Indian Navy to lease second Akula class submarine - Iribis

India and Russia are to shortly begin negotiations on the lease of a second nuclear attack submarine for the Indian Navy. The second boat likely to be the completed might be Iribis, an Akula that was only half constructed but abandoned as a result of paucity of funds. 

The recently leased Akula class submarine - INS Chakra II, currently in service with the Navy’s eastern fleet has been on nearly non-stop patrol since its induction in April last year, and the Navy is reported to be very satisfied with its capabilities and performance.

Tentatively christened INS Chakra III, the new submarine will be another advanced variant of the Akula class submarines that are capable of spending months under water. It is likely to be equipped with more lethal weaponry, including a vertically launched Brahmos missile system.

Akula class submarines ( Image Courtesy - naval-technology.com ) 

The submarine is to be reconstructed around the hull of the Iribis, a Russian Akula class submarine that was never completed as funds became scarce in the late nineties. Vladimir Dorofeev, head of the Malachite Design Bureau, said that the new submarine could also benefit from the design efforts that Russia had put in its latest class of Yasen nuclear-powered attack submarines.

News Courtesy - idrw.org and indianexpress.com

INS Vikrant to be launched soon - first phase complete

After much delay, the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), being built in Cochin, is ready for its launch on August 12. At the same time, the second carrier, INS Vikramaditya, will be undergoing extensive final sea trials in Russia.

While Vikramaditya should join the navy in early 2014, the INS Vikrant would take another three years. The 40,000-tonne aircraft carrier will cross a major development milestone when the ship would be launched by defence minister A.K. Antony, marking the end of the first phase of construction. 

INS Vikrant at Cochin Shipyard ( Image Courtesy - thehindu.com ) 

The launch would mean that the ship would be out of dry dock after completion of work related to fitting all underwater equipment like engines, gear box, shafting and diesel alternators. The construction of the complex warship was undertaken in two phases. Sources in the shipyard said some of the work from phase-II has already started and it is estimated that in two years the ship would be 90 per cent complete.

Despite the delays, the construction of an indigenous carrier is a major boost to country's ship-building capabilities. At the moment, 46 of 47 new naval warships are being built in domestic shipyards. Stealth frigate INS Trikand, which was commissioned in Russia, was the last ship ordered from abroad. Now only the delivery of INS Vikramaditya is awaited.

News Courtesy - indiatoday.intoday.in

Return of Admiral Nakhimov - Kirov Class Battle Cruiser

Sevmash shipyard confirms the return of Admiral Nakhimov - Kirov Class Nuclear Powered Battle Cruiser -

The Admiral Nakhimov, a nuclear-powered missile cruiser currently being overhauled and modernized, will rejoin the Russian Navy in 2018 with the most advanced weapons systems for its vessel type, the Sevmash shipyard said Thursday, June 23, according to RIA Novosti.

Kirov Class Nuclear Powered Battle Cruiser ( Image Courtesy - panarmenian.net ) 

The Kirov-class cruiser, known as the Kalinin until 1992, was commissioned in 1989 and mothballed in 1999. It has since been docked for upgrades at the Sevmash shipyard in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk, on the White Sea.

Sevmash deputy head Sergei Marichev said in a statement that the Admiral Nakhimov would become the most advanced heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser in the Russian Navy.

News Courtesy - panarmenian.net

INS Vishal might use EMALS for CATOBAR operations

The Indian Navy — one of just nine navies that operate aircraft carriers — is thinking high-tech in planning its second indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vishal. The admirals are deciding whether INS Vishal, still only a concept, should launch aircraft from its deck using a technology so advanced that it is not yet in service anywhere: the Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).

Getting a fully loaded combat aircraft airborne off a short, 200-metre-long deck is a key challenge in aircraft carrier operations. The INS Viraat, currently India’s only aircraft carrier, uses Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) since its Harrier “jump-jets” take off and land almost like helicopters. INS Vikramaditya, which Russia will deliver this year, uses Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery (STOBAR). The Vikramaditya’s MiG-29K fighters will fly off an inclined ramp called a “ski-jump”; and land with the help of arrester wires laid across the deck, which snag on a hook on the fighter’s tail, literally dragging it to a halt. This system will also be used on the first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, which Cochin Shipyard plans to deliver by 2017.

INS Vikramaditya at sea trials ( Image Courtesy - historium.com ) 

But INS Vishal, which will follow the Vikrant, might employ a third technique that India has never used -— Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery, or CATOBAR. Perfected by the US Navy since World War II, this has a steam-driven piston system along the flight deck “catapulting” the aircraft to 200 kilometres per hour, fast enough to get airborne. With greater steam pressure, significantly heavier aircraft can be launched. US Navy carriers launch the E-2D Hawkeye, a lumbering Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft that scans airspace over hundreds of kilometres.

