SSGN - A logical next frontier for Indian Navy

SSGN - a nuclear submarine capable of launching guided cruise missiles, have got a role that is entirely different than SSNs and SSBNs. We seldom hear about them and their role from main stream media, while there is always plenty of focus on SSNs/SSBNs. Apart from US and Russian Federation, no other navy has got a dedicated fleet of SSGNs. There are some navies which have got multi-role boats that can be put into a category of SSN-SSGN combined, but then those are more of hybrid and less of pure SSGNs, further their major role also tilts more towards SSN. 

SSGN is one of the extremely critical tactical asset of 21st century, it can strike fear in the heart of an enemy, even without involving any nuclear angle into the power projection. By virtue, this submarine has got stealth on its side; by technology (nuclear propulsion) it has got sustenance on its side, for fire-power it is bristling with long-range guided cruise missiles in its belly.

US has used its SSGNs in all the recent wars it got involved into, to soften the targets; enemy could barely see what has hit them, the fiery tomahawks raining from night skies and annihilating them. These tomahawks came from thousands of miles away, fired by an SSGN stationed somewhere in the distant ocean.

Voronezh, an Oscar Class SSGN after its overhaul ( Image Courtesy - nosint.blogspot.com )

If things go as planned, Indian Navy would have SSBNs in its fleet by year-end, and one more Akula class SSN (Iribis) too. May be, this is the time to look forward to acquire some SSGN capability, a fleet of SSGNs patrolling Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea will be enough to deter an agressor from getting adventurous with any malafide intentions.

However, India Navy has got its hand full with development of SSBN capability in the form of Arihant Class submarine, a follow-on project for SSNs is also in progress. Therefore, developing a SSGN capability would take considerable time to get kick-started as an indigenous project. But if we can take a leaf out of approach that was followed with INS Chakra; building the SSN capability rapidly, and then having an indigenous project in parallel; it would be a good start to build an SSGN capability as well.  

Russian Federation has around six Oscar Class SSGNs in reserve. There are three which are waiting on a refit, and the remaining three are in advanced stages of construction, when further development was halted due to financial constraints and also because Russia Navy is right now more focused towards faster completion of Borei Class SSBNs and are looking to put them in active service as soon as possible.

Oscar Class SSGNS -

• K-173 Krasnoyarsk - waiting for overhaul
• K-132 Irkutsk - waiting for overhaul
• K-442 Chelyabinsk - waiting for overhaul
• K-139 Belgorod - construction halted
• K-135 Volgograd - construction halted
• K-165 Barnaul - construction halted

India could exercise the same lease option to acquire few of these boats, induct them quickly into its navy, get familiarised with their operations and capabilities, and simultaneously kick start a parallel project to develop indigenous capability. There will be people criticizing this approach, claiming it to be counter-productive to development of indigenous capabilities, but these are strategic decisions which need to be taken in context of the whole spectrum of threats, we live in. It is critical that we look to acquire strategic defensive capabilities as fast as we can, we should definitely continue to develop indigenous programs to achieve self-reliance in defence, but we need to balance out these two approaches and keep in mind that end-goal is to keep our nation safe from all external threats, at all times.

We need to be vigilant of the fact that our adversaries are acquiring offensive capabilities, that too at a much faster pace than us.

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India test fires submarine launched version of BrahMos

India has successfully carried out the maiden test firing of the over 290 km-range submarine-launched version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in the Bay of Bengal becoming the first country in the world to have this capability.

The submarine-launched version of BrahMos was successfully test-fired from an underwater pontoon in Bay of Bengal, the performance of the missile during the test launch was “perfect“, BrahMos CEO A. Sivathanu Pillai told PTI.

This is the first test firing of an underwater supersonic cruise missile anywhere in the world and the missile travelled its complete range of over 290 kms, he said.

Maiden test firing of BrahMos ( Image Courtesy - thehindubusinessline.com )

Ship and ground-launched versions of the missile have been successfully tested and put into service with the Indian Army and the Navy.

“BrahMos missile is fully ready for fitment in submarines in vertical launch configuration which will make the platform one of the most powerful weapon platforms in the world,” Pillai said.

