Russia has handed over the much-awaited nuclear-powered attack submarine Nerpa to India on a 10-year lease, boosting the Indian Navy's fire-power.
The Akula-II class Nerpa nuclear submarine had recently finished sea trials.
"The signing ceremony happened on Thursday at the Bolshoi Kamen ship building facility in the (Far East) Primorye region where the Nerpa is now based," ITAR-TASS news agency quoted a senior Russian Navy official as saying.
The deal for the submarine, which is being transferred on a 10-year lease, is worth $920 million.
The report said an Indian crew would sail the Akula II class craft to its home base at the end of January.
"All of the naval tests and performance checks have been completed," the Russian Navy official said.
The submarine, capable of remaining underwater for months, will be rechristened as INS Chakra. This is the first time in more than two decades that the Indian Navy would have a nuclear attack submarine.
When Russia makes the delivery, it will make India the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world.
The submarine deal had figured during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia earlier in December.
The Nerpa, an Akula II-class attack submarine, had originally been scheduled for delivery in 2008 but an accident during sea trials on November 8 that year had forced the Russian authorities to put it on hold.
Twenty people, mostly civilians, had been killed when a fire-suppressant gas was released on the Nerpa during shakedown trials, in one of Russia's worst naval accidents.
The Akula-II class submarines are equipped with 28 nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a striking range of 3,000 km. The Indian version is reportedly expected to be armed with the 300-km Club nuclear-capable missiles.
India had funded the completion of the Nerpa nuclear submarine at Amur Shipyard before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
NEW DELHI: India will operate a nuclear-powered submarine in the new year, having taken delivery of INS Chakra or the rechristened Akula-II class nuclear-powered submarine 'K-152 Nerpa' from Russia on a 10-year lease.
Over 50 Indian officers as well as scores of sailors have undergone extensive training on INS Chakra, followed by testing and acceptance trials of the submarine spread over several weeks, as was earlier reported by TOI.
The handing over of the submarine to India comes soon after PM Manmohan Singh visited Moscow from December 15 to 17. INS Chakra is likely to set sail for Indian shores towards January-end, making India the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world.
INS Chakra, contrary to some reports, will not complete India's "nuclear triad'' since it will not be armed with long-range nuclear-tipped missiles due to international treaties like the Missile Technology Control Regime.
But it will help train sailors in the art of operating nuclear submarines, which will be useful when India's own N-sub, the INS Arihant, becomes operational. Armed with torpedoes and 300-km Klub-S cruise missiles, INS Chakra will also be a lethal hunter of enemy submarines and warships.
RADIATING FEARS: In this video image from Ru-RTR Russian state television channel, firefighters spray water on the Yekaterinburg nuclear submarine in a dock at the Roslyakovo shipyard in the Murmansk region, Russia. Photo: AP
A Russian nuclear submarine got badly damaged in a shipyard fire, but its two reactors are safe and there has been no radiation leak, said the military.
The fire broke out on Thursday afternoon during welding repairs on the Yekaterinburg submarine in a dry dock at the Roslyakovo shipyard of the Russian Northern Fleet in Murmansk Region. From burning wooden scaffolding the blaze spread to the rubberised coating in the nose section.
A video taken by an eye witness showed huge flames and black smoke billowing into the night sky. Eleven fire brigades, two navy fire ships and several helicopters fought the blaze for more than 20 hours and the submarine had to be submerged to prevent the fire that slipped beneath the outer hull from breaking out again.
Seven seamen and two firemen were hospitalised with smoke poisoning, said law enforcement officials.
The submarine had its two reactors switched off and all its nuclear missiles and conventional ammunition removed before entering the dock, defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told state television, adding that there was “no threat of nuclear radiation leak”.
Experts said it may take at least six months to repair the damaged submarine.
“I am afraid the consequences will be very bad,” said military analyst Igor Korotchenko. “The fire and high temperatures may have damaged metal structures between the outer and inner hulls of the submarine.”