EMALS, the new-generation catapult that the Indian Navy is evaluating, uses a powerful electro-magnetic field instead of steam. Developed by General Atomics, America’s largest privately held defence contractor, EMALS has been chosen by the US Department of Defence for its new-generation aircraft carriers. The first EMALS-equipped carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, will enter service by 2016. In Delhi Last Thursday, General Atomics briefed thirty Indian Navy captains and admirals on EMALS. Scott Forney III, the senior General Atomics official who conducted the briefing, told Business Standard that tight US controls over this guarded technology required special permission from Washington for sharing technical details of EMALS with India.

Senior Indian naval planners tell Business Standard that INS Vikrant, India’s next 40,000 tonne aircraft carrier, will use STOBAR to operate its complement of MiG-29K and Tejas light fighters. But Vikrant’s successor, the 65,000 tonne INS Vishal, could well be a CATOBAR carrier that launches larger and more diverse aircraft.

“While current fighters like the MiG-29K can operate with STOBAR systems, our options will increase with CATOBAR. We could operate heavier fighters, AEW aircraft and, crucially, UCAVs (unmanned combat air vehicles). A UCAV would require a CATOBAR system for launch,” says one admiral.

News Courtesy - business-standard.com

INS Vikramaditya to arrive in December 2013

Long-delayed aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is undergoing trials and could be in India by December, Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin said Friday. Kadakin was speaking to reporters after inaugurating the Russian consul office in Goa.

"Things are going well (with the carrier). It will undergo exercise in the Northern Sea. There will also be more sophisticated exercises with Vikramaditya (the erstwhile Admiral Gorshkov)," 

INS Vikramaditya at sea-trials ( Image Courtesy - jeffhead.com ) 

Kadakin said, adding that the vessel could be ready for hand over in December.

Stating that hurry was not advisable in such matters, where precision and proper outfitting was paramount, he quipped: "If you want a healthy baby, do not organize the birth prematurely."

"It is sophisticated, lethal, has razor technology which will increase India's seaborne capabilities," Kadakin said about the carrier.

News Courtesy - newstrackindia.com

First Scorpene Submarine for Indian Navy by 2014

The first of the six Scorpene submarines ordered by the Indian Navy from French firm DCNS in 2005, will be rolled out by 2014, France's top diplomat in India said today. 

"The first submarine would be ready by 2014, heralding an important and strategic tie-up between both the nations on the defence front", said Francois Richier, Ambassador of France in India, adding the rest of five submarines would be delivered every subsequent year. 

"Such kind of submarines are important for Indian Navy considering the long coast it has to guard", he said. Richier is in Goa to visit French Destroyer 'FNS Montcalm' which is here as the part of training exercises with the Indian Navy. 

( Image Courtesy - militaryphotos.net ) 

"The induction of Scorpene submarines would enhance Indian Navy's capabilities to conduct exercises in the open sea. These are the latest generation of conventional submarines", a senior French naval officer said. 

Designed for defence against under-water threats, the 1,750-tonne submarine-submarine-killer (SSK) Scorpene is 67 meters in length and can dive to a depth of 300 meters. Ccording to French naval officials, the submarine can stay at sea for 45 days with a crew of 31. 

The standard version has six torpedo tubes and anti-shipping missile launchers.

News Courtesy - business-standard.com

Second Borei Class SSBN Alexander Nevsky expected by 2013 end

Alexander Nevsky, second nuclear-powered strategic submarine of Borei-class will be handed over to the Russian Navy by the end of the year, a Navy official told RIA Novosti on Friday. “The Navy is planning to commission the Alexander Nevsky submarine before the end of this year. Things are going according to plan,” the official said.

The Alexander Nevsky has been undergoing trials at the Sevmash shipyard since 2012. There will be three sea trials this year and a Bulava ballistic missile will be test-launched from the submarine in the summer, the official said.

Alexander Nevsky SSBN at sea trials ( Image Courtesy - english.ruvr.ru )

A Sevmash official representative also confirmed to RIA Novosti that the submarine will be handed over to the Navy in 2013. The Alexander Nevsky is the second Borei class submarine. The first, the Yury Dolgoruky, entered service with the Northern Fleet in January, and the third, the Vladimir Monomakh, was floated out last December and is due to enter into service in 2014. The first three vessels in the Borei series are capable of carrying 16 Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

A total of eight Borei-class submarines are to be built for the Russian Navy by 2020. This year Sevmash shipyard will start construction of two upgraded Borei class Project 955A submarines - the Alexander Suvorov and the Mikhail Kutuzov - capable of carrying 20 ballistic missiles each.

News Courtesy - en.ria.ru