn Aid
ISTR India refused western offers of assistance after the Xmas 2004 Tsunami on the basis that India was big enougha nd bad enough to look after itself these days.
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Actually Bombay....
It's more than fair. Both India and Pakistan have squandered billions of dollars rupees and whatever when they could've spent the same money on developing their infrastrucutre, educating their people and generally reducing tensions in South Asia.
Instead, it's a different set of priorities. And wrong ones, IMHO.
S41
Instead, it's a different set of priorities. And wrong ones, IMHO.
S41
Indons are also getting the first of 8 'new' Rusky diesel subs plus other stuff like tanks, Su-30's etc. Putin dropping by after his visit to Oz to sign the deal...
who said ASW is dead>>
who said ASW is dead>>
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UK's aid to India?
Getting help from the UK, Europe for feeding our people??
I do not know if he is living in this planet. It has been decades since Indians have taken any help from Western Europe for feeding our people. In fact, in some ways, the role has changed – today Indian business men are one of the leading investors in the UK. We can also proudly say that the India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Regarding investing in defence, it is true that we are living in a bad neighbourhood. Look at our track history, 1962 war with China, 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan and ongoing conflicts.
We must never forget that China is our main adversary. They have invaded Tibet, a country without an army or real friends, when the world, including India, slept. The Tibetans did not invest in defence and paid the ultimate price – they lost their country.
China launched an unprovoked attack against us in 1962 and still holds vast amounts of our territory. Now, they have also other major territorial claims including major parts of Himachel Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.
China also actively is financing and training most of the insurgents in the NE fighting against India.
Currently, China is quietly building up an iron necklace around India with bases in Manamar, Thailand, new container port in Sri Lanka, a new deep harbour in Pakistan, etc.
In the face of such adversity, it will be foolish not to invest in defence. We must have a strong force, both conventional and nuclear to stop China and Pakistan from launching ambitious plans. Remember, the best form of defence is a strong, visible and sustainable offensive capability. It is the only to safeguard our freedom, attract investors and keep our economy growing at top speed.
I do not know if he is living in this planet. It has been decades since Indians have taken any help from Western Europe for feeding our people. In fact, in some ways, the role has changed – today Indian business men are one of the leading investors in the UK. We can also proudly say that the India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Regarding investing in defence, it is true that we are living in a bad neighbourhood. Look at our track history, 1962 war with China, 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan and ongoing conflicts.
We must never forget that China is our main adversary. They have invaded Tibet, a country without an army or real friends, when the world, including India, slept. The Tibetans did not invest in defence and paid the ultimate price – they lost their country.
China launched an unprovoked attack against us in 1962 and still holds vast amounts of our territory. Now, they have also other major territorial claims including major parts of Himachel Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.
China also actively is financing and training most of the insurgents in the NE fighting against India.
Currently, China is quietly building up an iron necklace around India with bases in Manamar, Thailand, new container port in Sri Lanka, a new deep harbour in Pakistan, etc.
In the face of such adversity, it will be foolish not to invest in defence. We must have a strong force, both conventional and nuclear to stop China and Pakistan from launching ambitious plans. Remember, the best form of defence is a strong, visible and sustainable offensive capability. It is the only to safeguard our freedom, attract investors and keep our economy growing at top speed.
India secretly tests SLBM
Sources have told TIMES NOW that India has secretly tested a SLBM (Submarine-launched ballistic missile) which can be capped with a nuclear war-head and which has a range of 1500 km.
The tests which were conducted jointly by the DRDO & the Navy are said to be a much bigger technological achievement than even the successful test of Agni 3 missiles. The SLBMs are considered the safest missiles, which make them hard to locate & difficult to destroy.
These latest tests, that were conducted in secret, comes on the heels of 3 other tests that India has conducted in the last one year, taking India closer to possessing the nuclear triad - land based missiles, bombers & Submarine-launched ballistic missiles. India doesn't have a nuclear submarine yet, to launch the SLBMs, in fact the DRDO used a pontoon, or a long tube, in the Bay of Bengal to conduct the test. Government officials have said that the tests have met all key parameters.
The tests which were conducted jointly by the DRDO & the Navy are said to be a much bigger technological achievement than even the successful test of Agni 3 missiles. The SLBMs are considered the safest missiles, which make them hard to locate & difficult to destroy.
