Geo E-mag Dec 16 by Newsline

‘WE WILL ATTAIN COMPLETE SELF-RELIANCE IN THE NEAR FUTURE’ Vol VII, Issue VII, DECEMBER 2016 n `100

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POWER PUNCH?

Even as it takes giant steps to emerge as a truly blue-water maritime force with plans for new inductions, the Indian Navy faces bottlenecks in the form of inadequate ship-building capacities and industrial capabilities

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Dear Readers, India is a growing maritime power. Nevertheless, its strength is nothing when compared to several other maritime powers of the nation. While this is a matter-of-fact statement, one must bear in mind that India is relatively a young nation-state, as it exists today. It has been subjugated over a couple of centuries, by which time its maritime prowess was diminished beyond recognition. But that doesn’t mean India is down and out. It can rise again into a great maritime power. After nearly 70 years of independence, India is now at the threshold of breaking into that bigger maritime league comprising of US, Russia, and China. However, there needs to be quicker decision making by the government of the day on projects and it should find the necessary funding for those project, so that the Indian Navy is not found wanting. Faster decision-making on the Naval plans is probably what differentiates US, Russia and China, the so-called biggies, to India, which is still an aspirant to greatness. This issue of Geopolitics will look at India’s power projection capabilities in all its domains when it comes to maritime warfare, be it underwater, surface or aerial. These apart, this edition of our magazine would also debate some of the strategic issues that are still unanswered. We have some eminent thinkers in this field to give you an overview of all the topics we are looking to cover in this edition. Former Navy Chief, Admiral Arun Prakash, a naval combat aviator, will look at the carrierborne aviation needs of the Indian Navy in his piece, where he argues that 2015 maritime strategy emphasises that for exercising power projection and sea control in blue waters, the focus should be on operating two carrier task forces comprising of one or more carrier battle groups. Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan will tell us about the process of upgrading the combat capability, safety and survivability of our existing

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sub-surface assets that are continuing apace. Commodore Lalit Kapur will look at what are India’s maritime interests and the challenges to them, apart from the long gestation period to build up maritime capability. India Maritime Foundation’s Commodore Dr. Arnab Das will take us underwater to explain what’s domain awareness in there at the sea’s depths, and what the Indian defence R&D outfits are doing to enhance India’s capability in this area. Lieutenant General SL Narasimhan, a China expert, analyses the maritime strategies of New Delhi and Beijing, and tell us that while India is expanding sphere of its interest in the Indian Ocean region and spilling over to the Indo-Pacific Oceans, China is concentrating on gaining influence at the entry and exit point of the world’s oceans. Our Bureau also brings features regarding the nuclear ambitions of the Indian Navy, both in aircraft carrier and submarine arms of its fleet. There is also an essay on the Navy’s Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities, apart from the unmanned aerial vehicles fleet expansion plans. The Indian Navy’s special focus on mine countermeasures and plugging of air defence gaps too find coverage. We also bring out a special interview with Indian Navy Chief, Admiral Sunil Lanba, who took over the force’s leadership earlier this year. In the Interview done by Geopolitics’ Associate Editor Mayank Singh, the Admiral enumerates his vision for the Navy as a futuristic maritime force that can play its power projection roles effectively, even though its ambitions are not supported effectively by the country’s limited shipbuilding capability.

Editor

December 2016

CONTENTS

NAVY DAY SPECIAL WHITHER INDIAN NAVY 12 Coupled with bureaucratic sloth and political myopia, India’s naval capability is on the wane. The much delayed Scorpene class is expected to enter service shortly and all six ships of the class will probably be available by 2030, but the successor Project 75I is still to get off the ground.

Navy Chief Interview

‘We will attain complete self-reliance in the near future’

Air Defence: Countering a deadly threat to warships 24 Indian Navy is pursuing a project for Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (SR-SAM) to fill the gaps in its capability that has found a boost in the recent months with the validation and induction of the Barak-8 Long Range Surfaceto-Air Missile on most of its mainline warships.

NAVAL ODYSSEY

INTERVIEWS Moshe Elazar, EVP and Head Rafael’s Land and Naval Systems Division Kishore Jayaraman, President, Rolls-Royce South Asia

India’s next aircraft carrier may go nuclear 57

Naval UAVs are here to stay

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

S:176 mm

A LEGACY OF COURAGE AND HONOR. This Navy Day, Boeing salutes all Indian Navy personnel past and present for their bravery and sacrifice. We are proud to support their many missions.

CONTENTS

NAVAL ODYSSEY India to rework submarine building plan up to 2050

Navy's ISR capability to get a boost 37 Frigates and Corvettes for a Blue Water Indian Navy

Minesweeper build up by Indian Navy to protect its assets 44 India’s Submarine Arm

INDIA'S CARRIER AVIATION: GROWTH AND PROSPECTS

The 2015 Indian Maritime Strategy emphasises that in order to exercise power projection and sea control in ‘blue waters’ future IN fleets will be focused on two carrier task forces.

MARITIME STRATEGIES OF INDIA AND CHINA 53 India needs to leverage her soft power till the time her naval capabilities become top of the line, particularly in small littoral countries along the entry and exit points to the oceans.

46 PUBLISHER

K SRINIVASAN

Towards Effective Underwater Domain Awareness in the Indian Ocean Region 50

EDITOR

TIRTHANKAR GHOSH ASSOCIATE EDITOR

MAYANK SINGH

DIRECTOR

CONSULTING EDITOR

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR

M MURLIDHARAN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

DEFBIZ

NAVEED ANJUM

United Shipbuilding Corporation a reliable partner for India 60

SENIOR PROOF READER

RAJESH VAID

MBDA: A shipmate past, present and future L&T: A trust worthy partner of the Navy

MOHIT KANSAL

PHOTO EDITOR

H C TIWARI

STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

HEMANT RAWAT

RAKESH GERA LEGAL ADVISOR

VASU SHARMA SUBSCRIPTION

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62 ‘WE WILL ATTAIN COMPLETE SELF-RELIANCE IN THE NEAR FUTURE’ Vol VII, Issue VII, DECEMBER 2016 n `100

Guided Missile Destroyer INS Chennai Joins the Indian Navy 66

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POWER PUNCH?

Indian Navy's seventh landing craft utility launched 68

RAJIV SINGH

DISTRIBUTION DESIGNER

GSL: Fastest Growing DPSU Shipyard in the country

VOL VII, ISSUE VII, December 2016

Cover Design: Mohit Kansal The total number of pages in this issue is 76

All information in GEOPOLITICS is derived from sources we consider reliable. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. Opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us. Material appearing in the magazine cannot be reproduced in whole or in part(s) without prior permission. The publisher assumes no responsibility for material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any loss caused by any delay in publication, error or failure of advertisement to appear. Owned and published by K Srinivasan, 4C Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar, Phase-I, Delhi-91 and printed by him at Archna Printers 18, DSIDC Shed, Okhla Indl Area Ph-1, New Delhi -110020, Readers are welcome to send their feedback at geopolitics@newsline.in

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ONLOOKER

SR-SAM at final stage “SR-SAM is at very final stage, we have addressed all the topics linked to design, work share, future production, content of technology transfer (ToT)... all this has been discussed with customer, DRDO and BDL. It is a partnership. DRDO is the designer of the complete system, BDL is the production agency and MBDA is a strategic partner bringing its expertise and ToT of crucial items of the SR-SAM.” LOIC PIEDEVACHE, Country Head, India, MBDA group

Brazilian Gripen programme

KC 46 Refueler

“We have a long-term commitment to Brazil. The launch of the Gripen Design and Development Network (GDDN) is a key milestone in the Brazilian Gripen programme as it will be the basis for the technology transfer and fighter development in the country.”

“A KC 46 would be able to refuel a C-17 and a P-8I, India does not have the capability to do that yet. We are certifying a total of 56 aircraft to refuel from the tanker. The aircraft is designed to have a reliability rate of 99.7 percent and to be 30 percent more fuel efficient than preceding tankers.”

HÅKAN BUSKHE, CEO and President, Saab AB

GLENN HANBEY, Global Sales and Marketing Head for KC 46 Tanker, Boeing

F-16 in India “Exclusive F-16 production in India would make India home to the world's only F-16 production facility, a leading exporter of advanced fighter aircraft, and offer Indian industry the opportunity to become an integral part of the world's largest fighter aircraft supply chain.” ABHAY PARANJAPE, National Executive, Lockheed Martin India

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

ONLOOKER

Terror will never win “Let us be clear, terror is terror is terror, whatever it likes. And we stand here, we say it clearly, terror will never win, terror will never win. Our values, democracy and freedom are strong, and we are defending (it) with all our might. "We cannot have adjusted to really rely on our values and words. And we must act and work together... Together to share intelligence and best practises to keep our people safe and to protect our brothers, our towns and cities. India and Israel stands shoulder to shoulder in this fight.” REUVEN RIVLIN, President, Israel

Development programme for UAV

F/A 18 India factory "We are not talking about moving an existing line to India but about setting up a brand new factory that will have all the lessons that we have learnt over time. We will bring the best of modern manufacturing capabilities to make a 21st century factory. It will be capable of producing future platforms as well.”

“We have decided to produce 10 pilot less or unmanned aircraft like Rustom-II, aimed at giving a boost to India's development programme for UAV. Young DRDO engineers would work hard to make it successful. It would, at least, take one year to do it. We will also seek to get an order from Indian armed forces. The first flight will be followed by development of nine more prototypes of the advanced UAV for testing, after which the certification process will start.”

DAN GILLIAN, Vice President of the F/A 18 Programme, Boeing

S CHRISTOPHER, Director, DRDO

Automatic and remote control systems “Automatic and remote control systems that have become available on the world arms market suggest a new stage of the evolution of the means of warfare. They offer great opportunities for development of advanced weapon systems and military equipment. We are actively working to meet demand in this area. As of today, Rosoboronexport‘s portfolio of orders for land forces weapons and military equipment, which includes also such systems, exceeds $7 billion.” IGOR SEVASTYANOV, Deputy CEO, Rosoboronexport

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December 2016



LETTERS TO EDITOR

LIFE OF SOLDIERS IN THE LINE OF DUTY While along the LoC and CI/CT men display ruthless streak, but when they are entrusted the task of military operations other than war, the response changes immediately. The same ruthless and rough men transform into angels of God, writes BRIG NARENDRA KUMAR

t is faith and moral contract that binds the soldiers together. A small team would risk their lives in the faith that rest of the comrades would rush even if they are in crisis. It is that faith that propels these men to go to extreme limits of human endeavour. The challenges army faces along Line of Control (LoC) and CI/CT gird is a continuous war and any mistake can cause irrecoverable loss to men and to the national security. They are required to remain at optimum operational alert. Alert at zero hour notice means that these men remain in ready to move position during the period of alert. There is another team that should react within 5 to 10 minutes and delay is in wearing boots and picking up weapons and equipment. The only briefing and order is given to these men is place of action and what has happened. These men know what to carry and what actions are expected out of them. The alert is sounded in such a manner that does not give away the surprise or movement of a team for a specific task. It was July 2003 in remote area in Kashmir. As Commanding Officer, I was returning from a visit to remote post. As we were passing through a jungle patch, column came under an ambush placed on both sides of the stream. First reaction team that took off under an officer and the boys who were part of that team were those who were under punishment for either having come late from leave or other soldierly mischiefs. They were in full battle gear at the time of the drill period. The reaction of these men was so sudden and so quick that the terrorists were counter ambushed and eliminated. These men ran for a distance of more than four km in mountainous terrain at an unimaginable speed with entire battle load that is difficult to even believe. What drove these men who were under punishment to react so violently was the moral bond and they knew that their comrades in arm were under threat. This bond is cemented when they “train together to fight together” and “sweat together to bleed together”. These men did not do it to get their punishment drill excused and in spite of the outstand-

ing job they still went through their share of extra drills. Soldiers always live on the edge on the posts along LoC. The threat to lives of team members come from border action by Pakistan Army on isolated posts along the LoC, fidayeen attacks, fire assault and even sniper fire. Under such circumstances soldiers have to move out of their posts to lay ambushes to prevent infiltration, ensure there is no tempering of the fence by terrorists and routine administrative duties. It all appears near impossible to undertake operational and administrative tasks under fire yet soldiers do not hesitate to risk their lives every day. To maintain unpredictability and surprise,

soldiers create dummy posts as well as dummy sentries to divert the attention of the adversary. During heavy firing and shelling men feel safe in the posts rather than in their living areas. The games men play to entertain themselves is literally a Russian roulette, toeing with the enemy, harassing him, preventing his movement including daily course. Yet there is human angle to what goes on even during active engagements. Posts raise white flag and that is honoured specially, when there is a fatal casualty, body is allowed to be taken out from the direct line of fire. Evacuation of sick and wounded soldiers is allowed and casualties are moved with white flags. Ambulances are generally not attacked.

November 2016 www.geopolitics.in

efer to “Life of soldiers in the line of duty” (Geopolitics November-2016). I would like to appreciate you for carrying such a thought provoking write-up in your magazine. This is a wonderful piece to read and would suggest that more such features be carried out at regular intervals. Coming back to this write-up, the author has provided an insight in to the life of soldiers who risk their lives to protect its nation and the people. The author said that there is no structured training given to men for being chivalrous to show compassion, but it is the ethos and tradition that makes a soldier more human than humans, more compassionate than normal humans. It is faith and moral contract that binds the soldiers together. A small team would risk their lives in the faith that rest of the comrades would rush even if they are in crisis. It is that faith that propels these men to go to extreme limits of human endeavour. The challenges the army faces along LoC and CI/CT gird is a continuous war and any mistake can cause irrecoverable loss to men. Lalit Sharma, New Delhi All correspondence may be addressed to: Editor, Geopolitics, D-11 Basement, Nizamuddin East, New Delhi-110013. Or mail to: geopolitics@newsline.in

COVER STORY

INDIA’S BATTLE TANK UPGRADE PROGRAMMES TO BOOST FLEET CAPABILITIES

MOD

With Arjun's future in doubt and the Indian Army's Armoured Regiments looking for futuristic combat vehicles, it is now clear that the upgrade programmes for the T-72s and T-90s are the first steps taken to ensure the force levels are maintained and the combat edge remains intact

ndia is preparing to convert all of its main battle tanks from the T-72 and the T-90 fleet into fighting fit machines. The upgrade programme for the two main battle tanks currently in the Indian Army's fleet includes changes in their power plant and enabling their night fighting capabilities. In the army’s long-term planning, the T-72 — which will be replaced by the more

advanced T-90 only gradually — will continue to equip almost half of the Army's 59 tank regiments as far in the future as up to 2022. Christened as Ajeya, the Indian T-72 tank is a licence manufactured Russian T-72M1, which started in the late 1970's. There are some 1,700 T-72s in the Indian Army armoured regiment fleet now. In fact, the T-72s became the backbone of

November 2016 www.geopolitics.in

despite its troubles with Russia in the recent years, has submitted offers on its own to take up the upgrade of the Indian T-72 main battle tank fleet. Ukranian state-owned Ukroboronprom is said to have submitted proposals be-

efer to “Special Operation Forces: Developing Potent Tools of War” (Geopolitics November-2016). Kudos to the Indian Special Forces for their valour. The overall structure of SOF in India is based on theatre specialisation in support of conventional operations of ground forces. Similarly Air force Garud Commando Force and Marine Commando (MARCOS) were raised by Navy for tasks related to air and marine warfare. The role of SOF in Indian context is still evolving yet SOF have been employed effectively in 1971 war, “Operation Pawan’ in Sri Lanka, ‘Operation Cactus’ in Maldives, ‘Operation Khukri’ in Sierra Leone, Kargil War, counter insurgency and counter terrorism in J&K and North East. Expansion of SOF has taken place but the modernisation of SOF to undertake special operations acrossLOC/IB and third country operation is yet to take place. The author in this article highlights the operational capabilities of Indian Special Operation Forces. He has also brought out the technical

the Indian combat vehicles fleet in the 1990s when India struggled with the development of the Arjun Mk-I tanks by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The T-72M1 were in need of overhauling and repairing, and this upgrade programme is a manifestation of those needs. The latest in the series of upgrade programmes for the T-72s that the Indian

FOCUS

India's Special Frontier Force

SPECIAL OPERATION FORCES

DEVELOPING POTENT TOOLS OF WAR

ARMY.MIL

FOCUS

his is in reference to your article “India’s battle tank upgrade programmes to boost fleet capabilities” (November-2016). India is pursuing its programme to upgrade the combat vehicles fleet. As the author rightly mentioned in this article that with Arjun’s future in doubt and the Indian Army’s Armoured Regiments looking for a futuristic combat vehicles, it is now clear that the upgrade programmes for the T-72s and T90s are the first steps taken to ensure the force levels are maintained and the combat edge remains intact. The latest in the series of upgrade programmes for the T-72s that the Indian Army has been working on in the last two decades is the changes it wants to effect on the tank’s power plant. Ukraine,

The overall structure of SOF in India is based on theatre specialisation in support of conventional operations of ground forces, writes BRIG NARENDRA KUMAR

n the decades ahead war will be fundamentally different from the past 25 years. Days of conventional conflicts may be over but the threat of hybrid war is here to stay. The Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and West Asia has rendered the conventional large armies irrelevant and Special Operation Forces (SOF) are considered most potent to fight such wars with their ability to strike deep and fight from within. The SOF due to their ability to challenge conventions and by being unpredictable has changed the methodology of war fighting in the contemporary period. Conflict in West Asia is an example where SOF are operating incognito as non-state actors and even as the son of the soil with regular and irregular forces with much greater impact. The war is never methodical and

predictable; it needs forces that are audacious, ruthless and highly skilled in conventional and unconventional methods of war fighting. These forces are employed to destroy high value targets, gain information, cause unacceptable damages and shape the environment for use of military power. Role of SOF is more pronounced in future wars where the engagements are likely to be short, localised and lethal. India’s SOF are comparatively young and still evolving. Indian SOF have evolved from Meghdoot Force raised in September 1965 by Major Megh Singh. His idea was that the enemy can be weakened considerably by use of unconventional method of war fighting where small teams could operate behind enemy lines and the result they would achieve by destroying logistics and soft targets would

