Indian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

[aksha]

arihant looks like the borei class.

Arihant

borei

you mean ssn? 6 ssns are to be built, and the decision could be taken pretty soon.

expected that answer

 

[A Bar Brother]

expected that answer

There really isn't an answer to that query. Arihant S-2 is expected to carry 6 missiles because it is smaller. S-5 and S-6 may double that capacity.

 

[Miragedriver]

Older article, but shows how much is India paying (and expected to pay) for various fighters :

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Wow! $45 Million US for the “upgrade” of the Mirage 2000. At that price trade them back in to France for the Rafael. Personally I would sell off the Mirage (cost too much and you’re paying in Euros). Don’t purchase the Rafael. Build some more Sukhio’s and more Tejas and bring the price down to an even $30 million each.

India should stick to what it is already building well; Sukhio’s and Tejas. This way they can reduce the dependency on too many foreign sources.

I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

 

[Jeff Head]

More on Arihant sea trials:

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]

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NEW DELHI: Over 40 years after India began its hunt for nuclear submarines, the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant quietly sailed out of the harbour at Visakhapatnam on a misty Monday morning to begin its extensive sea trials.

While it was "a baby step" towards making the country's first indigenous nuclear submarine fully-operational, given that INS Arihant will now first undergo a whole host of surface sorties and then "dived" ones with test-firing of its ballistic missiles over the next 18 months, it did mark a significant milestone towards building a long-awaited credible nuclear weapons triad.

India has the Agni ballistic missiles and fighters jury-rigged to deliver nukes but the triad's underwater leg has remained elusive so far. It will be in place only once INS Arihant followed by its two under-construction sister submarines - one christened INS Aridhaman and the other just S-4 at present - are ready to undertake "deterrent patrols" by prowling underwater for months at end ready to let loose their missiles if required.

The launch of INS Arihant's sea-acceptance trials (SATs), which were flagged off by defence minister Manohar Parrikar and Navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan, comes a day after TOI reported the submarine was all set for them with its 83 MW pressurized light-water reactor attaining 100% power and the completion of its long-drawn harbour-acceptance trials (HATs).

The real test during the SATs will be the test-firing of its K-15 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), which has so far been tested only from submersible pontoons around a dozen times. The 750-km range K-15 - INS Arihant can carry 12 in its four silos -- is dwarfed by the well over 5,000-km SLBMs present with the US, Russia and China. But an over 2,000-km range K-4 SLBM, tested for the first time in March this year, is also in the works.

The criticality of SLBMs for deterrence can be gauged from the fact that even the US and Russia are ensuring that almost two-thirds of the strategic warheads they eventually retain under strategic arms reduction agreements are such missiles.

Already armed with five nuclear and 51 conventional submarines, China too is now on course to induct five JIN-class SSBNs (nuclear-powered submarines armed with long-range ballistic missiles) with 7,400-km range JL-2 missiles.

The Indian Navy, in turn, wants at least three SSBNs and six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) in the long-term. It currently operates one SSN in the shape of INS Chakra, obtained on a 10-year lease for Russia for around $1 billion, while negotiations are underway to acquire another such boat. While these submarines have short-range cruise missiles, they are not armed with nuclear missiles because of international treaties like the Missile Technology Control Regime.

Exciting times for India and the Indian Navy. I will look forward especially to seeing the underwater ballistic missile launch test pictures of the K-15s.

 

[aksha]

India to Lease a Second Nuclear Submarine From Russia

The Indian Navy will soon have another nuclear submarine. The government has decided to lease a second nuclear submarine from Russia, top Defence Ministry officials have told NDTV.

Currently, India operates an 8,140-tonne Akula Class submarine - renamed the INS Chakra - that was leased in 2011 from Russia for a period of 10 years, at a cost of about USD 970 million.

The lease conditions allow India to fire conventional weapons only from the platform. The second leased submarine will also be the same class and is expected to come with the same conditions.

India is looking at the hull of the Iribis - a Russian Akula class submarine - that was never completed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Yesterday, the indigenously-built nuclear powered INS Arihant started its sea trials, and is expected to join the fleet in another two years. India is in the process of building three more nuclear powered submarines. The keel of the second Arihant class submarine has already been laid.

The decision to lease a second submarine has been taken on two counts: One with three more nuclear submarines coming up, the Indian Navy needs to train manpower. Moreover, with the Indian submarine fleet depleted, the leased submarine will also pitch in to bridge the capability gap. India has about 13 conventional submarines and one nuclear, out of which only half are available for deployment at any given time.

To protect its maritime interests, India needs a minimum of 24 submarines. However, delays in implementing the 30 year submarine plan, drawn up in 1988 which proposed to procure six submarines from the West and another six from Russia and then amalgamate the technology and come up with indigenous design, has resulted in India not having a credible sea denial capability.

Plans to buy additional Scorpene-class submarines from France were also turned down by the current government. Instead, the Government wants submarines to be made in India. The Navy has been asked to identify an Indian ship yard that can build submarines after acquiring technology from a foreign partner.