Defence Minister A K Antony congratulated DRDO scientists and Russian specialists along with officers of the Indian Navy associated with the project for successful test launch of missile from an underwater platform.

News Courtesy - thehindubusinessline.com

India Navy to lease another SSN from Russia - Iribis

Though, it should not come as any kind of revelation to anyone, but something which was quite expected (in my opinion somewhat delayed as well) and had been in open for a while now. 

India is in talks with Russia to finance the completion of another nuclear submarine for the Indian Navy, a senior Russian military official told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. After the Nerpa, which was leased by India and recommissioned as INS Chakra last year, this another partly-completed Akula class vessel would be the Indian Navy’s second SSN. 

“India has expressed interest in completing the next vessel. The robust hull of the second sub is ready and waiting on the stocks of the Amur plant. It is being well looked after,” said the military spokesman. At the same time, he stressed that the completion of the second nuclear submarine requires an inter-governmental agreement between India and Russia. “The issue is being worked out. As in the first case, it might be leased out, not sold,” said the source for RIA Novosti.

INS Chakra ( Image Courtesy - indrus.in )

Due to limited information available in public domain on Russian submarines, one can not be certain which submarine is being considered for this lease; however details available thus far points to a partly-completed Akula class submarine - 'Iribis'. 

Iribis belongs to 'Akula I Improved' sub class that were planned under the project '971 I'. INS Chakra (Nerpa) submarine also belongs to the same sub class. With the lease of the Nerpa, India became the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world, after the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China.

India’s domestically-designed INS Arihant nuclear submarine is expected to be ready for operational deployment this year after final sea trials. Three more hulls of Arihant class are in different stages of construction.

News Courtesy - indrus.in

INS Viraat to serve Indian Navy till 2016 and beyond

Capt. Biswajit Dasgupta, Commanding Officer of INS Viraat helped to lay rumors to rest, regarding near-future decommissioning plans of the vessel. “There’s no plan to pay the ship off at the moment. It will have life left for a few more years,” Capt. Dasgupta told the media aboard the vessel.

Capt. Dasgupta said the ship’s current round of refit was undertaken because it can still serve the Navy for some good years. In the first phase of refit - hull inspection and repair, machinery work and some minor jobs were scheduled. With the first phase nearly over, Viraat would now sail to Mumbai, maybe a couple of weeks from now for some essential repairs of its machinery and equipment at the Naval Dockyard. The aircraft carrier is expected to get back on duty in another three months.

When queried on the recent reports in media that Viraat would be decommissioned following the introduction of INS Vikramaditya, Capt. Dasgupta clarified - "Viraat retains the full capacity to perform its tasks, though old, but is still firing on all cylinders. We have updated Viraat with new technologies and devices. We have no doubts about her performance and power-projection capability”.

INS Viraat in glory ( Image Courtesy - asianetindia.com )

One other navy official, in condition of anonymity said - Viraat looks pretty good to go till 2016 at least, and may be beyond. From thorough inspections carried out at all recent major refits, we have found that she is still in pretty good shape, and with Sea Harriers on-board she can project power anywhere in Indian Ocean, where our interest lies.

Hardly 100 metres away, in the CSL yard’s building bay, construction was apace on the country’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), which will be named INS Vikrant on commissioning. With INS Vikramaditya, expected to arrive this year, Indian Navy is eagerly looking to operate two carrier battle groups again, after a long wait of sixteen years. 

Till 1997, Indian Navy used to operate two carrier battle groups, centered around INS Vikrant and INS Viraat. In few months down the line, if all goes well, Navy will be operating two carrier battle groups again, centered around INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya.

News Courtesy - thehindu.com

INS Vikramaditya to control Indian Ocean from Nov 2013

Russia will hand over the much-delayed INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier to India in November, giving the country's navy a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean region. 

The Vikramaditya aircraft carrier is to be handed over to the Indian Navy in November 2013, head of the Russian Federal Service, Alexander Fomin said yesterday. "The ship is to be put in a dock in April, go on sea trials in June and be officially handed over some time in November," he said. 