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November 2016

be far greater than conventional methods. The idea of SOF put forward by Megh Singh to operate behind enemy lines was not new; Captain Stirling had used unconventional methods to destroy the logistic lines of Rommel’s Army during WW-II. The plan was successful and British Special Forces, the legendary Special Air Service (SAS) was born.The Special Forces of the Indian Army were initially designed on the lines of SAS and even the "Winged Dagger" is borrowed from SAS. The overall structure of SOF in India is based on theatre specialisation in support of conventional operations of ground forces. Similarly Air force Garud Commando Force and Marine Commando (MARCOS) were raised by Navy for tasks related to air and marine warfare. The role of SOF in Indian context is still

glitches in the force’s equipments. At the moment SOF are operating in isolation with no integrated intelligence component and are equipped with regular weapons system a shade better than regular infantry soldiers. Operational achievements, exercises and SOF competitions have proved that Indian SOF are the best as far as mountain warfare is concerned and can be rated at par with US and Russian SOF while evaluating physical attributes. Where they lack in capability is equipment, induction of technology and intelligence. Irony

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

fore August 2016 to extend the life and upgrade the capabilities of the Indian Army’s T-72 Main Battle Tank (MBT) fleet. The Indian side is also said to be interested in placing an order for the modernisation of T-72 in Ukraine. Currently, the parties are negotiating on the cooperation for the project for upgrading of at least 1,000 T-72 tanks. The author has raised concerns about the combat vehicle fleet. Over 38 years have passed since the first T72s arrived in India, which is much more than the Army’s standard of 32 years life for a battle tank, indicating that a bulk of the existing T-72 fleet should have been retired by now, making way for more modern T-90 and Arjun tanks. T Suresh, Chennai

is that even the government is hesitant to employ SOF in disguise in target nations for gaining intelligence and to act as pathfinders if a situation arises for shaping the environment or deployment of SOF. India should consider deployment of SOF representatives in disguise in target countries as part of mission or business associates or NGO. During operation Cactus Lily Indian Army had no knowledge of Maldives and its airbase. Though operation was highly successful with no casualties but induction of troops was literally blind and into information vacuum. Under such circumstance, SOF path finders or resident elements can act and facilitate induction, information of target and assessment of military capabilities required to deal with the threat. Vinit Gupta Moradabad Corrigendum: In our November issue, Brig Narender Kumar’s profile was mentioned as Senior fellow, IDSA. However, he is Senior Fellow, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS)

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NAVAL ODYSSEY

WHITHER

INDIAN NAVY

MOD

INS Viraat leaving Mumbai harbour for one last time

Coupled with bureaucratic sloth and political myopia, India’s naval capability is on the wane. The much delayed Scorpene class is expected to enter service shortly and all six ships of the class will probably be available by 2030, but the successor Project 75I is still to get off the ground, analyses CMDE LALIT KAPUR

ear 2016 would appear to have been good for the Indian Navy (IN), with the commissioning of INS Chennai, Arihant, Kadmatt, Tarmugli and Tihayu. Kalvari and Kiltan are expected to follow before the end of this year. Taken together, these inductions paint a picture of an expanding Indian Navy, continuously strengthening its capabilities to defend India’s maritime interests. But is this picture real or illusory? Indian analysts and leaders, including some of the highest eminence, have often quoted Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan as having said, “Whoever controls the Indian Ocean (IO) dominates Asia. The ocean is the key to the seven seas. In the 21st century, the destiny of the world will be decided on its waters.” But no record can be found of where or when Mahan used these words. A study by the US Naval War College, the institution he headed for over four years, describes the quote as ‘of doubtful provenance’. As the IN celebrates its Navy Week, the task

of this veteran maritime analyst is to examine whether the picture of a growing IN is real, to enable the reader to discern between political rhetoric and actual action, between ad hoc decisions and well thought out strategy. Indian leaders have often spoken about the IO’s importance in the nation’s security calculus. Before independence, British India dominated the IO, with India as the jewel in the British crown. Given India’s centrality and historical lessons of the results of sea blindness, one would have expected a natural continuation of this dominance. There was certainly no shortage of political rhetoric to that effect. India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru is on record as having said, “Anything that happens in the whole Indian Ocean Region, affects and is affected by India.” He also said, “To be secure on land, we must be supreme at sea.” Sardar Vallabhai Patel said, “the geographical position and features make it inevitable for India… to have a strong Navy to guard its long coast-

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

line and to keep a constant vigil on the vast expanse of the sea that surrounds us.” More recently, in 2013, the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh said, “We have also sought to assume our responsibility for stability in the Indian Ocean Region. We are well positioned, therefore, to become a net provider of security in our immediate region and beyond.” PM Narendra Modi said last year, “India’s history has been influenced by the seas. And, the passage to our future prosperity and security also lies on the ocean. It also holds the key to the fortunes of the world.” Much has been written about the PM’s vision of a ‘blue economy’, the ambitious Sagarmala project and its constituents of port modernisation, port connectivity, port led industrialisation and coastal community development, but is India doing enough to secure its maritime dreams? What are India’s maritime interests and the challenges to them? The gestation period to build up maritime capability is long; is enough being done to

•

Tcf of natural gas, collectively valued at around $13 billion per annum at current prices, come from offshore fields. The infrastructure for producing this energy must be secured against potential threats, both natural and man-made. Connectivity to the world: Continentally, India is cut off from Eurasia by the Himalayas and Hindukush mountain ranges, backed by adversarial neighbours, to the North and West. It’s only land connect lies through the underdeveloped North East, via Myanmar, with China as a formidable competitor. It is the maritime domain that provides India connectivity to the rest of the world and prevents its isolation. Security of this connectivity, which translates into security of the SLOCs, is thus an overriding national interest. Security of trade and energy: India’s total trade in 2015-16 amounted to over $ 665 billion. Roughly 70 per cent of this by value (i.e. about $ 465 billion) and 90 per cent by volume moved over the seas. This includes energy, vital to power India’s growing economy. Energy imports in 2015-16 included 202.9 million tonnes of oil, 0.7 Tcf gas, and 226 million tonnes of coal. The security of growing trade and growing energy imports is another vital maritime interest. Fish: India’s EEZ accounted for a fish catch of 3.58 million tonnes in 2015-16, providing employment to 15 million people and a vital source of protein to nearly half of India’s population. Security of this activity is an important interest, along with management of India’s maritime zones to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, by Indian and foreign nationals.

Numerous other interests could be identified, but these will suffice for the time being. The national mechanism for providing security in the maritime domain comprises three institutions: the Marine Police, the Coast Guard and IN. The IN is the nation’s final option; its failure would inevitably result in loss of sovereignty. The roles of the IN can accordingly be divided under two broad heads. First is the military role, designed to deter war or win if it becomes inevitable. This encompasses deterrence, sea control including SLOC protection, and sea denial. The second head encompasses peacetime constabulary, diplomatic and benign roles, essentially add-on tasks that keep the IN occupied in much the same way as disaster relief and rescuing children from wells keeps the Indian Army occupied, but don’t really contribute to the basic rationale for its existence: the military role. But peacetime challenges grab media attention and therefore, larger budget shares from a government disinclined to strategic thought. In a repeat of the run up to 1962, it appears that the military role is being subordinated to peacetime requirements, resulting in dilution of maritime warfighting capability. There seems to be a belief that the possession of nuclear weapons rules out the possibility of India having to fight a war in the future. Will nuclear deterrence ensure India doesn’t have to fight a war? This may be true on the continental front, where war impinges directly on land territory and comes under the media’s glare. The ‘surgical strikes’ following Uri have proved that there is space below the nuclear threshold for sub-conventional operations even on land. There is bound to be far greater space at sea, where territory is not involved and the conflict involves only personnel in uniform and mariners, opNavy's Seaking helicopter in action

INDIAN NAVY

ensure that hard won capability acquired over the decades does not wither away in the years to come? The first step in answering these questions must be to identify what India’s maritime interests are. The hydrosphere, which constitutes nearly 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface, is fundamentally different from land, in that all land on the planet (except in Antarctica) is owned by one nation or another. The seas, in contrast, are free for use by all nations. Consequently, every nation with a coast is not only India’s maritime neighbour, but has freedom to use surrounding sea spaces. USA, Argentina, UK, China and Russia are as much India’s neighbours as Pakistan and Bangladesh, since all that separates them from India is a freely traversable body of water. It is the ability to utilise this freedom that has enabled global powers to dominate the world; that has ensured that only maritime powers become global powers. Transportation over the water has always been far cheaper than transportation on land or by air. This means that the vast majority of global commerce moves on the ‘free’ seas. The 1982 UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) has given nations exclusive rights to exploit resources in their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a belt stretching 200 nautical miles (370.4 Km) from the coast, giving India an additional area of nearly 2.3 million sq. km for economic exploitation, notwithstanding freedom of movement for all. India’s maritime interests can thus be summed up as comprising the following:• Security of outlying island territories in the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep groups, off the East and West coasts respectively. • Security of the coastal belt, which contains a massive part of India’s economic infrastructure. This includes metropolitan cities, ports, international airports, refineries, atomic power stations, industrial parks, tourist resorts and much more. The experience of 26/11 brought home the vulnerability of this belt to terrorist attack, but India has not faced enemy attack on coastal infrastructure since the Pakistan Navy shelled Dwarka on September 7, 1965. The Pakistan Navy still commemorates September 8 every year as victory day. Securing this infrastructure, of incalculable value, against enemy attack is an obvious maritime interest. • Offshore security: 52 per cent of domestic oil production of about a million barrels per day and around 1.1

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NAVAL ODYSSEY

erating far from the media eyes. There is an emerging global view that space exists for large scale maritime conflict, even under a nuclear overhang. China is clearly strengthening its capability to be able to fight USA at sea despite the nuclear shadow, and the same logic applies to maritime conflict between India on the one hand and Pakistan and/or China on the other. Wisdom lies in preparing for such war and not dreaming that the threat of nuclear weapons will keep conflict at bay. With that backdrop, let us examine the future combat capability of potential adversaries. Pakistan inaugurated its Naval Strategic Forces Command in 2012 and declared its intent to develop its own sea-based deterrent. By dispersing lowyield nuclear weapons across a variety of naval platforms, Pakistan hopes to acquire escalation dominance and greater strategic depth, reducing incentives for a pre-emptive Indian strike on its nuclear assets. The seabased deterrent will probably be a navalised version of Pakistan’s Babur cruise missile, modified for launch from its French Agosta or the new Chinese origin submarines, with Chinese help. On the conventional front, reports indicate that Pakistan will acquire the YJ-18B LACM along with the submarines. This missile would give the Pakistan Navy a capability to carry out precision attack on high value economic infrastructure on India’s Western seaboard while remaining at a safe, standoff distance from the coast. The damage caused by such attacks could, in the opinion of Pakistani analysts, be sufficient to inflict heavy costs for actions such as Uri, while remaining below the India’s nuclear threshold, effectively deterring terrorism related retaliatory strikes. Dealing with these challenges requires the IN to graduate to strategic ASW, instead of the tactical variety it practices today. Just learning the art will take 15-20 years, the field is not one in which other countries, however, friendly, will agree to train our personnel. There is little sign that India is preparing for this challenge. China, as the stronger power with global aspirations, does not need to deter India; if anything, the reverse is true. On the conventional front, Chinese submarine capability is growing by leaps and bounds. An average of 2.9 submarines of

various types have entered PLAN service every year since 1995 (India, on the other hand, inducted its last conventional submarine, INS Sindhushastra, in July 2000). This would give the PLAN a steady state submarine force level of more than 80 conventional and nuclear propelled submarines by 2030, some of which would inevitably be deployed in the IO to hold hostage both India’s commerce and military platforms. Again, a strategic ASW capability is required to prevent China winning the war at sea purely on the basis of fear of the havoc it can create, but it appears that our leaders believe, as they did in 1962, that China’s intentions are benign. The only effective option to ensure own ability to use the seas while deterring hostile maritime forces and defeat-

ing them if necessary is sea control. Sea control requires not only large numbers of maritime patrol aircraft to keep the ocean areas under surveillance, but also strike capability inevitably centred on the Carrier Battle Group, comprising aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates capable of sustained operation in the far reaches of the ocean. The desired objective is to overcome hostile forces before they can reach weapon launch range vis-á-vis own assets, including territory. The Pakistan Navy has no pretensions to sea control and cannot aspire to it in the foreseeable future, but China is a different proposition. Its first aircraft carrier, Liaoning, is already operational. Reports indicate that the second (named Shandong) is under construction. Chinese shipbuilding rates are far superior to those of India and projections indicate that Shandong will join

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the PLAN by 2020. Open source literature talks about China embarking on construction of a 110,000 tonne nuclear propelled super carrier there after, with an eventual force level of seven. Escort capability has kept pace: China has inducted 15 new destroyers of increasing potency and sophistication since 2006 and today operates 27 destroyers. The most recent class, the Type 052 D (Luyang III) began entering service in 2014. Four ships have already been commissioned, three are at different stages of sea trials and will be commissioned next year, four more have been launched and are fitting out and two more are under construction. The offensive weapons carried by them include CJ10 LACMs with a range of 1500 Km and YJ18 anti-ship missiles with a range of 540 Km (against the 290 Km of India’s BrahMos and Klub in these roles), HHQ-9 SAMs (range 200 Km, against the 70-90 Km of India’s Barak 8), in addition to defensive weapons. Construction of the more potent Type 055 destroyers will begin shortly, and the projection is that China will have a destroyer force of around 50 ships by 2030. Similarly with frigates: China has added 22 Jiangkai II class ships since 2008, and assuming an accretion rate of 2.5 ships per year, it will have a force level of 65-70 modern ships by 2030. In contrast, India’s force level in 2030 will comprise at best two aircraft carriers (Vikramaditya and Vikrant; Vishal the third, is still at the design stage and is unlikely to enter service by then); 10 destroyers (of the Visakhapatnam, Kolkatta and Delhi classes); and 23 frigates (of the Shivalik, Talwar, Brahmaputra classes, as well as the seven Project 17B and four Grigorivich class frigates on order). No doubt the Indian Navy will be far more professional and will give more than it gets, but whether higher professionalism will suffice to offset the huge advantage of numbers that the PLAN will have is debatable. If India cannot aspire to sea control against China, can it hope to deny the maritime space to the PLAN? The tool of choice for this remains the submarine, and here again, bureaucratic sloth coupled with political myopia has ensured India’s submarine capability is on the wane. The much delayed Scorpene class is expected to enter service shortly and all six ships of the class will probably be available by 2030, but the successor Project 75I

is still to get off the ground. Meanwhile, India’s conventional submarine force is ageing, the youngest vessel is the 16 year old Sindhushastra, while the eldest are Sindhughosh and Shishumar, both already 32 years old. These vessels will be much like the venerable MiG-21 by 2030; aged and prone to material failure, but soldiering on because there is no choice. As in the post independence years, there appears to be a wide gulf between political rhetoric about the seas and budgetary allocations for the Indian Navy. Notwithstanding the multiple statements by India’s political leaders cited in the introductory paragraphs, the Indian Navy share of allocations for defence was below 2 per cent in the first budget presented by R K Shanmukhan Chetty in 1947-48 and remained in single digits for all but two years of the 38 following independence, ranging from a low of 3.4 per cent in 196364, to a high of 10.1 per cent in 1955-57 when INS Vikrant was acquired. Even the strategic vacuum following British withdrawal from East of Suez did not change India’s continental orientation. The Indian Navy received only 4.9 per cent of

the defence budget in 1968, with Army advocates denouncing the Indian Navy’s projection into the IO as an ‘outmoded imperial concept’. The Navy’s budget share rose to 12.5 per cent in 1985-86 and has generally remained above 10 per cent thereafter, peaking at 19.29 per cent in 2012-13 and creating an impression of a nation increasingly ready to assume regional responsibility. However, shortly after PM Modi made his statements about the seas on board Vikramaditya, his Finance Minister cut the Navy’s budget share from just under 16 per cent in 2015-16 to 14.75 per cent during 2016-17. Budget shares provide the clearest indication that the disconnect between political rhetoric and resource allocation continues, that leaders remain reluctant to put the nation’s money where their mouth is. Security comes primarily from ensuring the nation has the freedom to make choices in its own interest, without being coerced by the use or threat of force by others. The planned accretions to Pakistani and Chinese naval capability in the coming years will inevitably result in an IN, despite its visible accretions, falling

relatively behind in its ability to cope with the anticipated threat. Political focus on countering threats to maritime governance while paying inadequate attention to the military role of the Navy fails to recognise that a long era of American maritime hegemony, which maintained peace in the maritime spaces, may be drawing to a close. If India is to truly emerge as a pole in multipolar world, it has no option but to strengthen IN capability. It is easy, with the benefit of hindsight, to criticise past leaders for their strategic mistakes, but the need is for current leaders with the foresight to ensure that future generations do not levy the same criticism on them. But foresight, both among analysts and leaders, is a rare commodity. Is India doomed to face the consequences of lack of foresight in shaping its maritime security in the years ahead? Only time will tell. The author is a veteran with nearly 40 years service in the Indian Navy and writes extensively on international maritime issues and military history

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â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;WE WILL ATTAIN COMPLETE SELF-RELIANCE IN THE NEAR FUTUREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ADMIRAL SUNIL LANBA took over as the 23rd Chief of the Naval Staff on May 31, 2016. Being a Navigation and Direction specialist, he has served as the navigation and operations officer onboard numerous ships in both the Eastern and Western Fleet. He was also responsible for transformation in training methodology for the future Indian Navy as the Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command. The Indian Navy under him is rapidly transforming and positioning itself as a well-balanced force. He talks to MAYANK SINGH about how Indian Navy today ushers on various fronts of indigenisation and selfreliance. Excerpts: How has Indian Navy braced up against the rising threats, short term and long term?