Yekaterinburg is a Delta IV class submarine which can carry 16 ballistic missiles, each with four nuclear warheads. To allay international concerns, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a special statement on Friday saying radiation levels around the shipyard were normal and continued to be closely monitored.
MOSCOW: Indian Navy is set to receive a major boost when the much-awaited Russian 'Nerpa' nuclear attack submarine would join its fleet "in the next few days" on a 10-year lease worth USD 920 million.
The Akula-II class Nerpa nuclear submarine has finished sea trials and is now ready to be leased to the Indian navy in the next few days, a Russian engineer said today.
"The submarine is now fully ready to carry out its tasks," a senior executive at the Amur Shipyard, where the submarine was built, was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.
"It will be handed over before the end of the year," the unnamed official said.
The submarine, capable of remaining underwater for months will be rechristened as 'INS Chakra' and it would be for the first time in more than two decades that the Indian Navy would have a nuclear attack submarine.
When Russia makes the delivery, it will make India only the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world, the report said.
The ten-year lease is worth USD 920 million, it said. The submarine deal had figured during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia earlier this month.
The Nerpa, an Akula II-class attack submarine, had originally been scheduled for delivery in 2008 but an accident during sea trials on November 8 that year forced the Russian authorities to put it on hold.
Twenty people, mostly civilians, were killed when a fire -suppressant gas was released on the Nerpa during shakedown trials, in one of Russia's worst naval accidents.
The Akula-II class submarines are equipped with 28 nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a striking range of 3,000 km. The Indian version is reportedly expected to be armed with the 300-km Club nuclear-capable missiles.
India had funded the completion of the Nerpa nuclear submarine at Amur Shipyard before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Once back at building bay, ship will be launched at a 20,000-tonne displacement: naval source
The first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) of the Navy was floated out at the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), at a low-key event attended by senior shipping and naval officers on Thursday.
Among those present were Union Shipping Secretary K. Mohandas; Rear Admiral K.N. Vaidyanathan, Director General, Naval Design; and Commodore K. Subramaniam, Chairman and Managing Director of CSL.
The floating ceremony was followed by a meeting to review the progress in the work being done on the aircraft carrier, a 40,000-tonne fleet air defence platform of the Navy, which will be named after the legendary INS Vikrant. The Union Shipping Secretary told The Hindu that the work on the carrier was progressing, albeit not as per schedule, as so many variables were being factored into the extremely complex construction process.
The official added that the commissioning of the carrier, the keel of which was laid in February 2009, was likely to overshoot its original timeline.
According to a senior naval functionary, the carrier was ‘technically floated out' as the shipyard needed the dry-dock for ‘some other commercial work.' “The carrier has taken on about 14,000 tonnes. She would now undergo interior outfitting, including the laying of pipes before being dry-docked again in the latter half of next year for integration of the propulsion gear-box, generators and the like,” he told The Hindu.
As earlier reported by The Hindu, a delay in the delivery of gear boxes and associated systems had considerably slowed down the construction of the prestigious carrier. Naval officers, however, put on a brave face saying that the phase in which teething trouble was encountered was over. “The gear box is ready and undergoing trials, at last. The underwater package is all lined up but the rest of the equipment has to be identified and tested,” said a naval source.
After facing initial hiccups due to paucity of supply of steel, the carrier project got the much-required thrust with the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) and the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) fashioning carrier-grade steel indigenously.
After the steel supply stabilised, problems pertaining to quality gearbox put the brakes on the project. Elecon Engineering Company Limited, a Gujarat-based firm which had earlier manufactured CODOG marine gear boxes for the Navy's Shivalik-class stealth frigates, found itself in the red attempting to make the carrier's huge main gearboxes. “They have been able to overcome the difficulties with support from a German firm,” said a Navy officer.
