The Russian Navy is planning to receive up to 10 diesel-electric submarines by 2020, a Navy spokesman said.
“The Russian Navy expects to receive 8-10 diesel submarines by 2020,” the official said on Monday.
The new submarines will strengthen primarily Russia’s Baltic and Back Sea fleets, he added.
Russia’s Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyard on Monday launched the construction of a Project 636.3 modernized Kilo-class submarine.
The Project 636 vessels, crewed by 52 submariners, have an underwater speed of 20 knots, a cruising range of 400 miles with the ability to patrol for 45 days. They are armed with 18 torpedoes and eight surface-to-air missiles.
The spokesman said the improved Kilo class submarines will feature advanced “stealth” technology, extended combat range and ability to strike land, surface and underwater targets.
The Russian Navy currently has about 20 diesel-electric submarines deployed to protect Russia’s territorial waters.
The Indian Navy has completed the field evaluation trails of the two participating helicopters in the USD one billion deal for procuring 16 multirole helicopters for augmenting its rotary wing anti-submarine warfare fleet.
Trials of the American Sikorsky S-70B and European NH-90 have been completed and the report is being studied by the Navy at the moment, Defence Ministry sources said to Defencenow.com here.
The procurement of 16 choppers is part of navy’s plans to have a fleet of around 60 choppers and as per the RFP issued by navy in 2008, it can go ahead with a repeat order of 44 more such platforms in future.
The MRH's primary role would be anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare, while its secondary role would include search and rescue, cargo carrying and casualty evacuation.
The Navy urgently needs the MRH to replace its aging Sea King fleet inducted in 1970. It had 40-odd Sea King choppers in its air wing, but the numbers have come down to about 30 helicopters due to mishaps.
American Lockheed martin had also offered its choppers for the tender but it was rejected by the Indian Government as it did not want to go for procurement through the Foreign Military Sales route proposed by the US Navy.
The helicopter on offer was the MH 60 Romeo, which is built on Sikorsky’s Black hawk platform.
However, it seems the Government wants to allow the American contender to take part in the latest Indian naval helicopter programme and has invited Lockheed for consultation son the programme.
The Navy had recently issued an RFI in June for procuring new MRHs but the RFP is likely to be issued only after the present programme is completed.
NEW DELHI: India will test-fire early next year the 70-km Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM), which will help the Navy protect its warships from incoming enemy cruise missiles and fighter aircraft.
The LR-SAM is an over USD 500 million joint venture with Israel.
"The missile will be test-fired by January or February next year in Israel," a senior DRDO official told reporters here.
The missiles will be inducted by the Indian Navy for protecting its warships from incoming enemy cruise missiles and fighter aircraft.
The DRDO official said the missile will be ready to be offered for induction into the armed forces after the completion of eight scheduled test-firings.
He said after the initial test, two to three launches of the missiles will be done in India also.
The missile to be produced under the project will also be provided to the Indian Army for its Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MR-SAM) requirements.
The range of the missile to be provided to the Army will also be 70 Km.
Meanwhile, during a press conference on the successful test-firing of the Agni-4 missile, DRDO Chief V K Saraswat said the sub-sonic cruise missile Nirbhay will be test-fired in the early part of 2012.
"The missile is being integrated and will be test-fired early next year," he said.
The missile will be second cruise missile in Indian inventory after the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which has been developed jointly by India and Russia.
Aiming to provide a 360 degree surveillance capability to warships, the Indian Navy is planning to induct state-of-the-art three dimensional (3D) radars for detecting enemy aircraft, helicopters and sea-skimming missiles. "We are considering induction of 3D air surveillance radars for warships above 3,000 tonnes to detect aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and missiles," Navy officials told PTI here. They said the radar would also be required to automatically track in three dimensions including range, height and direction. In a global Request for Information (RFI) issued by the Navy, it has asked the global manufacturers to provide details of the ranges at which they can track enemy fighter aircraft, helicopters and anti-ship missiles. The Navy wants the radar to be compatible with the latest combat management systems used by it. The DRDO has already developed a three dimensional radar named Central Acquisition Radar (3D-CAR) for use with the Akash Surface to Air missile system, which is capable of tracking 150 targets. The DRDO has also developed the maritime version of the 3D radar which is called 'Revathi'.
The Russian Navy successfully test-fired an experimental Bulava (SS-N-X-30) intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday from its Yury Dolgoruky submarine in the White Sea, the Defense Ministry said.
“Today as part of the state trials program, a successful routine test took place of a Bulava ICBM from the Yury Dolgoruky submarine,” the Navy said.
The missile, the third Bulava launched this year and seventeenth overall, hit a target on the Kura test range in Kamchatka in the Russian Far East.
“The missile’s flight took place as planned. The missile’s payload hit the range on time," the Defense Ministry said.
Bulava has had a troubled test and development, and only nine of the test firings so far have been declared fully successful.
The country's long-delayed 'Project-75India' to acquire six new-generation stealth submarines has gone into such a tailspin that it will take at least another two-three years to be even finalized.
With it taking six-seven years to build an advanced submarine, the Navy is faced with the chilling prospect of getting the P-75I boats much beyond 2020, leaving its conventional underwater combat arm without the requisite punch it will need to deter China and Pakistan.
Top defence sources say floating of the global tender or RFP (request for proposal) for the critical P-75I, which envisages manufacture of the six submarines with international collaboration for over Rs 50,000 crore, "is still several months away".
Originally, three of the submarines were to be constructed at Mazagon Docks (MDL) in Mumbai, while another came up at Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam. The other two were to be either imported from the foreign collaborator or built by a domestic private shipyard, as first reported by TOI last year.