The Indian Navy is committed towards ensuring maritime security and stability in a complex maritime environment

through presence and rapid response, proactive maritime engagement, capability building and cooperative maritime security. Our force level planning is guided by the Maritime Capability Perspec-

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tive Plan which has enabled capability enhancement and transformed the Indian Navy into a well balanced multidimensional force capable of protecting our national interests in the maritime domain.

Considering the unique nature of the maritime environment, wherein there are vast common spaces of the oceans that link even distant lands as maritime neighbours, the various challenges and security threats at sea can also flow rapidly from one maritime area to another. Accordingly, there is substantial scope for improving the maritime security environment for mutual benefit, through cooperation between maritime forces. Strengthening of peace, security and stability in the ‘global commons’ and in our maritime neighbourhood is in our national interest. The Indian Maritime Strategy envisages positive engagement with maritime forces from friendly nations to enhance mutual understanding, build interoperability and develop opportunities for maritime security cooperation. Cooperative maritime security and capability development of regional friendly nations are essential to counter the trans-national maritime security challenges in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Closer home due impetus is being given to coastal security constructs and measures have been initiated to bolster the infrastructure as also the coordination between the various stakeholders to strengthen the overall security.

Indian Navy has played its diplomatic role with aplomb. How is it going to help India in the strategic sense?

Naval Diplomacy has always been a traditional role of navies, as a potent and effective instrument of national security and foreign policy. Towards this, the Indian Navy too, has been promoting strengthening of relations with friendly maritime forces, including measures for enhancing mutual understanding, cooperation, and inter-operability. Thus, you see our role has been of an enabler towards building up relations between nations. I am certain that the diplomatic efforts of the Indian Navy, in line with the national security and foreign policy, will strengthen maritime relations and also promote a stable and secure regional maritime environment, which is one of India’s key strategic objective.

Indian Navy has picked up the ropes of constructing its own warships, submarines and other platforms. But, how is it going to deal with obsolescence and the fast depleting under water war capability? The Indian Navy is one of the very few

navies in the world which has the capability to build platforms ranging from the aircraft carrier to submarines. Obsolescence management is built into our force level plans which are laid out in the Maritime Capability Perspective Plan. There have been some delays in submarine induction owing to unforeseen developments. The Indian Navy has taken required measures to ensure that our submarine fleet remains potent and capable. Most of the submarines that we are operating have been modernised and upgraded in terms of their weapon-sensor suites as well as their crew-support systems. You would also be aware of the Medium Refit-cum-Life Certification programme for our submarines which has been approved by the government. This has been specifically done to bridge the gap and ensure that our technical and tactical edge is retained. The P75 project has picked up pace with the first of the submarines slated to be inducted in March, 2017 and the rest joining the fleet by 2020. The P75 (I) project is being actively pursued. We are hopeful of an early finalisation of Strategic Partnership Model which would enable us to progress the case.

The Indian Navy is one of the

very few navies in the world which has the capability to build platforms ranging from the aircraft carrier to submarines Indian Ocean is gradually becoming the focus of international powers. How is Navy dealing with the growing presence of foreign navies in Indian Ocean? What will be its role in the growing political and geo-economic importance of the Indian Ocean for India?

India’s dependence over the maritime domain for national prosperity has been steadily increasing and as much as 70% by value and 90% by volume of our trade flows through the sea routes. Similarly, the dependence on the seas, the world-over, is also increasing, for

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economic growth and development. Today, sea-borne trade and commerce links various parts of the world, making distant lands into maritime neighbours. In this, there has been a particularly steady rise in the importance of the IOR, through which more than 120,000 ships per year transit with 80% of the sea trade being extra-regional. Therefore, the Indian Ocean is essential to India’s economic well-being and consequently good order at sea in IOR is a vital imperative for India. The IOR is, however, also characterised by a number of littoral nations with vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but limited ‘capacity’ and ‘capability’ to effectively police these waters. This invites intervention of Extra Regional Forces (ERF), who in their desire to maintain order, protect their trade and national interests and enforcement of international law, maintaina presence in the region. The Indian Navy has adapted to the requirements to be more proactive and assume a leadership role in the IOR for maritime engagements with the aim of maintaining good order at sea and be a net maritime security provider in the IOR.

What is the roadmap of the new acquisitions of the Indian Navy in the coming five years? Which platform and equipment are being acquired from the foreign vendors in this period?

The Indian Navy is rapidly transforming and positioning itself as a well-balanced force, comprising aircraft carriers, multi-role destroyers and frigates, fleet tankers, amphibious ships and a multitude of other aviation and subsurface platforms, capable of blue water and littoral operations in the IOR and beyond. Adequate assets for coastal security, such as Fast Attack Craft and Fast Interceptor Craft, are also in the pipeline which will augment the brown water capability of the Indian Navy. The expansion plan in future also includes induction of state-of-the-art weapons and sensors. However, despite our best efforts towards indigenisation, there are certain equipment which are acquired from foreign vendors mainly due to nonavailability of indigenous expertise/ technologiesto counter existing and anticipated threats. Accordingly, certain niche aerial platforms and some weapons and sensors are being imported. However, the Indian Navy’s roadmap for expansion and growth remains

NAVAL ODYSSEY

anchored, like it has been in the past, in self-reliance and indigenisation. In order to synergise our efforts, the Indian Navy has also formalised a 15 year Indian Naval Indigenisation Plan in 2015, which has been shared with stakeholders. It shall be our endeavour to progressively increase the indigenous content in our platforms to the maximum feasible.

What is your contribution towards the ‘Make in India’initiative? The Indian Navy is committed to indigenisation and self-reliance, and will continue to build upon its substantial achievements in this regard. Warship

building within the country has come a long way and today we are constructing state-of-the-art world-class ships. Some of these which have been recently delivered include the Kolkata class destroyers, Shivalik class frigates, Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels (NOPV) and Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) corvettes. Delivery of the first of the P75 submarines scheduled in March, 2017 would herald a new chapter in our shipbuilding capabilities. The Indian Navy has been at the forefront of indigenisation and has aligned itself with various initiatives taken by the Government of India (GoI). The Indian Navy’s indigenous drive over the last few years has resulted in achieving substantial quantum of indigenisation. The Indian Navy

has achieved nearly 90%, 60% and 40% self-reliance and indigenisation in float, move and fight categories respectively. The Navy has been constantly interacting with the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Public Sector Undertakings and private industry to promote and nurture the indigenisation drive. Over the past 10 years, a number of important systems and equipment, spares and sub-assemblies have been developed. The Indian Navy has promulgated the ‘Indian Naval Indigenisation Plan 2015-30’, which formulates our requirements towards indigenous development of equipment and systems, over the next 15 years. The

document identifies capability gaps for indigenisation and lists out equipment which can be taken up for indigenisation in the coming years. The new Defence Procurement Procedure promulgated this year has a new chapter on ‘Make’ category, which seeks to address multiple objectives of self-reliance, wider participation of Indian industry, impetus for Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, sound implementation, transparent execution and timely induction of equipment into the Indian armed forces. The Indian Navy has already identified some projects to be taken up for indigenous development under the ‘Make’ category.The Navy intends to add about 7-10 projects every year to this list. This would translate into about

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30-40 projects under ‘Make’ category being pursued by 2020 and thereafter. The projects identified, thus far, under the ‘Make’ category are Upper Air Sounding System (UASS), winches for side scan sonar, high speed low flying target, expendable underwater target, diesel engines for boats, diesel engines for propulsion, helo deck communication system, alternators for various rating, radio frequency cables, valve regulated lead acid batteries and replenishment at sea gear.

The way technologies related to weapons and platforms are fast changing, what is Navy’s plan to keep ahead? How can India attain self-reliance in the maritime/naval sphere?

The Indian Navy had recognised the advantages of being a ‘Builder’s Navy’ rather than a ‘Buyer’s Navy’ several decades ago, and India’s first indigenous warship was commissioned in 1961 itself. Ever since, indigenisation and self-reliance have been the guiding principle of our capability development plans. We are one of the very few countries in the world which have the capability to design and construct a wide variety of warships, ranging from aircraft carrier to destroyers, frigates, missile and ASW corvettes, amphibious ships, and various sizes of patrol vessels. We are also indigenously developing a wide variety of weapons, sensors and marine equipment. To synergise our efforts, the Indian Navy has formalised a 15 year perspective indigenisation plan. We have also articulated the ‘Science and Technology Roadmap - 2025’, aimed at development of indigenous technology for use in the Navy. I am sure these initiatives would act as enablers for the indigenisation and innovation efforts as well as forge new collaborative partnerships. Our latest ship, INS Chennai, indigenously designed and built, was commissioned last month and is equipped with some of the most modern weapons, sensors and equipment, almost all of which have been developed either indigenously or in collaboration with a technology partner. As you can see, the Indian Navy always endeavors to remain in-step with the contemporary and evolving technology. We are confident that with support from the Government, involvement of our public as well as private industry, and through collaboration with friendly nations, we will attain complete self-reliance in not so distant future.

INDIA’S CARRIER AVIATION: GROWTH AND PROSPECTS The 2015 Indian Maritime Strategy emphasises that in order to exercise power projection and sea control in ‘blue waters’ future Indian Navy fleets will be focused, amongst other capabilities, on two carrier task forces, each comprising of one or more carrier battle groups, writes ADMIRAL ARUN PRAKASH (RETD)

t was barely seven years after the Wright brothers had ushered in the epoch of aviation, that an intrepid American named Eugene Ely pioneered ship-borne air operations. In November 1910 he undertook a breathtaking launch from a wooden platform fitted in the bows of a US Navy cruiser and, two months later, performed the equally difficult task of landing on the stern of another cruiser at anchor. Aviation was now ready to go to sea as an integral part of navies.

In April 1913, Britain constituted the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) with Naval and Military wings. A year later, aviation was recognised as a new branch of the Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) came into being. With the onset of WWI, the RFC was despatched to France to provide support to the army, while the RNAS was deployed in maritime operations. Conservative Admirals were firmly convinced that battleships – 45,000 ton behemoths, bristling with guns, and protected by thick armour-plating – were

IAC-I during its Launch

immune to any threat from the air. In the face of such scepticism, the aircraft made a hesitant debut on the maritime scene – first for recce, then for gunnery observation, and finally for strike and fleet airdefence. Soon after commencement of WW II, two historic air-actions were to prove the efficacy of air-power at sea. On December 7, 1941, in a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour, Japanese carrier-borne aircraft sank or damaged eight large battleships; a major part of the US Pacific Fleet. Three

INDIAN NAVY

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Northrop Grumman's E-2C Hawkeye

NORTHROP GRUMMAN

days later, on December 10, Japanese shore-based bombers and torpedo-aircraft attacked and sank the Royal Navy’s battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales, along with four destroyer escorts, off the coast of Malaya. Carrier-borne air-power was instrumental in deciding the course of the war in every theatre of WW II and resulted in the aircraft carrier displacing battleships from the centre stage of maritime power. In the seven decades since the end of WW II, carriers have continued to play a vital role in projecting air power to exert a decisive influence on conflicts. The Korean War, the Suez crisis, the long Vietnam War, the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War and the Falklands Campaign are just some of the conflicts in which carriers made a significant contribution. In the latter day context, the asymmetric conflicts in the Balkans, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria have consistently shown that not just the US Navy, but also the British, French and Italians have used aircraftcarriers in sovereign territory to project air-power and influence events far from home.

Enter the Indian Navy

For the Indian Navy, it was fortuitous that at the moment of independence, those charged with planning for India’s embryo maritime force included many men of vision. Within six months of freedom, in 1948, a ten-year naval expansion plan had been prepared, which envisioned the concept of two fleets; one for the Bay of Bengal and another for the Arabian Sea;

each to be built around an aircraft-carrier. The scheme provided for four carriers and 280 ship-borne strike and fighter aircraft in the longer term. This plan received approval in principle from the Governor-General Lord Mountbatten, as well as Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, but unfortunately failed to materialise for a variety of reasons. Hostilities with Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir in the winter of 1947 had focused India’s attention on the Himalayas rather than the oceans and the young nation’s scarce resources were being diverted to the army. The main impediment that emerged, however, was a change of heart in the UK. The British were willing to help bolster India’s naval strength on the assumption that its navy would form part of a Commonwealth-based bulwark against any possible advances into the Indian Ocean by the Soviets. India having decided to adopt a non-aligned stance, her steadfast refusal to be part of any military alliance considerably dampened British enthusiasm and support.

Arrival of the First Carrier

The dire financial straits of our fledgling republic also posed many hindrances to the planning process for creating a navy, but the carrier project eventually survived, albeit in a drastically diluted form. The unfinished hull of HMS Hercules, a Majestic Class light fleet carrier was acquired by India and commissioned as the 20,000 ton, light fleet carrier, INS Vikrant. The aircraft complement of Vikrant consisted of the early 1950s vintage,

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Seahawk jet fighter, and the French Alize anti-submarine aircraft. The Seahawk rendered yeoman service in training two generations of IN carrier-pilots and played an outstanding role the Navy’s 1971 Bangladesh campaign. By the late 1970s, however, it had become obsolescent and difficult to support, but finding a replacement, compatible with a carrier as small as the Vikrant was not easy. The options were limited by size and weight, to two aircraft - the US made A-4 Skyhawk and the French Etendard; but neither was available for political and financial reasons. By a quirk of fate, the British found themselves in a similar predicament; seeking a fighter suitable for operations from their new, Invincible class carriers which, at 16,000 tons, were even smaller than Vikrant. The answers came in the form of two brilliant new British innovations: the Harrier short take-off and vertical landing (STOV/L) fighter and the ski-jump ramp which allowed this aircraft to operate from restricted decks. Following the lead of the Royal Navy, the Indian Navy ordered both, and in December 1983 the first Sea Harrier embarked INS Vikrant off Goa.

Search for a Second Carrier

Vikrant, fitted with a ski-jump by the Indian Navy, undertook extensive deployment of the versatile Sea Harrier ‘jump jet’ during the 1980s. The Indian Navy proved the concept that the combination of a small carrier and a V/STOL fighter, equipped with radar and air-to-air missiles could endow our blue-water task forces with an impressive air-defence and strike capability. However, the Vikrant was getting on in years and there was serious concern that having founded its operational and tactical doctrines around carrier aviation, the Indian Navy may, one day find itself without a fixed-wing platform at sea. Apart from the operational penalties, the planners dreaded the inevitable loss of valuable flying and other expertise, painstakingly built up over three decades of shipboard aviation at sea. Respite, however, came in 1985 when an offer was received from UK for the sale of the 28,000 tonne veteran of the Falkland War; HMS Hermes. Laid down in WW II, this 25 year old ship had served the Royal Navy in many roles and eventually as a STOV/L carrier. The offer was eagerly accepted, and after a major overhaul in the UK, the Falklands flagship sailed for India as INS Viraat. INS Vikrant was finally de-commissioned in 1997, and the Indian Navy then

had to rely on Viraat, with her complement of Sea Harriers and Seaking antisubmarine helicopters for the next 17 years. However, it was obvious that this elderly carrier’s days were numbered too.

Indigenous Endeavours

By the mid-1980s, the Indian Navy had seriously started exploring the possibility of its own team of naval architects undertaking design and development of an ‘air defence ship’ or ADS. The term ‘air defence’ had been introduced as camouflage to deflect criticism from sister services opposed to the carrier concept. During the decade that followed, the Directorate of Naval Design came up with a number of concepts for small fixed-wing operating platforms, including a ‘sea control ship’ and a ‘Harrier Carrier’. Consultancy was also sought from France, for a concept design, but in every case, a huge design imponderable was the availability of a steam catapult, used for launching aircraft from ships and, manufactured exclusively by the USA. The MoD, all along, showed little interest and served to create impediments at every stage. Towards the end-1980s, word started trickling out of the USSR of an unusual experiment being undertaken by the Soviet Navy. Aiming to make a dramatic entry into the, previously scorned, arena of carrier aviation, they planned to shun the steam catapult and use a combination of land based fighters with the skijump. Having tried and rejected the employment of STOV/L fighters (for which the British had designed the ski-jump), they selected proven aircraft like the Sukhoi-25, the Sukhoi-27 and the MiG-29 and modified them for ski-jump launch and ‘arrested’ landing by strengthening the fuselage and adding a hook. This mode of operation added a new term to the lexicon of naval aviation: STOBAR which stood for ‘short take-off but arrested landing’. With the elimination of the steam catapult, India’s carrier design options began to acquire some clarity, and now emerged the concept of an ‘air defence ship’ or ADS, which would operate the Sea Harrier and the naval version of indigenous LCA. Detailed feasibility studies revealed that safe STOBAR operations would require a bigger ship as well as a more powerful engine for the LCA. By the mid-1990s, the IN was seriously examining the Russians offer of their 1980s vintage helicopter/VTOL carrier Admiral Gorshkov, and a choice had to be made of a suitable aircraft. The obvious options were the Su-33 (already operat-

ing from the Russian carrier, Kuznetsov), and the smaller Mig-29K. An evaluation revealed that the Su-33, though more capable, was dimensionally incompatible with the Gorshkov, and it was decided that a new version of the Mig-29K would equip the Gorshkov, in Indian service. The downstream impact of this decision was instantly felt by the ADS programme, and a fresh design exercise was initiated to assess the implications of MiG-29K STOBAR operations on the ADS design. The staff requirements having been finalized in 1999, the ADS emerged, in its definitive form, as a 37,500 tonne vessel, to be powered by four gas turbines which would give it a top speed of 28 knots. The angled flight deck would have a set of arrester wires and provide adequate deck run for launch of the Mig-29K and LCA (Navy), from a ski-jump.