NEW DELHI: Faced with a fast-depleting underwater combat arm even as both China and Pakistan bolster their fleets, India is looking at major rejig of its submarine production plans to ensure its operational readiness does not get further eroded in the coming years.
For starters, the case for equipping the last two of the six French Scorpene submarines being built at Mazagon Docks with the crucial air-independent propulsion systems is being "progressed'', say defence ministry sources.
The six diesel-electric Scorpenes are slated for delivery in the 2015-20 timeframe under the ongoing Rs 23,562-crore 'Project-75', three years behind schedule. AIP in the fifth and sixth vessels, at a cost of an additional Rs 1,000 crore each, will give them a deadlier punch and stealth because they will be able to stay submerged much longer before surfacing to get oxygen to recharge their batteries.
India is likely to go in for three additional Scorpenes after the first six. "While no decision has yet been taken, it makes economic sense since six of them are being built at MDL. The second submarine workshop at MDL will get operational soon,'' said a source.
It will also be operationally expedient since, as was first reported by TOI earlier, the long-delayed follow-on 'Project-75India' to acquire six new-generation stealth submarines will take at least another two to three years to be finalized. It will take another seven years, if not more, after that for the first new submarine to roll out.
'Going in for three more Scorpenes is one way out of the logjam over P-75I, with Navy and MoD yet to agree on the shipyards to execute the project. The French companies will charge hefty amounts for the ToT (transfer of technology) packages for the three more Scorpenes,'' he said.
The P-75I programme may also be expanded to include nine submarines, all equipped with both tube-launched missiles for land-attack capabilities as well as AIP, instead of the six planned for well over Rs 50,000 crore.
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing have submitted proposals to take over support and development of the Aegis combat system, the companies said Dec. 14.
The Combat System Engineering Agent (CSEA) competition also is intended to provide a follow-on system to Aegis, the U.S. Navy's most capable weapon system and the foundation for its fleet air defense, surface warfare and ballistic missile defense (BMD) missions.
Lockheed has held the Aegis development and support contract since 1995, when it acquired Martin Marietta. The system was first developed by RCA starting in the late 1960s. General Electric then bought the company, which in turn was sold to Martin Marietta and subsequently merged with Lockheed.
Aegis, perhaps the world's most effective naval combat system, has been worth many billions of dollars to Lockheed over the years. All 27 Ticonderoga-class cruisers and at least 70 DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been built with the system. Spain, Norway, Japan and the Republic of Korea operate Aegis warships, and Australia is building a new class of Aegis destroyers.
A combination of radars, computers and weapons, Aegis was first developed to counter massed attacks by Soviet anti-ship missiles, and has evolved into an effective surface warfare system. Although not designed to target ballistic missiles, the system has been modified with more powerful processors as the basis for the Navy's BMD systems, and is the foundation for the Phased Adaptive Approach effort for the land-based missile defense of Europe.
According to the Missile Defense Agency, 24 Aegis ships - five cruisers and 19 destroyers - have BMD capability. That number is to increase to 32 ships by the end of 2013 as more units are upgraded.
The CSEA effort is intended to provide for the design, development and integration of Aegis weapon system and Aegis combat system future capabilities for existing cruisers and destroyers, and potentially create a new system for DDG 51 Flight III ships beginning in 2016.
Dependent on development, Flight III ships may be fitted with a new combat system or continue with Aegis.
The Navy is expected to award the CSEA contract in the fall of 2012.
A separate competition is underway to develop a new phased-array radar for Aegis. The Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) is to provide new radars to replace existing SPY-1 radars beginning with the U.S. Navy's 2016 Flight III destroyers.
Lockheed, Raytheon and Northrop are working to develop the AMDR, which will be a dual-band system. All three companies are working under Navy contracts to develop an S-band (AMDR-S) radar, with development contracts yet to be issued for the AMDR-X X-band system. The AMDR systems will also include a radar suite controller to integrate the radars.
