Akula's in the Indian Navy

FreeAsia2000

Junior Member
Lately i've been reading lots of articles about the Akula..apparently India
will be leasing two of them for 10 years and the Akula is supposedly
ultra quiet and able to dive to unheard of depths.

Anybody care to shed light on the matter ?
 

f2000

New Member
well its going to hard for pakistani navy to detect these beast.
maybe if pn get p-3c orion will help them detect them.
this mean in wartime,pn's surface warship will face serious threat because they have limited ability in anti sub warfare.
 

tphuang

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP Professional
Registered Member
f2000 said:
well its going to hard for pakistani navy to detect these beast.
maybe if pn get p-3c orion will help them detect them.
this mean in wartime,pn's surface warship will face serious threat because they have limited ability in anti sub warfare.
I believe only one is getting leased by the Indians.

well, these Akulas have been compared in accoustic levels to the later LA class. It's definitely a huge boost to the Indian Navy. It gives them experience operating SSN, so maybe it will also give them a smoother transition to using the indigenous ATV program.
 

chakos

New Member
VIP Professional
Firstly im not sure Pakistan will actually get the Spruances, they are a single mission ship and as such totally unsuitable fora budget semi-regional navy, they will most likelly go for 2 or 4 Oliver Hazard Perry multi role frigates.

Secondly the equipment that the USN has been using on the Spruance class may not be all sold to Pakistan. I would think that at the very least the sonar would be downgraded and the helicopter would not be as capable as the USN version.

Thirdly, even if Pakistan was to get the Spruance and all the equipment (unlikelly) the fact remains that they have no experience whatsoever operating against new generation Hunter Killer subs, and believe me there is a big difference between an Akula and any of the other deisel electric rubbish that is beeing used in that region currently (with the exception of the Kilo and some of the later generation European submarines).

The way you fight a HK sub is totally different to how you would fight a deisel electric. The main difference would be that a deisel sub can only really protect a spot in the ocean. It is not really very effective at activelly seeking out an enemy force. They simply do not have the speed or capacity to make long distance high speed movements as they tend to need to surface for air rather quickly when moving at anything over a snails pace.

To summarise, a deisel will sit in a certain spot, move a little and pretty much attempt to place itself in the path of your surface group. If you deviate toomuch from that path it has no real chance of stealthily catching up. A HK can set up an ambush, attack, retreat and then do it all over and over again, or if the captain is particularly evil it could even use thermal layers in the water as well as its performance to get into the enemy battlegroup at point blank range and cause havoc. something a deisel has no hope in surviving.
 

FreeAsia2000

Junior Member
chakos said:
To summarise, a deisel will sit in a certain spot, move a little and pretty much attempt to place itself in the path of your surface group. If you deviate toomuch from that path it has no real chance of stealthily catching up. A HK can set up an ambush, attack, retreat and then do it all over and over again, or if the captain is particularly evil it could even use thermal layers in the water as well as its performance to get into the enemy battlegroup at point blank range and cause havoc. something a deisel has no hope in surviving.

Not that i'm doubting what you're saying chakos, you obviously know a lot about the subject...but how can any submarine set up an ambush if it's not in the path of surface ships ? also nuclear subs are a lot less stealthy than diesel ones /electric cell ones and in any case the Russian have not mastered the art of silent nuclear subs unlike the americans.

I was more impressed with the Akula's deep diving ability than anything else
 

chakos

New Member
VIP Professional
Easy... the Akula has better speed under water than most ships have above water.. It can race to a point in front of the battlegroup even if its originally trailing it, a deisel sub has nowhere near the underwater performance of a nuke sub. It has to top speed submerged of 33 knots, and as long as it stays out of sonar range and uses a bit of geometry (given it needs enough room) It can quite easily pull the above manouver
 
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