The IAC-2 will enter service, in the next decade, at a juncture where a balanceof-power struggle, may be under way in this part of the world; with China and India as the main players

The project, at long last, received financial approval of the Government of India in January 2003, and first steel was ceremonially cut in Cochin Shipyard Ltd in April 2005. The ADS camouflage was now shed and the project re-designated as the ‘indigenous aircraft carrier’ or IAC1. Consultancy for propulsion system integration has come from M/S Fincantieri of Italy and for the aviation complex from M/S Nevskoye Design Bureau of Russia. The shipyard has been hard at work on the IAC-1 for the past decade, but there should be no illusions that building an aircraft-carrier is going to be a complex undertaking, beset by many uncertainties, especially those relating to imported equipment. The impressive looking ship was launched in August 2013, but the delivery schedule and cost estimates for IAC-1 remain somewhat uncertain so far. January 2014 saw the much delayed,

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arrival of the 44,5,00 tonne, former Soviet aircraft-carrying cruiser ‘Admiral Gorshkov’, re-named INS Vikramaditya, arriving in its home-port of Karwar. Carrying a mix of supersonic, 4th generation MiG29K fighters, Kamov-28 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and Kamov-31 airborne early-warning (AEW) helicopters, the Vikramaditya packs a punch that promises to transform the maritime balance of power in the Indian Ocean region. With this large carrier, capable of operating state-of-the-art fighters, in its inventory, the Indian Navy’s operational options have become much broader. Our future task forces will be able to undertake missions, in the face of air opposition, with confidence; especially if adequate fighters are available to provide round the clock tactical air support.

Future Carrier Options

The choice of configuration, size and propulsion of a carrier has a direct linkage with the type of aircraft that will operate from it; and this constitutes a typical ‘chicken and egg’ conundrum. Should one choose the aircraft first or should the carrier design be frozen first? The configuration of the Vikramaditya was decided a decade ago and the IAC-1 followed suit. Both are STOBAR ships and will have to operate the MiG-29K and the LCA-Navy during their lifetimes. However, the design of IAC-2 and follow-on ships remains open. The IAC-2 will enter service, in the next decade, at a juncture where a balance-of-power struggle, may be under way in this part of the world; with China and India as the main players. Should the PLA Navy decide to deploy the ex-Russian carrier Liaoning, or her successors, in the Indian Ocean, our naval aviation assets would assume crucial importance. Therefore, a well-considered decision has to be taken about aircraft selection, before the concept-design for IAC-2 is frozen. Essentially the ship could be equipped with one of three types of aircraft available, and each option will profoundly affect its design and operating philosophy in different ways.  Conventional take-off and landing types like F/A-18 Super Hornet and Rafale-M would require a steam catapult for launch and arrester gear for recovery. This would mean either a steam-driven or an electro-magnetic version of the catapult (on offer by the USA). The relatively large ship would require either a steam or nuclear plant for propulsion.  Types like the Su-33, MiG-29K and

NAVAL ODYSSEY

LOCKHEED MARTIN’S CAPABILITIES COULD MAKE INDIA’S MILITARY AND INDUSTRY STRONGER S

everal Navies around the world are developing new Aegis ships. The Aegis Combat System has developed into the world’s premier naval air defence system as measured by the thousands of missile launches. India is considering joining the international Aegis family. The Indian Navy is considering the Aegis Combat System as the centerpiece of a new destroyer class. Aegis has continually evolved throughout the years to include new mission requirements and ensure a high probability of kill of the most demanding threats as they have also evolved over time. International Navies can take advantage of significant US Navy Aegis investment and economies of scale, through continued growth through new construction and modernisation, ensuring latest technology with mature proven multi-mission capability and the ability to operate and maintain fleet. Aegis approach is highly flexible.

extensive experience integrating with national combat management systems and great successes in partnering with local industry. Lockheed Martin understands the importance of local industrial participation. Aegis international programmes have a long history of cooperation, including Local Content, Technology Transfer, and Strategic Partnerships. The open architecture aspect of Aegis allows flexible combat system partnership opportunities.

Lockheed Martin’s Aegis Combat System

Project models are customised to meet customer needs, open architecture allows flexible combat system partnership opportunities, we have

Programme models are customised to the needs and requirements of each country. Aegis partners have developed components of the Aegis system, integrated indigenous systems, performed ship integration and life cycle maintenance and applied technology and products to other program opportunities. With the addition of Sikorsky,

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Lockheed share a legacy of innovation and performance that has shaped the history of aviation for more than a century. Together, we are even better positioned to provide the best value for our customers. The acquisition of Sikorsky advances Lockheed Martin’s commitment to provide its customers with mission-ready solutions that are affordable and efficient, while expanding its core business into the growing areas of helicopter production and

Sikorsky's HH-60H Seahawk Helicopter

sustainment. Sikorsky’s ability to leverage Lockheed Martin’s scale will ensure it remains a technology leader at the forefront of vertical lift. As threats become more complex and the demand for superior antisubmarine and anti-surface warfare grows, the Seahawk multi-mission helicopter delivers the capability and agility needed to address the evolving defence environment worldwide. Deployed globally with the US Navy and growing number of interna-

tional navies, the Seahawk operates at sea and in coastal waters, providing an extended range of situational awareness and maritime security. It is the premier, and proven maritime ASW platform that encompasses the entire detect and engage capability against the most challenging submarine threats in the world. The Seahawk air vehicle is manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp and provided with advanced, fully integrated mission systems and sensors by Lockheed Martin. The Seahawk is operational and has achieved more than one million flight hours with the US Navy. Its modular design enables it to adapt weapon systems to match specific mission requirements. A partnership on Seahawk would bring jobs and technology to the country. The joint venture between Sikorsky and Tata Advanced Systems in Hyderabad is already manufacturing S 92 cabins for global requirements. As opportunities develop in India, the experience and success of the Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems joint venture in Hyderabad lends promise for future Lockheed Martin’s expansion and investment in India. This joint venture continues to produce extremely high quality aerostructures supporting the world wide C-130J fleet. That same quality, which includes Lockheed Martin’s world leading systems integration knowledge, will continue to be transferred to the Indian defence industrial base for years to come. In accordance with the Defence Procurement Policy, the Indian Navy would receive advanced Seahawk capabilities with the ability to sustain the platforms indigenously throughout the life of the platform. There are many benefits from being a partner on the Seahawk programme that would benefit the Indian Navy with US Navy programme as well. All international Seahawk partners can share in the US Navy’s ongoing technical insertion roadmap, mitigating obsolescence and keeping pace and ahead of the maritime threats. This technical insertion plan is unique and only available to Navies that are part of the Seahawk family.

Maiden Ski Jump of LCA Naval Prototype - 1 at the Shore-Based Test Facility in Goa

INDIAN NAVY

LCA-Navy would require only a skijump and arrester wires. This would mean a STOBAR configuration for the carrier, which could be a smaller ship; driven, either by gas turbines or diesel engines.  The F-35B version of the Joint Strike Fighter, which is capable of vectored thrust. It may require only a ski-jump for take-off, but no arrester wires since it can land vertically. This would result in the simplest and cheapest ship; a STOVL carrier, but the aircraft itself is extremely expensive. An additional consideration arises from the fact that airborne early warning (AEW) is a crucial requirement for a carrier task-force at sea. While helicopters may provide a partial answer, comprehensive warning and control can be delivered only by fixed-wing AEW aircraft of the E2-C Hawkeye variety. However, such heavy machines can be operated only from catapult equipped carriers. One way of simplifying decisionmaking would be to focus on the choice between a catapult and a ski-jump. The choice of a catapult equipped ship will reduce the aircraft contenders to just the F/A-18 and Rafale-M (with the E2-C option available). If there is to be no catapult, then the STOBAR ship will have the option of operating one of the Russian fighters (Su-33K or MiG-29K) or the American F-35B Joint Strike Fighter; with helicopters providing AEW.

Conclusion

For all its strengths and virtues, the carrier continues to evoke strong criticism, especially from air forces, that it is an ‘expensive anachronism’ and a ‘relic’ of

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outdated World War II thinking, which offers little substantive advantage over lower-cost shore-based air power. Proliferation of satellites and other sophisticated surveillance systems has rendered the maritime battle-space almost totally transparent, and critics claim that a carrier may now have few places to hide from threats such as the Chinese DF-21 antiship ballistic missile (ASBM). Today there are less than 25 aircraft carriers in the world. The huge costs involved in constructing, operating and maintaining carriers have left this citadel of sea power in the hands of just a few select countries which include Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Russia, Spain, Thailand, UK and the USA. It is noteworthy that the number of carrier operating navies has risen from just four at the end of WW II to ten today. The 2015 Indian Maritime Strategy emphasises that in order to exercise power projection and sea control in ‘blue waters’ future Indian Navy fleets will be focused, amongst other capabilities, on ‘two carrier task forces, each comprising of one or more carrier battle groups’. As the carrier debate rages, only time will tell whether this magnificent behemoth can prevail over the emerging technological and economic challenges, or become extinct. China, inspite of its anti-carrier strategy, seems to have voted for the motion by planning a force of six aircraft carriers. The UK has seconded the motion by investing 6.5 billion Pounds (`55 thousand crores) in two large, modern carriers which will operate the F-35B. The author is former Chief of the Naval Staff

NAVAL ODYSSEY

AIR DEFENCE: COUNTERING A DEADLY THREAT TO WARSHIPS Indian Navy is pursuing a project for Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (SR-SAM) to fill the gaps in its capability and has found a boost in the recent months

efending the sky around a warship has become one of the most important task that any naval commander would focus on if he wants to ensure his asset is safe and can achieve the mission for which it sailed out in the first place. This aerial threat to warships has increased manifold in the recent years with the induction of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in maritime warfare doctrines of several sea faring nations. To ensure Indian warships can handle such threats, the Indian Navy is pursuing a project for Short Range Surface-toAir Missile (SR-SAM) to fill the gaps in its capability that has found a boost in the recent months with the validation and induction of the Barak-8 Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile on most of its mainline warships. India's Defence Research and Development Organisation is currently in talks with European missile leader MBDA for the development of a SR-SAM for the

Indian Navyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Long Range Barak 8 Surfaceto-Air Missile (LR SAM) launched from its naval ship

INDIAN NAVY

Navy, after the Indian maritime force rejected the possibility of Akash being modified for its use. MBDA's ALBATROS Naval Surface-To-Air Missile System that is effective against UAVs, aircraft and helicopters. The ALBATROS is said to have a very high single shot efficiency. The company is waiting for the green signal from India's Defence Ministry to finalise its negotiation with the DRDO on naval air defence missile. SR-SAM is at very final stage of being finalised, according to Indian officials with knowledge of the developments. The two sides have already addressed all the topics linked to design, work share, future production, and content of technology transfer (ToT), the official said. These details have also been discussed with the Indian Navy, apart from the production agency Bharat Dynamics Limited. Defence Research and Development Organisation is the lead organisation for

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the design and development of the Short Range Surface-to-Air Missiles (SR-SAM) for the Indian Navy, while Bharat Dynamics is the ministry's missile production agency. Under the partnership arrangement for the under-development missile, MBDA is the strategic partner bringing its expertise and ToT of crucial items of the SR-SAM. Interesting, despite the foreign collaboration, the SR-SAM will still be manufactured in India and will be, for all practical purposes, an Indian missile. Fortunately, the export potential of such a missile is huge and India would have the right to decide on the export of this missile system. The SR-SAM design envisages a higher range for the missile over 40plus kilometres. Such a missile is key to the survival of warships in a hostile zone and for defending itself against incoming enemy anti-ship missiles, aircraft and helicopter carrying anti-ship weapons and

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with such a capability. While this SR-SAM gap in the air defence umbrella of Indian warships is being addressed and could fructify in about five years to 10 years, depending on the development time and validation, India has successfully moved ahead with plugging another major gap in the air defence category for Indian warships, namely Long Range Surface-to-Air Missiles (LRSAM). The LR-SAM is a giant capability boost for the Indian Navy. INS Kolkata, a recently inducted indigenous Indian Navy Destroyer, did the honours, by test firing the LR-SAM on December 29 and 30 of 2015. The LR-SAM, with 70 km range capability, is being jointly developed along with the Israeli Aerospace Industries. The LRSAM can shoot down an incoming aerial threat, be it an aircraft or missile. Two missiles were fired on December 29 and 30 on high-speed targets during naval exercises being undertaken in the Arabian Sea. Indian Navy achieved the significant milestone in enhancing its anti-air warfare capability with the maiden firing of its newly developed Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM). The firing was undertaken on the western seaboard in Arabian Sea by INS Kolkata, wherein the missile successes fully intercepted an aerial target at extended ranges. Apart from the missile, the system includes a Multi Functional Surveillance and Threat Alert Radar (MFSTAR) for detection, tracking at 200 km range and guidance of the missile till it hits the incoming target. The firing trial of the LR-SAM was jointly carried out by the Indian Navy, DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries. The stake-holders in the LR-SAM are DRDO lab DRDL-Hyderabad, technology provider Israeli Aerospace Industries, and the manufacturer is Indian PSU Bharat Dynamics Limited. The Israelis call this cutting-edge missile system, the Barak-8, while India calls it the LR-SAM. The missile is said to have a 95 per cent accuracy rate of hitting its intended target. The LR-SAM are fitted onboard the Kolkata-class Destroyers and would also be fitted on all future major warships of the Indian Navy. This missile along with the MF-STAR would provide these ships the capability to neutralise aerial threats at extended ranges. With the successful proving of these systems, Indian Navy has become part of a select group of navies that have this niche capability, which would provide a fillip to India's maritime operations.

The LR-SAM is a missile system that came India's way as part of the Kargil war history of 1999. It is said that the Indian Navy realised to its dismay that its warships had no counter to the anti-ship Harpoon missiles of Pakistan Navy. This meant that all those cost naval warships of India were sitting ducks and vulnerable to the Harpoon anti-ship missiles of Pakistan. This led to the Indian Navy scramble to get a counter to the Harpoon missiles of Pakistan Navy. It was at this juncture that Israel is said to have offer the Barak-I missiles to India and that came as a big relief to the Indian Navy, which could not put pressure on Pakistan's coast by sailing out its warships to the Arabian Sea and closer to Pakistani waters. With the nature of maritime warfare — from heavy-calibre guns for which warships were required to get into the range to target enemy warships in those good old days — changing to missiles launched from a long distance by warships, submarines and aircraft, the counter measures to those missiles too have developed in the last couple of decades at a rapid pace. Many of the missiles, such as the USmade Harpoon II, are extremely accurate, with sensors on the missile guiding it to its target. Anti-ship missiles have a key vulnerability, though. Since they are much bigger and travel slower that of a gun shell, missiles can be detected at long ranges with radar, and then shot down in mid-flight with another missile. Gun shells, once fired, could not be intercepted, primarily due to their smaller size and the shorter range. In January 2006, the DRDO and IAI signed an agreement to develop an advanced, longer-range version of the Barak to counter anti-ship missiles of the future. This missile system would not just protect the destroyer or frigate it was fitted in, but also create a protected "air defence bubble" for other vessels in the flotilla that were too small to have their own air defence systems. India allocated `2,606 crore to the LRSAM project, including `1,700 crore for equipping three Kolkata-class destroyers with the system. The Israeli Navy made an equal commitment, undertaking to fit the Barak-8 on its three Sa’ar corvettes. The work share was divided, with 30 per cent going to the DRDO, which was charged with developing the LR-SAM's solid-fuel, two-pulse propulsion motors. Israeli company, Rafael, has developed the rest of the interceptor missile. IAI has built the rest of the systems, including the sophisticated MF-STAR radar.

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Besides three Kolkata-class destroyers, the LR-SAM will also equip four Project 15-B destroyers being constructed in Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks; seven stealth frigates being built under Project 17-A in Mazagon Docks and Kolkatabased Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers; and INS Vikrant, the indigenous aircraft carrier being built in Kochi. In September, this year, the Indian Navy successfully tested the LR-SAM twice against a Pilotless Target Aircraft from the Interim Test Range at Balasore, Odisha. Both missiles directly hit their respective targets at different ranges and altitudes. Now, the revised possible date of completion of the LR-SAM project is fixed at December 2017, an over six-year delay from the original date of completion in May 2011. The reasons for the delay in the LRSAM project include the mid-way major upward revision of performance requirements by IAI (Design Authority), number of new technologies developed for the first time, number of technical iterations required to establish Transmit-Receive Module technologies for Radar, and design challenges in development of subsystems by DRDO and foreign partner. Along with the MR-SAM project, for which the estimated cost is `10,076 crore and the contract signed in February 2009, the LR-SAM would provide the air defence capability to the Indian armed forces. The MR-SAM would be built to specifications, and preliminary and critical design reviews of the system have been completed. In June and July, DRDO has successfully flight tested three MR-SAM systems from Integrated Test Range at Chandipur. The MR-SAM has slipped from its completion date of September 2016 and is now estimated to be completed by March 2017, if all tests are completed successfully by then. The reason for the time overruns in the MR-SAM project is attributed to the systems and sub-systems undergoing multiple iterations during design, development and hardware realisation stage; and changes in the system configuration. Also, three verification flight trials were included to the project, though it was not part of the original scope of activity for the MR-SAM. These three air defence indigenous projects are expected not to take too long a time to fructify, thereby enabling Indian Navy to somewhat become self-reliant, and not be dependent on Russian systems such as Shtil for its future warships. —Geopolitics Bureau

NAVAL ODYSSEY Indian Navy’s MiG-29K fighter jet operating from INS Vikramaditya

INDIA’S NEXT AIRCRAFT CARRIER MAY GO NUCLEAR

ARMY.MIL

A nuclear-powered aircraft carrier would be a huge leapfrog for the Indian Navy, which now operates far more modest, conventionally-powered carriers of 45,000 tonne displacement in INS Vikramaditya

ndia's Navy seems to have made up its mind on what it wants in its second indigenous aircraft carrier that it has planned to build soon. The Defence Acquisition Council had in May 2015 allocated `30 crore to the Indian Navy to set up a preparatory team and office for construction of the second aircraft carrier. After a year-and-a-half since that allocation of funds for the preparatory work, there is now indication that its choice of technologies it wants is being used on the second aircraft carrier, speculated to be christened Vishal, shall be hi-tech and on par with global standards in advanced aircraft carriers. Among the technologies indicated are nuclear propulsion, a catapult take off but arrested landing system for aircraft deployment using the new American technology called the Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch Systems (or EMALS), and having capacity to carry 55 aircraft and helicopters on board. But this also means there could be delay in the project itself, naval planners have indicated. It is said that Vishal shall enter the Indian Navy service only by 2030 and the conservative estimate is that the

warship could get ready only by 2035, considering that carrier construction takes 15 to 20 years even at global standards of warship building. But the Navy is fine with this delay, as it wants an aircraft carrier that packs the punch to dominate India's area of maritime interest that has been expanding from the Indian Ocean Region, between the Strait of Hormuz on the western front and the Strait of Malacca on the eastern front, to extend into the South China Sea. For the Indian Navy to be able to dominate this region and the extended interests, it needs Vishal — 300 meters long and 70 meters wide — to bear 55 flying machines on board, and for that to happen, the warship need to be at least 60,000 tonne to 65,000 tonne. A nuclearpowered aircraft carrier would be a huge leapfrog for the Indian Navy, which now operates far more modest, conventionally-powered carriers of 45,000 tonne displacement in INS Vikramaditya (erstwhile Admiral Gorshkov of the Russian Navy). Vikramaditya has STOBAR-configured (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) ski-jump flight deck and it operates the MiG-29K combat planes, as part of its 34-plane fleet.