But with the Navy and the MoD pulling in different directions on the shipyards which should execute P-75I, coupled with defence minister A K Antony failing to crack the whip and the PMO itself getting involved, three committees were constituted one after the other to examine the project.
Feedback on the report of the third committee, headed by technocrat V Krishnamurthy, which assessed the infrastructure and capabilities in private shipyards like L&T, Pipavav and ABG to manufacture submarines, will now be submitted to the defence acquisitions council (DAC) chaired by Antony.
"The RFP can be issued only by mid-2012 at the earliest," said a source. Complex negotiations will thereafter follow with the foreign vendors (Russian Rosoboronexport, French DCNS, German HDW and Spanish Navantia) because the submarines have to be equipped with both tube-launched missiles for land-attack capabilities as well as air-independent propulsion for greater underwater endurance.
"The actual contract is likely to be inked only by 2014-15. So, in effect, we are now looking at inducting the first P-75I submarine by 2022 or so," he said.
This when the 30-year submarine-building plan approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in 1999 envisaged induction of 12 new submarines by 2012, followed by another dozen by 2030.
But 12 years down the line, not a single new submarine has been inducted. Even the ongoing Rs 23,562-crore 'Project-75' to build six French Scorpene submarines at MDL is running three years behind schedule, with the induction delayed to 2015-20.
The Navy will be left with just two to three of its existing 10 Russian Kilo-class and four German HDW submarines by 2022. Consequently, even with the six Scorpenes, the nation will fall far short of the minimum of 18 conventional submarines required to deter Pakistan and China.
NEW DELHI: Jostling for the same strategic space with China in the Indian Ocean and beyond, with the oil exploration stand-off in South China Sea being just the latest indicator, India is slowly but surely building a Navy for the future. A powerful three-dimensional Navy, which can protect India's geo-strategic interests stretching from Hormuz Strait to Malacca Strait, will not come cheap. Neither will it be built overnight. Calculations show ongoing warship, submarine and maritime aircraft acquisition programmes as well as some concrete projects in the pipeline will together cost well upwards of Rs 300,000 crore. When Admiral Nirmal Verma on Saturday commissions the second fleet tanker from Italy, the 27,500-tonne INS Shakti, Navy's force-levels will stand at 132 ships, with just over 50 "major combatants" and 14 ageing submarines. But the numbers will dip in the coming months, with older ships slated for retirement. China, in contrast, has close to 100 major warships and over 60 submarines, and is now increasingly flexing its muscles in international waters. India cannot hope to match it. The good news, however, is there are 46 ships "on order" for Navy at different domestic shipyards, along with aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (refitted Admiral Gorshkov) and three Talwar-class stealth frigates being built in Russia, say defence ministry sources. Ranging from two aircraft carriers, six submarines and seven guided-missile destroyers to four anti-submarine warfare corvettes, nine naval off-shore patrol vessels and eight amphibious craft, the combined price tag for these 50 ships comes to over Rs 100,000 crore. There are also two other major projects taking concrete shape now. One, the Rs 52,000 crore `Project-75India' to acquire six new-generation stealth submarines, equipped with land-attack missiles and air-independent propulsion, for which the global tender is now in the final stages. Six Scorpene submarines are already being constructed at Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks (MDL) for Rs 23,562 crore. Then, seven more stealth frigates are to be built at MDL and GRSE (Kolkata) under Project-17A for around Rs 45,000 crore. This will follow the three 6,200-tonne stealth frigates built at MDL for Rs 8,101 crore, INS Shivalik, INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, with only the last now left to be delivered. Navy is also going in for new carrier-borne fighter jets and maritime patrol aircraft as well as multi-role helicopters and spy drones, which together will cost around Rs 85,000 crore. These include 45 Russian MiG-29Ks for $2 billion and 12 American P-8I long-range reconnaissance aircraft for over $3 billion. The biggest warships currently under construction are the 44,570-tonne Vikramaditya and the 40,000-tonne indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) being built at Cochin Shipyard. With Vikramaditya to be inducted by early-2013 and IAC by 2015, India hopes to deploy two potent carrier battle-groups by the middle of this decade. Another lethal punch will come when India's own nuclear submarine, the over 6,000-tonne INS Arihant being built at Vizag, becomes operational next year.
NEW DELHI: The country's long-delayed 'Project-75 India' to acquire six new-generation stealth submarines has gone into such a tailspin that it will take at least another two-three years to be even finalized.
As it takes six-seven years to build an advanced submarine , the Navy is faced with the chilling prospect of getting the P-75 I boats much beyond 2020, leaving its conventional underwater combat arm without the requisite punch it will need to deter China and Pakistan. Defence sources say floating of the global tender or RFP (request for proposal) for the critical P-75 I, which envisages manufacture of the six submarines with international collaboration for over Rs 50,000 crore, "is still several months away" .
Originally, three of the submarines were to be constructed at Mazagon Docks (MDL) in Mumbai, while another came up at Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam. The other two were to be either imported from the foreign collaborator or built by a domestic private shipyard, as first reported by TOI last year. But with the Navy and the MoD pulling in different directions on the shipyards which should execute P-75 I, coupled with defence minister A K Antony failing to crack the whip and the PMO itself getting involved, three committees were constituted one after the other to examine the project.
Feedback on the report of the third committee, headed by technocrat V Krishnamurthy, which assessed the infrastructure and capabilities in private shipyards will now be submitted to the defence acquisitions council chaired by Antony. "The RFP can be issued only by mid-2012 at the earliest," said a source. Complex negotiations will thereafter follow with the foreign vendors. "The actual contract is likely to be inked only by 2014-15 . So, in effect, we are now looking at inducting the first P-75 I submarine by 2022 or so," he said.