( Image Courtesy - defense-update.com )

The Vikramaditya, was supposed to have been handed over on December 4, 2012, but sea trials in September revealed the ship's boilers were not fully functional.

The Vikramaditya then returned to the shipyard to fix the problems that were detected during the sea trials. The ship demonstrated excellent seaworthiness, speed of 27.9 knots (about 52 kilometres per hour) and maneuverability during the three-month sea trials. The ship sailed for more than 12,000 miles, with 517 flights performed from its deck by aircraft and helicopters.

News Courtesy - indianexpress.com

Russian Missile Trains: Being restored back to Full Glory

“Russia has made the decision to start the development of a military railroad missile complex for the Strategic Missile Forces,” said Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade (CAWAT). “By that time, the European Missile Defense System will be able to intercept Russian ICBMs, thanks to new versions of its SM-3 anti-BM missile. Under the circumstances, Moscow has been forced to take adequate countermeasures,” Korotchenko said.

The Soviet Union began testing a missile train armed with the RT-23 solid-fuel missile in February 1983. The train was able to travel more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) per day without being discovered and could launch missiles from any point along its route. A missile train regiment included a train consisting of three locomotives and 17 rail cars, with nine platforms carrying missile launchers. Missile trains were expected to become the core of the counter strike group because of their improved durability and their ability to withstand a first enemy strike.

RT-23 'Molodets' Missile Train ( Image Courtesy - mapability.com )

The first regiment armed with the RT-23 Molodets missile went on combat duty in October 1987. By 1999 there were three missile divisions with four regiments each — that is, 36 launchers in total. The trains were kept in stationary shelters located four kilometers apart. When on combat duty, they were dispersed. The Molodets only performed one live launch throughout its entire history, during a military exercise. A missile fired from the Kostroma region hit a target at Kamchatka. The Americans were unable to track down the train’s coordinates before or after the launch.

Incidentally, according to Zaitsev, the Americans feared missile trains even more than the famous “Satan” missile — the RS-20 ICBM — and did all they could to make them disappear from the Strategic Missile Forces. START II spelled the end of missile trains. Under the treaty, all RT-23 were to be scrapped. However, after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Moscow declared the START II null and void, especially since it was never ratified.

Nevertheless, a decision was made shortly afterward to decommission missile trains and gradually dismantle them. The first strategic train was disassembled in June 2003. Two years later, the last train was taken off combat duty and sent to a recycling yard, after spending a year at a storage base.

RT-23 'Molodets' Intercontinental Ballistic Missile ( Image Courtesy - mapability.com )

The fact that Russia has accumulated experience operating missile trains, in addition to a highly developed railway network, make the decision to restore a military railroad missile complex to Russia’s nuclear missile arsenal a logical one. According to official information from the Ministry of Defense, military railroad missile complexes are currently under development - so a new and much more advanced version of Missile Trains will re-appear in Russia by 2020.

Once deployed, Russia’s missile trains would make it extremely cumbersome, for American technical reconnaissance to determine their location. “Besides mobile surface-based complexes, Russian Federation will receive additional potential to launch an effective counter strike,” said Korotchenko.

News Courtesy - http://rbth.ru

Delta Class Russian SSBN Verkhoturye returns to service

The Russian Navy ballistic-missile submarine Verkhoturye has returned to service with the Northern Fleet after completing a refit, Fleet Spokesman Captain First Rank Vadim Serga said on Wednesday.

SSBN Verkhoturye at ceremony after refit ( Image Courtesy - navyrecognition.com )

The Verkhoturye is the second Northern Fleet Project 667 class boat to be refitted, he said.

“In August 2012, the Northern Fleet was reinforced with the Novomoskovsk submarine, which also underwent repairs and upgrade at the Severodvinsk defense shipyard,” he said.

SSBN Verkhoturye arrives at Gadzhiyevo naval base ( Image Courtesy - guardian.co.uk )

Project 667 class boats displace 12,000 tons, have a maximum diving depth of 400 meters, a cruising speed of 24 knots and a crew of 140 men. They are armed with 16 Sineva intercontinental ballistic missiles.

News Courtesy - en.rian.ru