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The 29,000-tonne displacement INS Viraat (erstwhile HMS Hermes, a Centaur-class ship) has just moved into a phase where it is being readied for decommissioning. Viraat had a VTOL-configured (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) ski-jump flight deck, operating the Sea Harrier combat jets, as part of its 30-plane fleet. The first indigenously made carrier, Vikrant, will displace less than 40,000 tonnes when it's ready for sea trials in 2018 and gets into naval service in 2019. India is already building its `20,000-crore (`200 Billion/$3.5 Billion) IAC-1, a 40,000-tonne warship with a ski-jump flight deck in STOBAR configuration, at the Shipping Ministry-owned non-defence Cochin Shipyard. IAC-1, christened as Vikrant, shall carry MiG29Ks and indigenous Light Combat Aircraft naval variant on board. The IAC-1 will operate a 30-plane fleet. The line-up of the aircraft fleet on Vishal could include at least two squadrons of naval combat jets, a carrier-operated airborne early warning aircraft to do surveillance of the airspace and the seas around the warship, and helicopters for anti-submarine and special operations, apart from communication duties. If such

a heavy warship must do 30 knots (or 55 km per hour), then nuclear propulsion seems inevitable, naval planners argue. India has previously built a miniaturised 83 Mega Watt nuclear reactor for its INS Arihant nuclear-powered nukearmed submarine. But we are talking about a nuclear reactor for the aircraft carrier which is several times more powerful than a submarine. One consideration is to modify the 540 MW nuclear reactors that India has developed for commercial exploitation. There have been several deliberations within the Navy on the viability of nuclear propulsion. Those against it have cited that the British experience in building the Royal Navy's 65,000-tonne Queen Elizabeth II, slated to be commissioned in 2017. Those in favour have argued that the Indian carrier would require more power due to the use of EMALS, which has been for the first time integrated on the US Navy's Gerald R Ford-class super carriers that carry nearly 100 aircraft on board. Now comes the question of a possible aircraft to be deployed on Vishal. India has the Russian-origin MiG-29K carrierborne combat aircraft that it deploys on INS Vikramaditya, a Russian platform commissioned into the Indian Navy in 2013. The same aircraft is to be used on the ski-jump take-off configured Vikrant, which is readying for induction. The other aircraft for Vikrant is the Naval Tejas, which is far away from making it into the Navy service. This would mean India may have to look at European or American combat aircraft for Vishal. This opens the door for the French company Dassault Aviation's Rafale jets, the air force version of which have been signed up by India recently, and American Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet that is operated on board US Navy's aircraft carriers. EMALS being chosen for Vishal would mean the F/A-18 could have a slight advantage. India already has a joint working group with the US on futuristic aircraft carrier technology in the last two years now. However, even as New Delhi and Washington discuss the transfer of technology for India's future nuclear aircraft carrier, Russia has offered its nuclear aircraft carrier, dubbed "Storm," to India for purchase. Krylov State Research Center (KSRC), a Russian shipbuilding research and development institute, is designing the carrier, also known as Shtorm or Project 23000E. First revealed in May 2015, the Project 23000E multipurpose aircraft carrier is designed to conduct operations in

RUSSIA’S ‘STORM’ ven as India prepares to build its second ERussia indigenous aircraft carrier, too has embarked on

its own super carrier that could take about 10 years to build. Krylov State Research Center (KRSC) came up with a scale model of a new aircraft carrier, known as 23000E Shtorm (Storm). Apart from the one for the Russian Navy, KRSC has also prepared an export version of the aircraft carrier, which has been offered to India to meet its requirement. The power plant of Storm can either be conventional or nuclear, depending on the requirement of customers, according to reports on the new project. With a displacement of nearly 100,000 tones, Storm will be 330 metres in length and 40 meters in width and have a 11-metre draft. The warship can do top speeds of 30 knots and sea-keeping performance of up to Grade 7. With such capacities, Storm can carry up to 90 aircraft for various combat and reconnaissance missions, which could be a combination of up to 10 airborne early warning and remote and oceanic areas, engage landbased and sea-borne enemy targets, ensure the operational stability of naval forces, protect landing troops, and provide the anti-aircraft defence. EMALS, the latest US technology from General Atomics, is a major attraction for India, because it is flexible and allows variety of aircraft to come on the deck including the lighter, homemade light combat aircraft and heavy fighter aircraft. The Joint Working Group between India and the US has had no discussion so far on nuclear technology for Indian aircraft carrier. However, the EMALS — offered during US President Barack Obama's January 2015 visit to India — needs a nuclear propulsion ecosystem to be effective due to its power guzzling nature, say experts. It could also mean the possibility of futuristic F-35 carrier-borne aircraft and allied weapon systems, along with the AEW HawkEye, all worth tens of billions of US Dollars in business for the US defence companies. An EMALS Catapult Assisted TakeOff but Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR)

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control systems, up to five electronic warfare

aircraft, up to five reconnaissance planes, up to 15 anti-submarine and search and rescue helicopters and the rest combat planes up to three squadrons. To provide it the capability to operate such aircraft, the carrier would have two ramps and two electromagnetic catapults. Its weapon suite will include air defence weapons and anti-torpedo counter measures. The project could cost upwards of $6 billion. enables the launch at sea of heavier and more powerful, longer-range aircraft from the deck of a larger carrier with less wear and tear to the aircraft than in a steam catapult system. It's also able to launch lighter Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), which earlier systems often cannot. India has so far operated smaller carriers with a ski-jump-assisted take-off, which can launch only smaller fighters with a limited reach. An EMALS-equipped carrier would mark a quantum capability leap for India. To make the EMALS offer viable, the US should make an exception for India to allow transfer of nuclear propulsion technology. So far, the US has not provided nuclear propulsion technology to any country other than the UK, its closest ally. Some experts are skeptical on whether the US will walk the talk on an issue involving military nuclear cooperation with India. The strategic justification of the offer is that this collaboration would resonate throughout the Asian continent to India's strategic advantage in the light of rapid Chinese inroads into the Indian Ocean Region. A nuclear-powered carrier can

NAVAL ODYSSEY

NAVAL COMBAT AIRCRAFT n 2001-02, the Indian Navy had go in for 45 IMiG-29K/KUB one-seater and two-seater Russian Mikoyan fighters for two of its two aircraft

Top speed Range Length Wingspan Engine types

carriers -– Vikramaditya and Vikrant – for about $2.8 billion. One of the reasons for choosing the naval MiG-29 was because Indian Air Force too was operating a three-squadron MiG-29 fleet since 1985. The Navy reckoned that this would ensure timely deliveries of its MiG-29Ks, which will be completed by 2017, with easy access to spares and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) support, since India would have a larger user base. But the situation has changed in the case of Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-II, with India going in for better and more complex technologies. Consequently, the combat plane options available for Vishal too looks different:

: : : : :

1,912 km/h 3,700 km 15 m 11 m Snecma M88, Turbofan

RAFALE M

In January 2016, French firm Dassault Aviation pitched its Rafale M maritime combat aircraft as a possible option for India's requirement to operate from on board the Indigenous Aircraft CarrierII for which planning has started in right direction since mid-2015. Dassault Aviation executive has met up with the Indian Navy officials in New Delhi to stress the benefits of operating the twin-engine maritime Rafale, complementing the Indian Air Force's Rafale C. At that point, India was doing a hard bargain with France for buying 36 of the Rafale C plane for the Air Force. That Air Force deal now stands inked.

Dassault executivites had pointed out to the 'commonality factor' in deploying Rafale Ms and Rafale Cs, while their spares were the same and that would enable better sourcing of parts apart from accessing the Air Force's maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities for the Naval fleet too. French naval aviation wing had inducted the Rafale M in 2001 following which it was embarked on Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier of the French Navy. To enable the aircraft to operate

make the punch even deadlier with much longer operational endurance. There are huge cost issues with nuclear-powered carriers, which can easily take upwards of $10 billion to build. The Royal British Navy is reverting to carriers propelled by gas turbines/dieselelectric systems from nuclear ones. The US, though, has nearly a dozen Nimitzclass "super-carriers" — each an over 94,000-tonne behemoth powered by two nuclear reactors and capable of carrying 80-90 fighters. The US needs these super carriers to project power around the globe, since it has assumed the role of a global police for long and has strategic interest in almost every region among the seas. China, too, is now looking at nuclear-powered carriers after inducting its first conventional carrier — the 65,000-tonne Liaoning. So, while Navy may want a nuclearpowered carrier, it will ultimately have to be a considered political decision. The force, however, is firm about its long-term plan to operate three carrier-battle groups (CBGs). One carrier for each (western and eastern) seaboard, which the third one is

General Atomics' below the deck view of EMALS Subsystems

off the carriers, the Rafale M has a strengthened airframe, apart from longer nose gear leg to provide a more nose-up look. The aircraft also has a larger tail hook between its two engines and a built-in boarding ladder. Due to these modifications, Rafale M is around 500 kg heavier than the air force variant Rafale C. Interestingly, Rafale M is compliant with operations on board American aircraft carriers and it is also the only non-American fighter air-

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

craft to be cleared to operate off the US carrier flight decks, using the catapult for launch and arresting gear for landing on the carrier. Such flight operations were demonstrated by Rafale M off USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2008 when six of these planes from Flottille 12F were integrated on board the aircraft carrier Air Wing for an interoperability exercise.

Top speed Range Length Wingspan Engine types

: : : : :

1,915 km/h 3,330 km 18 m 14 m General Electric F414

F/A-18 SUPER HORNET

The F/A-18 was originally offered to India for its Air Force's requirement of a medium multi-role combat aircraft. But it was not down-selected as the top two contenders in that contest in 2011. One of the possibilities being talked about during that contest, which began in 2007 and ended in 2012 with the selection of Rafale combat aircraft as the winner of the MMRCA race, was its carrier-based operations capability. The carrier-capability was spoken as an advantage for the aircraft from the American manufacturer Boeing's stable then, as it is being talked about now, when India is finalising the contours of its Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-2, for which nuclear propulsion and possible use of EMALs for launch system on flight deck has been finalised. The twin-engine, multi-mission fighter fills a variety of roles such as air superiority, day and night strike missions, suppression of enemy air defence, reconnaissance, fighter escort, forward air control, and close and deep air support. With a digital control-by-wire flight control system which provides excellent handling qualities, and allows pilots to learn to

fly the airplane with relative ease. At the same time, this system that allows a pilot to focus on the weapons systems, its solid thrust-to-weight ratio and superior turn characteristics combined with energy sustainability, enable the F/A-18 to emerge victorious against any enemy move. In the US Navy, the F/A-18 was also the first tactical jet aircraft to incorporate a digital, MUX bus architecture for the entire system's avionics suite, according to experts. The multi-mission F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter, the latest upgraded version, are 4.2 feet longer than the

earlier Hornets, have a 25 per cent larger wing area, and carry 33 per cent more internal fuel, which will effectively increase mission range by 41 per cent and endurance by 50 per cent, according to one analysis of the aircraft. With 11 weapon stations and 8,000-kg external load capacity, the Super Hornet has increased payload flexibility by mixing and matching air-to-air and air-to-ground ordnance, allowing for carrying complete complement of smart weapons, including the joint direct attack munition and joint stand-off weapon.

in maintenance. But, even two CBGs will be possible only by 2019. Design and construction of a carrier has many challenges. Around 80 per cent of the IAC-1 structure has now been erected. India joins only four countries – the US, Russia, the UK and France – capable of building a carrier over 40,000-tonne. India's INS Viraat, with nearly 57 years of naval service, had to soldier on due to delays in IAC-1 (Vikrant), and its 11 Sea Harrier jump-jets were phased out earlier this year. The 45 MiG-29K naval fighters, procured from Russia for over $2 billion, can operate only from Vikramaditya and IAC-1. The 260-metre-long Vikrant, construction for which finally began in November 2006, will be able to carry 12 MiG29Ks, eight Tejas light combat aircraft and 10 early-warning and anti-submarine helicopters on its 2.5-acre flight deck and hangars. It will have a crew of 160 officers and 1,400 sailors. Powered by four American LM2500 gas turbines, the IAC-I will have an endurance of around 7,500 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots. It appears that the Russians want the

Shtorm project to fill in for Vishal, desperately trying to prolong a defence relationship that had flourished during the Cold War days and beyond for several decades. Building an aircraft carrier for India could mean continuity in that relationship for another four decades at least, ensuring a long-term relationship between the navies of the two countries. If Russia also supplied the carrier aircraft — with some mooting the idea of a carrier-capable PAK FA eventually flying off the Shtorms — it would play the central role in the longterm development of India’s naval aviation programme, stemming a festering India-US relationship in the naval domain. Building Vishal in India would no doubt be difficult and costly, but it would help preserve and foster the human resources and physical infrastructure built to construct carriers within India over a period of several decades. In fact, it is already a stupendous task that India could finalise its specifications for Vishal in such a short span of just about a year-and-ahalf. Soon after the Defence Acquisition Council had given its nod for Vishal con-

struction in May 2015, the Indian Navy took just about a month to come out with its expectations on the IAC-2 and to ask nine Indian state-owned and private shipyards if they can help in constructing the new aircraft carrier in India. The Letter of Interest issued in June 2015 were sent to state-owned Mazagon Docks (MDL), Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Goa Shipyard (GSL), Hindustan Shipyard (HSL), and Cochin Shipyard (CSL), apart from private yards L&T, Pipavav, ABG Shipyard and Bharati Shipyard, asking them to respond by July 21, 2015 with an Expression of Intent (EoI) to build the aircraft carrier. The Navy's July 10 letter in 2015 stated that it wanted to build a 65,000-tonne carrier, but left the propulsion system option open – either conventional or nuclear. Notably, the planned aircraft carrier would adopt a CATOBAR (Catapult-Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) configuration for air operations, though the Navy letter did not specify if it wants the EMALS (Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System) for the purpose. —Geopolitics Bureau

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December 2016

NAVAL ODYSSEY

FROM CARRIERS TO RESCUE CRAFT

RUSSIA OFFERS TO INDIA COOPERATION IN DEVELOPING MODERN NAVY M

oscow and Delhi enjoy strong and confidential ties of a special level in military and technical cooperation that have been maturing over more than half a century. The countries pursue a number of advanced projects in the interest of India’s Navy with Indian manufacturers brought into cooperation. This is consistent with PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ policy. Attesting to Russia’s readiness to transfer advanced technologies and maintain cooperation on equal basis is a track record of long and successful practices of setting up licensed and joint operations in India. There have been more than a handful moments during these years proving the mutual cooperation a success. Today’s projects, among them several have been underway for quite a while already, including production of the Su-30MKI aircraft, T-90S tanks and BrahMos supersonic missile in India, as well as several others are another evidence of Russia’s readiness to transfer technologies and knowhow. It is strengthened by a government-to-government agreement on starting a joint Russian-Indian facility for production of the Ka-226T helicopters signed in October 2016. By all means the countries also seem to do well with naval projects. In particular, Russia is ready to take up a joint programme with India, dubbed Project 75I, aimed at developing an advanced conventional submarine and air-independent propulsion to power her. Russia’s advanced Amur1650 submarine designed by Rubin, a marine design bureau Rubin, has been proposed as a baseline platform. For she incorporates cutting-edge technologies, concepts, and achievements in submarine building, the submarine is on track to join the ranks of the most advanced systems in the world as soon

as the project is completed. In the surface ship segment negotiations are in progress to build four extra Project 11356 frigates with improved performance to strengthen India’s Navy. The agreement was reached as far back as October 2016. It is going to be as close to the ‘Make in India’ policy as it gets. India’s outstanding interest is in creating its own powerful carrier group. Russia is also involved in the initiative to provide maximum assistance to its strategic partner. To this end, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s special arms exporter takes part in out-

fitting the INS Vikrant (Project 71), India’s first indigenous carrier, with aviation and technical equipment. The invaluable experience gained during this ship construction will doubtless come in handy for the development of a second carrier, namely the INS Vishal. Establishing India’s combat group is not the only cooperation opportunity, for Russian designers and ship builders can contribute to auxiliary and rescue capacity of the Indian Navy. In this respect, Russia has already mastered the production of the Project 21300 (export model calls project 21301) advanced rescue craft. The

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

lead ship RFS Igor Belousov has already been commissioned to the Russian Pacific Fleet. She is a unique ship, designed as an integrated platform combining her all systems and gear. She carries the whole range of rescue equipment, including a helicopter, compression chamber, as well as a Bester deep submersible vehicle capable of operating at 720 meters. The Bester can be integrated with a deep-sea diving system to support a round-the-clock deployment of deep-sea divers and simultaneously carry out decompression of rescued people. The Project 21301 craft’s special feature is Amur-1650 her propulsion system inSubmarine corporated into the diesel electric power plant complete with drive pods. Being crucial for safe navigation through narrow waters, it also provides control of the craft at almost 0 kt. Additionally, the propulsion system helps maintain the ship over a distressed object without deploying anchors and other retaining gear. This is prerequisite for safe operation of divers. It is plausible to build ships of this class in tight cooperation with India’s leading shipyards, as is required by the ‘Make in India’ policy. Apart from being part of salient joint projects, Rosoboronexport delivers equipment and weapons for ships under construction at India’s indigenous shipyards. Moscow is ready to offer a range of state-of-the-art equipment and weapons that will boost the capacity of the Indian Navy dramatically. These include Be-200 amphibious aircraft, Project 11711E large landing ships, Project 12701 minesweepers, Bal-E mobile shore-based missile systems, as well as ship-based weapons systems, such as the Palma AD system firing Sosna-R guided SAMs.