These latest tests, that were conducted in secret, comes on the heels of 3 other tests that India has conducted in the last one year, taking India closer to possessing the nuclear triad - land based missiles, bombers & Submarine-launched ballistic missiles. India doesn't have a nuclear submarine yet, to launch the SLBMs, in fact the DRDO used a pontoon, or a long tube, in the Bay of Bengal to conduct the test. Government officials have said that the tests have met all key parameters.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Grauniad: India building nuclear sub, says top scientist
India has kept its efforts to build a nuclear submarine under wraps for more than 30 years, but a top Indian scientist has confirmed that the ongoing project at the Kalpakkam nuclear facility near Chennai to develop a nuclear reactor fuelled by enriched uranium was in fact intended to power the country's first indigenously built submarine. After several setbacks, the top secret military programme appears to be nearing completion, and the nuclear submarine, codenamed the Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), is expected to undergo sea trials next year before its induction into the Indian navy in 2009.
"Indian scientists and technologists are capable of making light water reactors and we are already constructing an LWR at Kalpakkam in south India for the submarine," the former chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, PK Iyengar, said at a public debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal in Mumbai on Saturday.
Light water reactors, which use ordinary water to produce steam for running the turbines that produce the power, are considered safer and therefore more suitable for submarines. Indian scientists appear to have successfully developed a larger version of such a reactor at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam. It is not clear whether they have succeeded in miniaturising the reactor for use in a submarine.
The nuclear submarine is being built at the naval shipyard at Visakhapatnam port on the Bay of Bengal, and is a joint project involving several government and private organisations, including the Navy, the Defence Research and Development Organisation once headed by former president Abdul Kalam, and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, which is the main facility for producing India's nuclear bombs.
If the Indian scientists fail to develop a miniature light water reactor for the submarine, New Delhi is expected to purchase such a reactor from Russia.
Russia is building an Akula-class nuclear submarine at its Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard for lease to the Indian navy which is expected to be ready for trials in 2009. New Delhi is also reported to be negotiating for the lease of a second nuclear submarine from Russia.
India's keenness to go in for nuclear submarines increased after it tested nuclear weapons in 1998 and began to stockpile a nuclear arsenal. The country's military strategists said they needed to develop a "second strike capability" - to be in a position to retaliate to a nuclear attack.
"You need submarine-based arsenals to retain a second strike capability, since all land-based arsenals can be detected through satellite surveillance in about eight years," said retired Rear Admiral Raja Menon, a nuclear strategist. "If they've been detected, you have to assume that they can be targeted."
India has kept its efforts to build a nuclear submarine under wraps for more than 30 years, but a top Indian scientist has confirmed that the ongoing project at the Kalpakkam nuclear facility near Chennai to develop a nuclear reactor fuelled by enriched uranium was in fact intended to power the country's first indigenously built submarine. After several setbacks, the top secret military programme appears to be nearing completion, and the nuclear submarine, codenamed the Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV), is expected to undergo sea trials next year before its induction into the Indian navy in 2009.
"Indian scientists and technologists are capable of making light water reactors and we are already constructing an LWR at Kalpakkam in south India for the submarine," the former chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, PK Iyengar, said at a public debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal in Mumbai on Saturday.
Light water reactors, which use ordinary water to produce steam for running the turbines that produce the power, are considered safer and therefore more suitable for submarines. Indian scientists appear to have successfully developed a larger version of such a reactor at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam. It is not clear whether they have succeeded in miniaturising the reactor for use in a submarine.
The nuclear submarine is being built at the naval shipyard at Visakhapatnam port on the Bay of Bengal, and is a joint project involving several government and private organisations, including the Navy, the Defence Research and Development Organisation once headed by former president Abdul Kalam, and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, which is the main facility for producing India's nuclear bombs.
If the Indian scientists fail to develop a miniature light water reactor for the submarine, New Delhi is expected to purchase such a reactor from Russia.
Russia is building an Akula-class nuclear submarine at its Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard for lease to the Indian navy which is expected to be ready for trials in 2009. New Delhi is also reported to be negotiating for the lease of a second nuclear submarine from Russia.
India's keenness to go in for nuclear submarines increased after it tested nuclear weapons in 1998 and began to stockpile a nuclear arsenal. The country's military strategists said they needed to develop a "second strike capability" - to be in a position to retaliate to a nuclear attack.
"You need submarine-based arsenals to retain a second strike capability, since all land-based arsenals can be detected through satellite surveillance in about eight years," said retired Rear Admiral Raja Menon, a nuclear strategist. "If they've been detected, you have to assume that they can be targeted."