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another source

India to lease second nuclear submarine from Russia

NEW DELHI: India is on course to acquire a second nuclear-powered submarine on lease from Russia to bolster its depleted underwater combat arm as well as train its sailors in the complex art of operating such vessels.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar indicated this possibility on Tuesday on being asked whether India was planning to acquire another Akula-II class nuclear submarine from Russia after President Vladimir Putin's visit here last week.

India had inducted the first Akula-II submarine, christened INS Chakra, on a 10-year lease from Russia in April 2012, under a secret around $1 billion deal inked way back in January 2004.

India and Russia have been holding talks on leasing another mothballed Akula-II submarine named "Irbis'', the full construction of which also could not be completed due to financial problems after the USSR broke up in the early-1990s, as earlier reported by TOI.

"It's an open secret. We are discussing the possibility of extending the current lease or of taking another submarine on lease. This will help us in training," said Parrikar, after paying homage at Amar Jawan Jyoti on Vijay Diwas.

This comes a day after India's first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant began its sea-trials off Visakhapatnam. It will take "10-12 months" for the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant to be ready for induction, said Parrikar.

The difference between INS Arihant and these 8,000-tonne Akula submarines is that the latter are not armed with nuclear-tipped or long-range missiles due to international treaties. INS Arihant, during its long-drawn sea trials, will also have to test-fire its nuclear-tipped K-15 ballistic missiles before it can become fully-operational.

While not meant for "nuclear deterrent patrols", INS Chakra can be "a potent hunter-killer'' of enemy submarines and warships as well as undertake swift intelligence-gathering operations, apart from being equipped with land-attack conventional cruise missiles. In this, the leased submarine has added some much-needed muscle to India's depleting fleet of 13 ageing diesel-electric submarines, only half of them which are currently operational.

INS Chakra also serves as a training platform for INS Arihant and its two follow-on sister SSBNs (nuclear-powered submarines armed with ballistic missiles) being built at the shipbuilding centre at Vizag.

The next SSBN, INS Aridhaman, is also now ready for "launch" into water, while the third called S-4 is at an advanced fabrication stage in the building blocks. The Navy is also pursuing the proposed project to build six SSNs (nuclear-powered attack submarines without ballistic missiles) at Vizag, as earlier reported by TOI.

Nuclear submarines can operate at high speeds for long distances, and do not have to surface or "snorkel" every few days to get oxygen to recharge their batteries like diesel-electric submarines.

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[Jeff Head]

India to Lease a Second Nuclear Submarine From Russia

another source

India to lease second nuclear submarine from Russia

Yes...we have talked about this on SD for some time. It has been planned for years but it is good now to see it happening and have it confirmed.

They need at least two SSNs and the Akulas are powerful SSNs. The Virginias, the Sea Wolfs, the Asutes and the Yassen SSNs are probably the only ones that are stronger...and any of them would have to be very wary of an Akula.

Glad to see this for India.

 

[thunderchief]

Wow! $45 Million US for the “upgrade” of the Mirage 2000. At that price trade them back in to France for the Rafael. Personally I would sell off the Mirage (cost too much and you’re paying in Euros). Don’t purchase the Rafael. Build some more Sukhio’s and more Tejas and bring the price down to an even $30 million each.

India should stick to what it is already building well; Sukhio’s and Tejas. This way they can reduce the dependency on too many foreign sources.

I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

French merchandise is expensive . And about that $45 million, if I recall correctly , French said that with that upgrade Mirage-2000 will be 50% capable as Rafale . Indian procurement policy is very complicated, with usual accusations of bribery flying from all sides . But I agree that best policy for India right now is to go full speed with Tejas .

 

[aksha]

update on AMCA

a) AMCA has entered project definition phase. Six engine OEMs are being evaluated. RFP for engine will be issued in 2015.
b) AMCA will be powered by two 110 KN class engines.
c) IAF fully supports the AMCA program also. And is basically running the UCAV program.
d) Do note however, that AMCA wind tunnel tests actually took place in an American facility.
e) Final configuration has been frozen.

source sourav jha ,CNN IBN

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[Miragedriver]

**Off Topic**

This really isn’t Indian Military News, but The bombing in Pakistan yesterday was at a youth military academy. It touched me that Indian youth are paring for the slain children in Pakistan.

Indian schoolchildren pray during morning assembly at their school in Shimla as they pay tribute to slain Pakistani schoolchildren and staff after an attack on an army school in the restive city of Peshawar.
Picture: AFP/Getty Images



I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

 

[A Bar Brother]

Wow! $45 Million US for the “upgrade” of the Mirage 2000. At that price trade them back in to France for the Rafael. Personally I would sell off the Mirage (cost too much and you’re paying in Euros). Don’t purchase the Rafael. Build some more Sukhio’s and more Tejas and bring the price down to an even $30 million each.

India should stick to what it is already building well; Sukhio’s and Tejas. This way they can reduce the dependency on too many foreign sources.

I will now get back to bottling my Malbec

The $45 Million includes the cost of spares, training, ToT, and industrial cost for upgrades.

And we already have the infrastructure for the Mirage-2000 in the country, apart from trained manpower, which will end up being underutilized and wasted. We also have the only overhaul facility for the Mirage-2000 outside of France. It doesn't make sense to discard everything when the Mirages have another 25 years to give.