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NAVAL ODYSSEY

NAVAL UAVS ARE HERE TO STAY With its UAV fleet growing, the Indian Navy is planning to acquire 50 ship-borne drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions as part of its effort to boost maritime security. A Geopolitics Report

he induction of the air element in naval operations was one of the watershed moments in Indian Navy's history when the first air station was opened at INS Garuda in Kochi in May 1953. INS Garuda formed part of another watershed moment when a completely revolutionary concept, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, was launched into the skies from here. With its UAV fleet growing, the Indian Navy is planning to acquire 50 ship-borne drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions as part of its effort to boost maritime security. Although, the Navy has long been operating small ship borne Pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA), the experience and the expertise in this field cannot be matched with that of a tactical UAV. PTAs are short endurance ramp launched & parachute recovery UAVs, without any role equipment payloads. In the hostile environment of the battlefield, the UAV is the most obvious choice for a sensor-operating platform just as much as it is in peacetime intelligence gathering for its cost effectiveness. At present, the navy operates two squadrons of Israeli-origin Heron and Searcher Mk-II UAVs, which are based in Kochi and Porbandar. The navy feels that with such Naval Ship Borne Unmanned Aerial System (NSUAS), the range of operations of its warships can be extended multifold. India has developed a unique competency operating UAVs in the tropics where there is a lot of rainfall. The Navy's Searcher II and Heron UAVs played an important role in the rescue operations for the 2008 tsunami. They allowed for the detection of survivors and bodies off the coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Bay of Bengal), better guiding the Search and Rescue helicopters. A Request for Information issued recently says the NSUAS should have the capability of operation from ships of size of at least 50 metres (with or without 'helo' deck) and be able to perform dur-

General Atomics’ Guardian UAV

Insitu’s ScanEagle IAI’s Heron UAV

ing night conditions as well. The navy wants these drones to fly either pre-programmed or operator-initiated missions guided by the Global Positioning System and its onboard flight control system. NSUAS is primarily intended for operations from ship, but should also operate from ashore. NSUAS should fly either pre-programmed or operator-initiated missions guided by the Global Positioning System (GPS) and its onboard flight control system, for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), sea-lanes of communication monitoring and coastal/ EEZ surveillance, anti-piracy and antiterrorism, assistance in search and rescue and assistance in maritime domain awareness. The NSUAS is primarily intended for operations from ship but should also operate from ashore. The operating speed, range and endurance of NSUAS under Indian Reference Atmosphere (IRA) in various roles envisaged from ship and

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Northrop Grumman’s MQ-4C Triton

shore should be such that it enables accomplishment of various tasks. The need to have integrated maritime radar is inescapable keeping in mind the requirement of providing targeting data for the ship's fire control systems. An EO/IR payload is an essential classification tool for a surveillance platform engaged in EEZ patrol, anti-piracy, anti-terrorism and SAR missions. Provision of an onboard Automatic Identification System (AIS) will be of immense value for building the maritime

domain picture in a dense shipping environment or during SLOC monitoring. An EW payload on an airborne platform is always of great help in picking up enemy's transmissions at greater ranges due to wider radio horizon. With the added flexibility of fitment/ removal of payload (s), based on mission profile and tactical situation, the system can have the much-needed increase in

Indian Navy officials say, India has initiated the first steps towards acquiring the long-range surveillance drone Predator B 'Guardian' by sending Letters of Request (LORs) to the Pentagon under government-to-government deals. The Navy's Guardian will complement the armed drone Avenger from the same Predator series of drones that India is looking to buy for its Air Force.

Insituâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s UAV ground station - ICOMC2

IAIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Searcher UAV

endurance and Radius of Action (ROA). With these payloads and ship launch and recovery capability, the NSUAS may turn out to be as good as an integrated ship borne flight of Sea King or Kamov helicopter, though without ASW/ASV roles. As India speeds up the deployment of military satellites, it will allow the drones to operate over extended ranges. Currently, the Indian Navy is a front runner in this department, having fully integrated the GSAT-7 communication satellite in its order of battle and used it to network ships and aircrafts in missile firing exercises. However, Indian scientists and developers face a big challenge in progressing with a collision avoidance system, which is essential to ensure that the drones do not collide with any aircraft. The collision avoidance system is what will be an added advantage for the Indian Navy when its intent to acquire a maritime drone from the US firm General Atomics sometime soon. From what

The LORs, requesting price and availability for 22 Guardians, are now under consideration by the US Department of Defense (DOD) for clearance under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme. A positive view is likely to be taken. Once the process is through, the US Government (USG) will confirm by sending Letters of Acceptance (LOAs) to the Indian government on its request. The Predator B Guardian, the naval version over the long-range surveillance Predator drone, is a high performance Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft. With India entering the Missile Technology Control regime (MTCR) as a full-fledged member earlier this year, the sale of Guardian to Navy seems like becoming a reality soon. Powered by a high-performance Honeywell TPE331-10 turboprop engine, Guardian operates from a high altitude of 50,000 feet (about 15 km) and can fly for 27 hours before returning to its base, as per specifications of the drone. Guardian is also equipped with daynight sophisticated sensors including Raytheon's SeaVue multi-mode maritime radar to identify and track vessels of different sizes, signals and electronic intelligence systems, satellite communication and even the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). The Indian Navy has also debated

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December 2016

with DRDO the possibility of developing a Maritime Combat variant of HALE Class Rustom-2 UCAV. The Indian Navy may go in for nearly 15 of these maritime combat variants of Rustom-2, it is said. The Rustom-2 can also be used for maritime reconnaissance and surveillance role. A hunter-killer variant that will be built to deploy stand-off strike weapons will be developed as per requirements of Indian Navy. The Indian Navy's interest in a long-endurance maritime surveillance unmanned aircraft system is drawing the attention from the world over and Northrop Grumman officials have already briefed Indian Navy over MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system, a new broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) unveiled for the US Navy. The Indian Navy uses UAVs for maritime surveillance (traffic control, EEZ protection, fight against terrorism and piracy). It has a dozen drones at its disposal, mainly Heron and Searcher II. The first squadron, INAS 343, was established in 2006 in the Kochi (Kerala) naval base. In 2011, a second squadron of drones, INAS 343, came into operation at Porbandar in Gujarat with Searcher II and Herons. In 2012, another squadron was raised at INS Parundu at Uchipuli in Tamil Nadu. The Herons, equipped with radar and electro-optical sensors, has an operational speed of 130 miles per hour. Manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries, it has a service ceiling of 32,800 feet, covering a range of 217 miles. The Searcher-II is again manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries and has 125 miles per hour speed limit. With a service ceiling of 20,000 feet, it has an endurance of 18 hours. Indian Navy is said to have over 100 UAVs in its aviation fleet, flying over Indian waters since 2003 and deployed with three squadrons of the squadrons at locations mentioned earlier. The Indian Navy particularly required UAVs for reconnaissance and surveillance with high resolution photography, meteorology, air sampling, target acquisition and missile targeting, and for tracking damage assessment and electronic intelligence gathering. India does not have maritime UAVs that can operate out of warships. So, the Navy ordered land-based UAVs, which could operate from shore and be controlled from nominated fleet ships for longer ranges, till a ship-borne UAV is inducted.

NAVAL ODYSSEY

INDIA TO REWORK SUBMARINE BUILDING PLAN UP TO 2050

DCNS

ndia is now on the threshold of doing a major think about its future submarine building plan and look at greater number of vessels that the now delayed 30-year plan for 24 submarines in all, approved in the year 2000. Instead of the submarine building plan till 2030, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has asked the Indian Navy to think of its requirement till 2050. Primarily, this reworking of the submarine-building plan would aim at preserving and fostering of the existing submarine-building talent and skill sets that have been obtained from foreign collaboration by India's shipyards. At present, Mumbai-based Mazagon Docks (MDL) alone has had experience in building submarines in the country. MDL built the first submarines between 1986 and 1994. This submarine building skill and technology was obtained by MDL from German shipbuilder HDW through a transfer of technology and know-how for building submarines in India. Under this, MDL got to build two of the four HDW Shishumar-class submarines that India bought in 1986. That contract had resulted in a major allegation of bribes and that scam resulted in the cancellation of project to build more submarines in India using that technology and skill sets obtained from HDW. After having lost that capability over the years, India once again sought to obtain submarine-building know-how through its Scorpene project, again at MDL. Accordingly, in 2005, India contracted with DCNS of France for the Scorpene design and inked a nearly $3 billion deal to build six submarines of this class at MDL. It is this skill set obtained from DCNS that India aims to preserve and progress on its own submarine designing and building capabilities within the country. Scorpene is also a set of six submarines that India had procured under the 24-vessel 30-year submarine building capability plan approved in the year 2000. After a delay of nearly four years, the first of the six Scorpene submarines is getting ready to be inducted into the Indian Navy in the coming months, probably in the first half of 2017 (that may happen

DCNSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Scorpene submarine

India's submarine-building capability has seen an upward tick over the years and that this capacity would only continue to grow even in January 2017), now that it has already ventured out into the Arabian Sea for its sea trials. The rest five submarines of this class would also be inducted into the Indian navy over the next five years, likely at the rate of a submarine a year. The project delay was caused due to difficulties faced by Mazgaon Dock Ltd in sourcing material from foreign vendors. The Scorpene project entailed a major portion of the procurement for the submarines would be managed by the shipyard. This could not be done on time, due to lack of vendors or non-availability of

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

materials on time. The original schedule of delivery of the first submarine was December, 2012 which has since been revised now to 2017, thus causing a five year delay when it is finally inducted into the Navy. Now, Mazagon Docks says its has rectified the situation and resolved procurement related issues. Of the six Scorpene class of submarines, Indian Navy had modified its plans to include an advanced Air Independent Propulsion technology for the fifth and sixth Scorpenes under Project 75, cur-

rently in progress. However, that plan was shelved recently, according to top Indian Navy official, who did not want to be named. The Air Independent Propulsion system has been developed by the Indian Defence Reseach and Development Organisation (DRDO) and is already ready. However, the Indian Navy decided against integrating the technology on the last two of the six-submarine Project 75. In May this year, the first Scorpene, christened Kalvari, became the first new conventional submarine in the last 16 years to begin sea trials off Mumbai. When Kalvari formally joins the Indian Navy, it will give much-needed fillip to its underwater fighting capabilities, as the force is already battling to retain its current combat edge over Pakistan and countering the Chinese submarine forays into the Indian Ocean region and popping up too close to India's coast and at neighbouring nation's ports. Kalvari means tiger Shark and is a hunter-killer vessel that is an underwater predator without the proverbial sharp teeth, that's its key weapon systems. The induction of its ‘primary weapons’, heavyweight torpedoes, were inordinately delayed after the Parrikar-led Defence Ministry cancelled a likely `1,800 crore contract with embattled Italian conglomerate Leonardo (erstwhile Finmeccanica) subsidiary WASS for its 'Black Shark' torpedoes to arm the six French-origin Scorpene submarines. The Black Shark torpedo was enmeshed in controversies since the beginning. Initially, the acquisition project was put on hold after German Atlas Elektronik Gmbh complained of ‘irregularities’ in the selection process after the Black Shark torpedo was chosen over its SeaHake torpedo. Then, after a special technical oversight committee gave it the go-ahead, the VIP helicopter scam erupted to derail the process finally. In effect, INS Kalvari will be inducted with tube-launched SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles but its main weapon to maintain stealth will be missing. The `23,652 crore Scorpene project, with contracts being inked way back in October has faced huge time and cost overruns. The Indian Navy, meanwhile, is down to just 13 ageing conventional submarines, nine of them of Russian-origin Sindhughosh class and four German or Shishumar-class. While a submarine's prescribed design life is 25 years, 10 of them have already crossed that mark. Incidentally, it was the Vajpayee-led NDA government that in July 1999 had

approved a 30-year submarine building plan for induction of 24 submarines in a phased manner. Seventeen years later, not even one submarine has been commissioned. Parrikar obviously wants the Indian Navy to take a leaf out of the books of maritime powers like the US, Russia and the United Kingdom for its submarinebuilding plan and build large fleet of vessels. The US Navy currently operates 75 submarines, including 18 SSBNs that are nuclear powered and carry nuke-tipped ballistic missiles. The Russian Navy has about 60 submarines, of which about a dozen are SSBNs. China too has around 70 submarines in service, of which around six are nuclear-armed and another six are nuclear-powered. It has plans to build an unspecified number of a new type of nuclear-armed submarines. Pakistan, on the other hand, has a relatively very small submarine force of about a less than 10 submarines in its fleet, with plans to build eight more hunter-killer conventional submarines. India currently has 13 conventional diesel electric submarines (nine of the Russian-origin Sindhughosh (Kilo) class and four of the German origin HDW Shishumar class), one Russia-leased nuclear-powered submarine (INS Chakra of the Nerpa class) with conventional weapons, and a nuclear-armed indigenously built submarine (INS Arihant) for which it has taken Russian help, particularly for its miniaturised nuclear power plant. Of these 13 conventional submarines, India has just begun the process of upgrading next four of the Kilo class Russian-origin submarines and another two of the HDW Shishumar class submarines in an Indian shipyard with outside help. In August 2014, the Defence Acquisition Council had accorded approval for sending the six submarines for the major refit and life certification (MRLC) — four Russian Kilo class and two German HDW class — at a cost of over `1,000 crore each. Two Kilo class submarines are to be sent to Russia, while two more would be upgraded in India by the Hindustan Shipyard Limited in Vizag. Both the HDW submarines are to be upgraded in India, one each by Mazagaon Dock Limited and the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. In fact, India had 10 of the Kilo class submarines in its fleet, but lost INS Sindhurakshak to an internal explosion in the Mumbai docks in August 2013. Sindhurakshak had just returned a few months before that to India after a refit programme in Russia. During this refit

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December 2016

programme, at least half of the Kilo class submarines were fitted with the Klub-S cruise missiles. Apart from the existing fleet and the immediate induction of the Scorpene submarines, India has approved the construction of six more upgraded, stealth conventional submarines under its next programme called Project 75I. This project got its nod from the Defence Acquisition Council two years ago, but is yet to get even to the tendering stage, due to a key policy change that is in the offing. The Defence Procurement Procedure is being modified to allow for government collaboration with the private players at the strategic level. Called the 'Strategic Partners' policy, it is yet to be finalised and incorporated in the DPP-2016 that came into force from April 1 this year. Under the strategic partners programme, India government wants to choose private companies in the defence sector to collaborate on key military projects. That is, the government wants to create capabilities in the private sector for defence manufacturing for projects such as combat planes, transport planes, warships, submarines, battle tanks, artillery guns and such. Parrikar said recently that Project 75I would be kick-started as soon as the 'Strategic Partners' Policy is finalised and incorporated in the DPP. That is, the India government will choose one Indian private shipyard to be the submarine builder for the Navy, apart from MDL that already has the capability in the public sector. Indications are that the government may choose L&T as the strategic partner for submarine building, since the private sector giant already has some experience in working with Mazagon Docks on submarine programmes. Reliance Defence, which had acquired the Pipavav Shipyard in early 2015, too is a contender for this role, though it has no experience in submarine building. L&T shipyard at Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu is executing a contract for the design and construction of seven Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard. It is also constructing Interceptor Boats. Reliance Defence, formerly the Pipavav shipyard, is already constructing five Naval Offshore Patrol Vessels, an order it won for `2,600 crore in 2010. L&T and Reliance Defence are also fighting it out to bag the $2 billion order from the Navy to build four Landing Platform Docks. However, both shipyards currently have smaller naval vessel building orders that they are executing already. Apart from the six Project 75I

