The
navy has 16 submarines that are being retired faster than they can be
replaced. The worry over the fast depleting submarine fleet occupied
mindspace among the defence ministry’s top officials on the eve of
President Pratibha Patil’s visit to INS Viraat, the navy’s aircraft
carrier and flagship.
The carrier itself is more than 50 years old and is an example of how
the navy has to operate its vessels through continuous refits. The
Viraat resumed service only last month after being in the dry docks for
two years.
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma goaded the Defence
Acquisition Council (DAC) led by defence minister A.K. Antony to meet
today after telling it that the submarine fleet of 16 vessels would be
nearly halved in five years unless the Centre cleared a proposal for a
new line. The proposal has been pending for more than six years.
The second line of six submarines could cost nearly Rs 30,000 crore. A
30-year submarine building and acquisitions programme, of which Project
75A is a part, was cleared by the cabinet committee on security in 1999.
The first step towards the second line of submarines is to identify a
shipyard. Repeated pleas from the navy, by Admiral Verma’s predecessors
Admirals (now retired) Madhvendra Singh, Arun Prakash and Sureesh
Mehta, were not enough for the defence ministry to act.
But the state of the navy’s submarine fleet is now “time critical”
because the latest submarine building project — six Scorpenes being
built in France and India by DCN Thales — has got delayed by at least
two years and the first is unlikely to be commissioned before 2013.
By that time, two Foxtrot class submarines, nearly 40 years old, would
be retired and the early ones of the Kilo and HDW class would also be
decommissioned despite refits to extend their lifespan.
Today’s meeting was on till late evening and a defence ministry
official said it was unlikely to be conclusive. The navy wants a
shipyard to be identified on the basis of experience and competence of
the workers – only Mazagaon Docks in Mumbai and Hindustan Shipyard in
Visakhapatnam qualify on those grounds.
But private company Larsen and Toubro, which is building a shipyard
near Chennai and has collaborated in the INS Arihant nuclear submarine,
has said it is also bidding for the second line. Also in contention are
Kochi and Garden Reach Shipbuilders. The navy believes a yard for
submarines can be built in Calcutta even if it is a riverine port.
Only after the shipyard has been identified will it be authorised to
enter into collaboration with foreign submarine builders because India
accepts that it does not have the knowhow.
Requests for Information to submarine builders Armaris (France),
Navantia (Spain), Rubin (Russia), HDW (Germany) and Kockums (Sweden)
have been sent.
Worried over the health of its submarine fleet, the navy sought an
agreement with the US in 2005 for a “humanitarian” arrangement to
rescue the crew of an Indian submarine if it is in distress. India paid
$100,000 upfront for the services of a US Deep Submersible Rescue
Vehicle (DSRV).
The agreement envisages that the US navy will fly a DSRV and ‘flyaway
kit’ to Mumbai or Chennai within 48 hours after being alerted to an
Indian submarine in distress. (Original News)
Posts