NAVAL ODYSSEY

F-21: SAFEST AND MODERN TORPEDO FROM DCNS FOR INDIAN NAVY T

he initial phase of development of F-21 torpedo dates back when French Navy expressed stringent need to match the operational requirement for torpedo having unparalleled performances, while fulfilling the highest enhanced safety rules and standards

for its new generation of SSN Barracuda class submarines. Since there was no available electric torpedo in the market fulfilling these demanding requirements, developing a new torpedo was the only way to ensure the same. This paved the way for French Naconventional submarines, India will also boost up its nuclear submarines fleet. Apart from the nuclear-powered Russian-origin INS Chakra, India is readying to lease a second Nerpa class nuclearpowered submarine from Russia in a few years from now. A secret agreement in this regard is said to have been inked between Russia and India in October this year during the summit meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa. Though INS Chakra and its follow on would give India the capability and experience to operate the nuclear-powered SSNs that it intends to build in the coming years. In February 2015, the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Modi had given its nod to build six SSNs in India at a cost of `50,000. These six nuclear-powered submarines, carrying conventional weapons, were approved as part of the 30 year for 24 submarine building plans, according to senior Navy officials. Originally, when approved in 2000, the 24-vessel plan was to go conventional on all of them. However,

vy’s decision to fund the development of a totally new Heavy Weight Torpedo (HWT) and thus ushered the modern 21st century torpedo being now manufactured by DCNS to be soon integrated in the latest class SSN Barracuda submarines. DCNS, being the only manufacturer in the world who has safely mastered the Aluminium Silver Oxide technology for batteries, has incorporated the same for F-21 development – allowing the torpedo to boast of higher range and maximum available speed. This makes the F-21 a much more lethal weapon than other available torpedoes which mostly use old generation Silver Zinc for their battery technology. Another important and salient feature of the F-21 torpedo is its design to never explode on-board a submarine even in case of platform being on fire, itself being dropped, or being fired accidentally. Only torpedo manufacturers having a long experience in nuclear submarine building and operations can understand the level of safety required. This feature will be considered of top in change of plans, six of these 24 vessels will now be nuclear-powered. Thus, apart from the six Scorpenes and six Project 75I conventional submarines, India will build six nuclear-powered submarines, making it 18 of the 24-vessel plan. It is speculated that India may only build nuclear-powered submarines henceforth, after completion of these 18 approved submarines. In the nuclear-armed segment, India has commissioned INS Arihant and is well on its way to construct the second of the Arihant-class, tentatively named Aridhaman. However, it is said in hushed tones that there would be at least four of the Arihant class of submarines in the next 10 years, and India would continue to build on the nuclear-armed submarines fleet in the next few decades. To enable these nuclear-armed submarines to be a credible deterrent force, India's Defence Research and Development Organisation has already successfully tested its two, key submarine-launched nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in the form of K-15 and K-4. While K-15 is a 750-km range missile, K-4

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

most priority even for international navies having experience in submarine operations, such as India. Even though HWT integration in any submarine is a complex and costly task, with DCNS being an integrator and developer of advanced combat management systems, the F-21 torpedo can seamlessly be integrated with the Subtics CMS family of the Scorpene Submarines. It is noteworthy that this torpedo has been ordered by Brazilian Navy. It needs to be highlighted that DCNS is having a sound defence industrial ecosystem in India for the indigenisation for P75 submarines. These industrial MSMEs, as well as DRDO laboratories are being consulted to enlarge future possibility of indigenous content for this modern torpedo. Concrete move in this constructive direction was the initiation of qualification process around 5 years ago, for thermal batteries in India for F-21. The torpedo being the main weapon of an SSK submarine, we are looking at ways to have it manufactured and maintained in India. is an intermediate range missile of 3,500km range. India has successfully tested the K-15, but a dummy without the warheads, from the INS Arihant during the submarine's weapons test at its full range in November 2015 and now the missile is said to have gone into full-fledged production. The K-4 too was tested in its dummy form from INS Arihant in March 2016, it has been reported. The two SLBMs are testimony to DRDO's single-minded focus and high rate of success in development of indigenous missile systems of all types. Thus, it is very clear that India's submarine-building capability has seen an upward tick over the years and that this capacity would only continue to grow, considering that its Defence R&D organisation has already built the next generation Air Independent Propulsion system and the much-needed teeth in the form of both conventional underwater weapons and nuke-tipped submarine-launched missiles. — Geopolitics Bureau

NAVY'S ISR CAPABILITY TO GET A BOOST

ARMY.MIL

The Indian Navy is pursuing plans to procure contemporary technologies and platforms that will boost its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities multifold

ny professional and competent maritime force would be aware of the need for battle space awareness or maritime domain awareness (MDA) and the crucial role played by intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets in generating actionable intelligence. The Indian Navy is one such force and its airborne C4ISR capabilities will undergo a quantum jump shortly once the P-8I, and other network centric infrastructure become fully operational. Five years ago, at a seminar on Maritime ISR, the then Indian Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma, had mentioned that when the national MDA project being steered by the Navy is fully established, it will enable all national stakeholders to seamlessly share MDA data. The key lies in the balanced use of active and passive measures to develop MDA and having redundant indigenous (GPS) systems to provide data in times of conflict and building effective battle space awareness will also demand employing the right combination of available platforms intelligently to ensure seamless coverage of the areas of interest. The Indian Navy had humble beginning in ISR with converted Indian Air force fleet of Lockheed Super Constella-

Operators on Indian Navy's Boeing P-8I (above) search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 INDIAN NAVY

tion aircraft that is now an iconic plane in aviation history. Since then and from the mid-1990s, the Indian Navy's ISR capabilities have made great strides with the induction of upgraded maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). Then came ISR platform into the navy such as the Leninets Sea Dragonequipped IL-38SD MPA operated by INAS 315 White Stallions, a multi-role platform capable of performing ELINT, over the horizon targeting (OTHT), detection of low flying airborne targets, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-surface warfare with Kh-35 anti-ship missiles, as well as search and rescue (SAR) missions. The eight Tupolev Tu-142MKE, which are in service with INAS 312 Albatross, have all received Elta's 2022 radar and indigenous ESM suites in place of Russian equipment. Contrary to several reports, the Tu-142 will be operated alongside the P-8I by INAS 312 for several more years – possibly until 2020. In fact, the type may yet receive another upgrade. Bought for $2.1-billion in 2009, the P8Is are the latest ISR platform, with longrange capabilities and anti-submarine warfare weapons. The platform has been effectively used by the Indian Navy to carry out surveillance over the Indian Ocean Region from the Gulf of Aden to the Ma-

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December 2016

lacca Strait. India has followed up with the 8-aircraft order in 2009 with a four-more aircraft order in July 2016. The P-8I brings hitherto unparalleled capabilities to play, with its powerful on board computing capability, delivering much improved situational awareness from data fusion and a cooperative engagement capability. Unlike the US Navy's P-8A, the Indian P-8I has two radar sets – a forward mounted Raytheon AN/ APY-10 and an aft-mounted Telephonics APS-143C(V)3 – for 360-degree coverage, a Canadian-built AN/ASQ-508A magnetic anomaly detector, and several Indiandeveloped communications, SATCOM and Link II tactical datalinks. It is armed with AGM-84L Harpoon Block II missiles, Mk. 54 lightweight torpedoes, and Mk. 82 bombs. These large MPA are complemented by the Dornier Do 228-201s, almost all locally built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Dorniers are flown by INAS 310 Cobras, INAS 311 Kites, and INAS 318 Hawks, while INAS 550 Flying Fish – the training unit for pilots and mission system operators, called observers – operates both Dorniers and BN-2T. Fitted with a variety of sensors, the Dorniers are heavily utilised not only as ISR platforms but also for para-dropping,

NAVAL ODYSSEY

Tupolev Tu-142 of the Indian Navy

transport, utility, and training. A typical ISR sensor package comprises Elta’s EL/M 2022 V3 multi-mode radar, a retractable Elop CoMPASS electro-optical (EO) pod, ESM suite, tactical datalinks, Trigun AIS and SATCOM. The Indian Navy is pursuing plans to procure contemporary technologies and platforms that will boost its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities multifold. As part of the Indian government's effort to fast track its goal to secure the country's maritime assets and to deter infiltration by terrorists into India from the coastal areas, as it happened during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the Indian Navy is soon going to purchase state-ofthe-art multi mission maritime patrol Predator Guardian UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) from General Atomics. Guardian provides high altitude wide area long endurance maritime ISR capability, which will help India to safeguard its maritime assets in the Indian Ocean, both on the East and the West coast. Flying at an altitude of 50,000 feet, these drones have the capacity to fly non-stop for more than 24 hours and monitor the movement of objects as small as a football. India had previously shown interest in purchasing these drones from the US, but the Obama administration was unable to process the request due to restrictions imposed by the Missile Technology Control Regime, in which India was not a member. However, after India joined MTCR in June 2016, the US has started considering the proposal and is believed to be moving ahead with the next phase of letter of acceptance. The Indian Navy is aware of the need for battle space awareness and maritime domain awareness (MDA) and the crucial role played by intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets in generating actionable intelligence. ISR capabilities have made great strides with the induction of upgraded maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) since the mid-nineties. The government's decision to purchase four additional Boeing P-8I aircraft through the US Foreign Military Sales programme addresses a gap in India's airborne anti-submarine warfare capability. While the additional P-8Is will improve the capabilities of the Indian Navy, there

is a corresponding need for acquiring force-multipliers and developing tactics to maximise the potential of such expensive platforms. The current plan is for four more aircraft to arrive within the next three years, bringing India's total number of P-8Is to 12. These maritime patrol aircraft can quickly search a wide area of water with sonobuoy patterns and guide other forces onto suspected "contacts" (submarines). The additional capability can be crucial, as surface warships and even submarines can find it very difficult to reliably find, shadow, and maintain contact with modern rival submarines in large ocean expanses. The P-8Is in Indian service are equipped with AGM-84L Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles, Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes, and Mk-82 depth charges. The platform holds potential to include high-altitude ASW weapons like the Mk54 torpedo with a Boeing-built wing kit and net-enabled weapons like AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) and very likely the upcoming Long Range Anti-Ship Missile or LRASM, which are being adopted by the US Navy for its P-8As. Exploring the inclusion of similar weapons systems would allow Indian aircraft to maintain a wide search area and increased standoff ranges from threats. The Indian Navy is planning to acquire ship-borne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The adoption of ship-borne UAVs can incrementally complement maritime patrol aircraft like the P-8Is and ASW helicopters at sea in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), helping boost battle space awareness and target acquisition. The navy has a stated requirement of 50 such UAVs, which is currently stuck in the tendering stage. The navy has previously experimented — unsuccessfully — with the Chetak/ Alouette-III helicopter in collaboration with Hindustan Aeronautics and Israeli Aerospace Industries. Combining UAVs and ASW helicopters on ship borne air detachments will provide Indian warships a high degree of tactical flexibility in highthreat environments, reducing risk to crews, as well as making targeting faster

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

and more precise. The IAI-HAL NRUAV project consists of a Malat-made Helicopter Modification Suite (HeMoS) fitted on Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)'s Chetan, an upgraded Chetak with Turbomeca TM 333 2M2 engines. The helicopter is planned to be used for unmanned operations and advanced ISR missions from warship decks. IAI-HAL NRUAV will feature automatic vertical Take-off and Landing (AVTOL) from aviation-capable ships and from unprepared landing sites. It is intended to be employed as an elevated mast, which will extend the vessel’s coverage over a much larger area, providing early warning and detection of aircraft, cruise missiles, surface vessels and even subsurface activities. It is planned to have endurance of 6 hours and up to 120 km from the launching vessel. The project funded by the Ministry of Defence was first initiated in 2008. The Chetak platform can be operated from almost all kind of naval warships, which include Coast Guard OPV’s too. In the manned version using the helicopters for long time ISR mission makes human errors, this due to the heavy vibration and sea states. So, making unmanned system in the existing Chetak makes the Helicopter perform ISR mission for extra-long time. Unlike the manned variant, the unmanned system comes with better sensor systems. The Chetak UAV can carry maritime multi-mode radar slated to be the modified variant of EL/M 2022 Radar. The EL/M 2022 used for Long range sea surveillance which increases the ships primary surveillance range, Anti-submarine warfare capability, air to air mission which include detection of sea skimming missiles and weather applications. The Chetak UAV is re designed to work in the operational altitude of 15,000 ft, with the operational area of some 150 Km with six hours of loiter time and with the maximum speed of 100 knots. Most of the newer Indian warships can carry two helicopters; the main reason is to carry a Chetak UAV along with Naval Multi role helicopters. To increase the ships performance in future battles. The Chetak UAV can provide over the Horizon detection support to the Naval Ships. —Geopolitics Bureau

FRIGATES AND CORVETTES FOR A BLUE WATER INDIAN NAVY

ndia is slowly, but steadily, working towards having a blue water Navy capability that truly manifests its power projection in the maritime domain. In a major step towards building a formidable navy for the future, the Indian government has kick-started the process of building new frigates and corvettes in the medium sized battle ships category of vessels for the Indian fleet. There is a worldwide debate on what constitutes a blue water navy. It is often debated with surprise that the Indian Navy calls itself a blue water navy. Essentially, as per British maritime definitions, a blue water navy is a maritime force capable of operating globally at different time zones and in different oceans, all at the same time, even as it possesses maritime expeditionary capabilities. Along with these, the naval force should also be able to control a wide area of the seas. India essentially has the capabilities to send its warships across the globe to different continents and time zones, while still possessing the capability to control its primary area of interest in the Indian Ocean region. It is today expected by the global community to come to the aid of other nations and people at the time of calamity or natural disaster in the region. And the Indian Navy has sailed up to that challenge comfortably in the last couple of decades now. In this pursuit of capability to project power, India's frigates and corvettes play a major role in helping the nation to perform its role of a net security provider to the Indian Ocean Region. That's precisely why it is important to assess the Indian capability building through new programmes for construction of frigates and corvettes. In the recent years, India has built three frigates under Project 17 that are classified as the Shivalik-class. These are the first lot of stealth warships that India built on its own in its shipyards in the first decade of the 21st century, marking a remarkable shift forward for its war-

INS Kamorta, India's first indigenously built antisubmarine stealth corvette

INDIAN NAVY

With a fleet of frigates and corvettes joining the Indian Navy, the South Asian giantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s maritime force is emerging as one of the most powerful in the region ship building industrial capability. INS Shivalik, INS Satpura and INS Sahyadri, along with their follow on seven-ship Project 17A for which contracts have been signed, are going to be the backbone frigates of the Indian Navy fleet for another three to four decades.

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While the first three of the Shivalikclass were built at the Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Ltd. (MDL), the next lot of seven frigates would be build in two parts: four in MDL and the rest three at the Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers.

NAVAL ODYSSEY

DRDO's Varunastra, the first indigenous heavy weight ship launched anti-submarine electric torpedo

RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launcher

MOD

These Shivalik-class of guided missile frigates very well complement the six Talwar-class and the follow-on frigates from Russia, which built the Krivak-III frigates to Indian specifications, arming it with the BrahMos missiles on board. The difference between the Russian-built and the Indian-built frigates are their stealth features and additional armament. While the three Shivalik-class frigates have been built and delivered, the Indian shipyards are preparing for the construction of the seven follow-on frigates for which contract has already been awarded to them. The Shivalik-class frigates have performed exceedingly well during their deployment on India's eastern sea board that the navies of South East Asia are now showing greater interest in buying warships built by Indian shipyards. The Indian cabinet committee on security approval for building the seven follow-on frigates for the Indian Navy came in February 2015 at a cost that could be worth about `50,000 crore. These frigates were termed as "critical necessity" by the Indian Navy when it obtained the approvals for its construction. The frigates are expected to bolster Indian Navy's overall deterrence capability in the entire Indian Ocean region, especially its primary area of strategic interest from the Gulf of Aden to the Malacca Strait. These new frigates â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for which the two Indian shipyards are already

geared up to build â&#x20AC;&#x201D; would be larger, faster and stealthier than the 6,100-tonne S h i v a l i k- c l a s s frigates built under Project 17. These new frigates would be packed with more weapons and sensors to operate in a multi-threat environment. It could take nearly a decade for the seven frigates to be built, though it is expected that the splitting of the seven-ship order would hasten the process of induction of these vessels into the Indian Navy. At present, the rate of delivery of warships by Indian shipyards is stagnant at one warship a year. Hence, at the end of the decade, from now, the Navy hopes to induct two frigates each over three years to complete early commissioning of these warships. The project, classified as Project 17A, is already four-years behind schedule. Interestingly, Mazagon Docks, being the lead agency for Project 17A, has tied up with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for Project 17A, primarily to help it hasten the building process. Though the basic and functional

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

BEL's Ajanta Electronic warfare suit on the INS Sahyadri

design for Project 17A would come from the Indian Navy and MDL, Fincantieri will help modernise these vessels to Indian Navy specifications. This would also involve a significant amount of transfer of technology from Fincantieri, with the creation of system advisors that would be useful for other programmes. Fincantieri will assist MDL in the development of detailed engineering aimed at integrated building in the two Indian shipyards, as well as design optimisation processes and modular construction, and undertake training and ongoing technical assistance.

RAFAELâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DIGITAL SHIPBORNE ELECTRONIC WARFARE SUITE

The new frigates are likely to be modified Project 17 frigates' design. This will for new-generation weapon systems to be integrated into the frigates' design. The crew complement will likely be reduced from the existing 257, including 35 officers, to about 150 by introducing high levels of automation, which will translate into a savings of around 20 per cent in operational costs and higher operational availability of the warships. The weapon systems such as the Barak-2 MR-SAM/EL/M-2248 MF-STAR combination instead of the Cashmere Area Air Defence system comprising the 24 rounds of 40km-range 9M317M Shtil-1 MR-SAMs, 3S-90 missile launcher, four MR-90 Orekh target illuminators, and the Salyut FSUE-built E-band MR-760 Fregat M2EM 3-D radar; plus the BrahMos vertically-launched supersonic multi-role cruise missiles instead of the eight Novator-built 3M54E KlubN supersonic 220km-range anti-ship cruise missiles, could find a place in the new frigates. The 142m-long and 17m wide Shivalik-class frigates feature MR-760 Fregat M2EM 3D air search radar, a hullmounted sonar array, four MR-90 Orekh radars, an ELTA EL/M 2238 surveillance and theatre alert radar. Capable of carrying two helicopters of the Dhruv, Sea King or Kamov varieties, the Project-17 class vessels are equipped with BEL Aparna fire control radar and a BEL Ajanta electronic warfare suite to counter an enemy attack. Armed with a Otobreda gun and the Shtil surface-to-air missile

EWS-DV is a naval EW Suite comprised of digital receivers and digital technique generators, optimised to handle very dense electromagnetic environments. Capable of threat identification and simultaneous jamming and deception of multiple threats, the SEWS-DV is designed for both ESM and ECM applications. The system features high effective radiated power (ERP), an advanced DRFM-based technique generator and sophisticated power management techniques. From real-time detection and analysis in a complex electromagnetic environment to the identification, jamming and deceiving of surface ships, attacking missiles, aircraft and radar

system with 24 short-to-medium-range missiles, the Shivalik-class frigates are powered by two Pielstick 16 PA6 STC diesel engines and two GE LM2500+ boost turbines in combined diesel or gas (CODOG) configuration. Garden Reach, which is building three of the seven stealth frigates under Project 17A, is also working towards getting the first of the frigates ready by 2013, according to its Chairman and Managing Director Rear Admiral A K Verma.

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sites, the SEWS-DV is the system of choice, whatever the threat. It is designed to fit onboard all types of ships, including OPVs, corvettes, frigates and destroyers. Highly reliable and low maintenance, the SEWS-DV system is operated by a single crew member and is modular, enabling expansion according to user requirements. The system easily interfaces with the combat management system (CMS) and other on-board combat and data systems. Rafael has supplied naval EW systems in various configurations, including complete EW suites, such as SEWS, C-Pearl ESM and SharkECM systems to the Israeli Navy and to other navies around the world. The other two frigates will be delivered at one-year intervals and within ten years all the ships would be ready. The GRSE component of the seven-ship project will cost close to `20,000 crore and this is the highest ever order received by GRSE. The Project 17A warships' superstructure will also make extensive use of composites like the ones on board the four Project 28 Kamorta-class Anti-Submarine Warfare corvettes, under execution by GRSE.

NAVAL ODYSSEY

BETTERING ASW CAPABILITIES FOR INDIAN SUBMARINES ndian Navy is now in a quandary. It's first Icommissioned Scorpene submarine is now ready to be soon, having gone out for sea

trials in earlier this year. But its primary weapon is still not finalised. The Indian Navy got into this situation after the Ministry of Defence in May this year scrapped the plans to purchase the Black Shark heavy weight torpedo from the Italian-maker Whitehead Alenia Systemi Subacquei (WASS) because of its association with the now blacklisted Italian major Leonardo (erstwhile Finmeccanica). The Italian major had got into trouble in India due to allegations that its helicopter unit, AgustaWestland, was involved in paying bribes to Indian officials and

engaging defence agents for bagging the deal. Indian laws do not allow paying of bribes and engaging agents for bagging defence deals. That decision from the government means, the first Scorpene, christened Kalvari, will be commissioned without its primary weapons and so will the other five submarines from the Scorpene series, unless a decision is taken on the alternative. Right now, the only alternative in front of the government is the German Atlas Elektronik's Heavyweight Torpedo called SeaHake mod4. Top Indian Navy official did not want to commit themselves to the Atlas Elektronik torpedo at this stage, but said they will in due course select the weapon system they require. This decision to scrap the `1,800-crore Black Shark torpedo procurement plan is also likely to hit the Indian Navy's plans for its Arihant-class ballistic missile submarine fleet. According to reports, the Black Shark was to arm at least three of the four Arihant-class submarines and the cancellation would mean

modifications to the nuclear-armed submarines' torpedo tubes and delay induction of the second vessel by two to three years. But, for immediate requirements of the Indian Navy warships, the government has approved the integration of the newly-inducted Varunastra, an indigenous heavyweight torpedo developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory of the DRDO. Varunastra induction happened on June 29, 2016, just about a month after the Black Shark torpedo procurement plan cancellation, marking it as an important day for the 'Make in India' programme. Varunastra had been showcased for the first time by DRDO at the Republic Day parade earlier this year. Developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) and manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited, the anti-submarine torpedo weighs around 1.25 tonne and can carry 250 kg of explosive. When fired, Varunastra travels at a speed of about 40 nautical miles an hour. Varunastra torpedo also has export potential, according to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. NSTL had worked on the indigenous heavyweight torpedo for the last 10 years. The torpedo has already been tested from warships and it will be tested from a submarine after minor modifications is carried out on the weapon system to make it suitable for submarines. Apart from the weapon systems, the Indian Navy has also acquired in May 2014 six active towed array sonar system (ATAS) for its mainline warships to boost their anti-submarine warfare capabilities. These sensors from German firm Atlas Elektronik, valued at Euro 40 million, operate in low frequency range and permit observation of that sea space at ranges in excess of 60 km, depending on the sound propagation conditions of the water. The first of the six system were delivered this year. The performances of ATAS bring in an exceptional operational range advantage over both the radars and weapons systems employed by submarines. ATAS can also locate and track surface vessels which permits reconnaissance of both submarines and ships in the same sonar search area. The Indian Navy also a plan to buy 78 portable diver detection sonar systems and a tender is currently in progress in this regard. There were reports that Tata Power SED had emerged as the lowest bidder in this tender against competitors Elcome Integrated System and Larsen & Toubro. However, a final decision is yet to be made public by the Navy.

With China building its submarine capability and its fleet venturing close to India's coast in the recent years, the need for building the Indian Navy's anti-submarine warfare capability was felt. The GRSE has till now delivered two of the four Kamorta-class of anti-submarine warfare corvettes to the Indian Navy. The last two of the Kamorta-class vessels are currently under different stages of construction and are expected to be delivered within two years' time. With INS Kamorta and INS Kadmatt already commisioned in August 2014 and January 2016 respectively. Both the warships are currently based at Visakhapatnam as part of the Eastern Naval Command. The next expected to be commissioned in the next few months is Kiltan, which is under final stages of getting inducted. The last of the four corvettes is Kavaratti, which is expected to be commissioned either in late 2017 or early 2018. The Kamorta-class of corvettes have succeeded the Abhay-class of antisubmarine corvettes and are the first stealth corvettes to be built in India. The 3,500-tonne warships were ordered in 2003 by the Indian Navy. The 109-meter long warships are powered by four Pielstick 12 PA6 ST Diesel engines through CODAD and DCNS raft mounted gearbox. The corvettes can hit 32 knots at high speeds and cover 3,450 nautical miles range with a nearly 4,000 nautical miles’ endurance levels. The warship is mounted with sensors and processing systems such as HUMSA-NG bow-mounted sonar and a central acquisition 3D-CAR radar, EL/M2221 STGR fire-control radar, BEL Shikarai and Ajanta, Hull mounted HUMSA radar array and RAWL02 antenna communication grid. The warship would get an Atlas Elektronik towed array sonar soon, for which orders have been placed. The weapon systems on board Kamorta-class include a bomber electronic warfare suite, Kavach naval decoy system, an OTO Melara 76 mm Super Rapid Gund Mount, two AK-639M close-in weapon system, two RBU-6000 antisubmarine rocket launcher and four 533mm torpedo tubes. The warship can handle a Westland Sea King helicopter on-board. With these frigates and corvettes joining the Indian Navy’s fleet, the South Asian giant’s maritime force is emerging as one of the most powerful in the region and is now considered as one of the few blue-water navies of the world. — Geopolitics Bureau

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

NAVAL ODYSSEY

MINESWEEPER BUILD UP BY INDIAN NAVY TO PROTECT ITS ASSETS The Indian Navy has repeatedly sounded alarm over delays in the acquisition of mine counter measure vessels as its fleet is down to just six ageing Karwar-class of minesweepers

INS Kozhikode, a Pondicherryclass minesweeper

f, at any point in time in the future, India has a conflict situation at the seas, it is hoping that it wouldn't lose its warships and submarines even before they venture out to the seas from its naval bases. It is more of a worry than hope. But the point remains that Indian Navy suffers deficiencies in this category of naval preparedness for quite some time now and only now some counter-measures, the pun intended, are being taken. As part of that effort, India is building up its capabilities to counter mines that would be laid by its enemies around the mouths of its harbours and naval bases, to catch Indian warships and submarine unawares, when they sail out to fight a maritime battle at the seas. Underwater mines are cheap and can be planted closer to Indian waters with relative ease. Once deployed, these mines could cause huge damage and loss of warships to India, choking up the mouth of any harbour. Minesweeper of 1,000-tonnage are used to clear the harbour approaches and departure routes, sea lanes and offshore assets for shipping traffic. These minesweepers are equipped with

INDIAN NAVY

high-definition sonars, acoustic and magnetic sweeps, and these can easily detect marooned and drifting mines, and engage them using remote-controlled systems like small underwater vehicles that detonate the mines from a safe distance. While Pakistan Navy has three French-origin Munsif (Tripartite) class of minesweepers, China's People's Liberation Army Navy operates three mine countermeasure classes and a single mine layer class, such as the 10 vessels of the Type 081, two of the Type 082II and 17 of the Type 082 vessels. The US currently has just about 11 mine counter measure vessels in service, as it hardly needs minesweepers in its fleet in view of the dominating presence of its warship fleet that keep away enemy vessels close its coast or harbour. The Indian Navy has repeatedly sounded alarm over delays in the acquisition of mine counter measure vessels to the government. The Navy's minesweeper fleet is down to just six ageing Karwar-class of minesweepers, which are the follow-on of the six Pondicherry-class that last of which was decommissioned in 2015, for both the east and west coasts.

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

However, it has a requirement for at least 24 mine counter measure vessels, particularly because of the Chinese submarines that have been making forays closer to India's coast. Enemy submarines can easily lay mines and that poses a great danger to the Indian Navy vessels venturing out into the Indian Ocean region. India's earlier effort at building eight Mine Counter Measure Vessels (MCMV, for short) was abandoned in late 2014 by the present Indian government. The MCMVs are highly-specialised small warships that detect, track and destroy enemy mines, to enable safe shipping traffic closer to the Indian harbours and sea lanes of communication. That effort was cancelled by the Indian government over allegations of agents having vitiated the entire selection process. According to the original plan, this was a global tender and that process had led to the selection of South Korean Kangnam Corporation as the winner of the tender. However, after long price negotiation, the effort got scuttled due to the allegations. In October 2011, the government had concluded the price negotiations with Kangnam Corporation, and

the tender requirements meant that two of the MCMVs out of the eight would be built in South Korea and the rest six would be built at Goa Shipyard through a technology transfer, which would cost `2,700 crore. The Goa Shipyard component of the tender was estimated to be worth `6,000 crore. Only the deal was left to be inked, but it was on hold due to the allegations that way back in July 2005, when the MCMV tender was to begin, Kangnam had hired agents to facilitate their participation in the tender. The government then encashed the `3 crore bank guarantee from Kangnam Corporation under the pre-contract integrity clause, though the Korean shipyard was not blacklisted. Following recommendations from the present government's Attorney General, the government decided to scrap the tender. Soon after, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar held consultations with Goa Shipyard and decided to do a ‘Make in India’ project for the MCMVs instead through foreign technology transfer. In February 2015, the government finally recognised the critical operation requirement of the navy for MCMVs and decided to nominate the Goa Shipyard, a defence ministry-owned ship builder, to construct the MCMVs through a fresh tender for foreign technology transfer from a foreign shipyard. The government also increased the number of MCMVs required by the Navy to 12 from the previous eight, thus making the deal much more lucrative. The Defence Acquisition Council nod for nominating Goa Shipyard for construction of the 12 MCMVs came about finally. As per the requirements of the Navy, the Goa Shipyard acted on the government nomination to build the MCMVs and issued the invitation to global shipyards to make techno-commercial offers to build the MCMVs. In September 2015, Goa Shipyard sent the expression of interest to Kangnam Corporation, Intermarine of Italy, Navantia of Spain, Lockheed Martin of the United States, Thyssenkrupp of Germany and two Russian shipyards. The document from Goa Shipyard envisages that the first MCMV construction would start in April 2018 and that first vessel is to be delivered to the Indian Navy in three years from then, by April 2021. From then on, Goa Shipyard plans to deliver one vessel every six months, to complete the delivery of all 12 MCMVs by September 2026. The MCMVs would have the following characteristics: It will be 55- to 60-metre long, 11-metre in breadth, with about three-metre draft, and a displacement of about 800-tonne to 1,000-tonne.

With state-of-the-art systems, the MCMVs would be non-magnetic in nature, and hence all the machinery, auxiliaries, equipment would be made using nonmagnetic material, with only minimum use of ferrous materials. Wherever inevitable suitable ‘Degaussing’ coils would be provided for reducing the magnetic signatures, apart from taking all practicable measures to achieve a minimum magnetic signature for the MCMVs. Stringent Shock Standards would be met by all the machineries fitted onboard. Entire Propulsion System, Power Generation Systems, AC Plants, Firefighting system (including fire pumps) and damage control systems (bilge & Ballast Pumps) would be designed to meet IN Shock grade 'A' in conjunction with BR 3021, the global standard in warship building for shock absorbing capability of equipment on board. Other Auxiliaries shall be NSS II Shock compliant (for equipment fitted above water line) in conjunction with BR 3021. When the Goa Shipyard decides on its foreign partner, such a foreign shipyard would also get an opportunity to provide after-sales support service to the warships with the Indian Navy during the envisaged period of 25 years of service life. The focus of the MCMV project is to increase the indigenous minesweeper construction capability at Goa Shipyard and the shipyard that would propose highest Indian content on the MCMVs would be the winner of the opportunity to join hands with Goa Shipyard for the project. Earlier this year, Kangnam Corporation was reported to have emerged as a sole bidder to respond to a global expression of interest. Since this led to a single vendor situation, which is not acceptable under the Defence Procurement Procedure, Goa Shipyard had to seek special permission from the Ministry of Defence to carry on with contract negotiations with Kangnam Corporation for transfer of technology. This was finally accepted by the Ministry of Defence. In September 2016, a year after Goa Shipyard issued the invitation to global shipyard to partner in the MCMV project, it was in discussion with Kangnam

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December 2016

Corporation on purchasing weapons and sensor suite for the 12 MCMVs. The Goa Shipyard is also working on building its own infrastructure to execute the MCMV project. The Goa Shipyard has floated tender for the mines to be integrated on the MCMVs. Basically, the Goa Shipyard is working on the MCMV's systems and requirements simultaneously so that the project isn't delayed for want of the equipment and weapons to be integrated on the warships. Among the companies that are being looked at to supply the systems and sub-systems for the warship include Swedish Saab, French Thales, German Atlas Elektronik, British BAE Systems, American Bell and Indian company Mahindra Defence. In October 2015, reports quoted Parrikar as saying that India will begin building the MCMVs by 2017. He was also quoted as saying that the technology acquisition Seafox is an anti-mine marine drone. It is a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) manufactured by Atlas Elektronik

parameters for the MCMV between Goa Shipyard and Kangnam Corporation was in its final stages and only cost negotiation was left to be completed. When all the 12 MCMVs join the Indian Navy fleet by end of 2026, India will have a formidable antimine capabilities and it is quite possible that India would have embarked upon the next project to manufacture 12 more of the mine counter measure warships to protect the Indian Navy's precious assets in the form of new destroyers, frigates, corvettes and submarines. The deal with South Korean shipyard is also expected to provide a fillip to the Indian government's 'Look East' and 'Act East' policies, enabling a strategic defence cooperation considering the emerging geopolitics in the region. — Geopolitics Bureau

NAVAL ODYSSEY

he Indian Navy’s Submarine Arm will celebrate its Golden Jubilee Year in 2017. The imminent commissioning of the Kalvari — in her new avatar as India’s first Scorpène Class submarine — is, therefore, an especially timely portent of happier times for the underwater sentinels of our freedom. For some time now, much media-time has been devoted to lamenting the several perceived inadequacies in the country’s submarine prowess, especially after the tragedy that struck INS Sindhurakshak in Mumbai on August 14, 2013, resulting in the loss of 18 precious lives and the loss of an invaluable combat platform. As the Scorpène programme ran into time overruns and as the People’s Republic of China began submarine forays into the Indian Ocean, breathless TV anchors and defence correspondents have invoked ‘Upgrade’ as a new and urgent mantra against Chinese machinations. The truth is, of course, somewhat more prosaic. ‘Upgrades’ are part of a normal naval response to the technological and tactical changes wrought by the evolution of naval operations through which armed combat is prosecuted upon, over or under the sea. Can technological upgrades make up for numerical limitations? The answer is not straight forward. Although quantity does have a quality all of its own, in undersea warfare, technology has an inordinate influence upon the outcome of combat. So, how do we currently fare in terms of both, absolute quantity, and the quality of the quantity that we do have — and what is the prognosis for the immediate future? Before answers to these questions can be attempted, it is important to understand that warfare at sea differs markedly from that of armed combat upon the land. Terrain is arguably the most important determinant of land-based combat and as a consequence, armies have goals of ‘occupation’ or ‘possession’ or ‘eviction’. At sea, however, the effect of terrain diminishes sharply as the distance from the coast increases. The sea is fundamentally a medium of movement and cannot be ‘fortified’ or ‘occupied’. Navies cannot ‘dig-in’ and ‘hold’ sea areas that have great intrinsic value. Consequently, the aims of naval operations revolve around the ‘use’ or ‘denial-of-use’ of specific areas of the sea for a specific period of time. If we want to use a specific area of the sea for a specific period of time and we don’t want the enemy to interfere with our use, we must exercise what is called ‘Sea Control’ in that sea area and for that period of time. If, however, we do not have any in-

Undocking of first Scorpene class submarine at Mazagon Dock Ltd

INDIA’S SUBMARINE ARM RETURNING TO EVEN-TRIM Even as the country awaits with bated breath the arrival of the Indian Navy’s Scorpènes, the process of upgrading the combat capability, safety and survivability of our existing sub-surface assets is continuing apace, analyses VICE ADMIRAL PRADEEP CHAUHAN (RETD) terest in using a specific area of the sea for a specific period of time, but we merely do not want the enemy to use it, we must exercise what is called ‘Sea Denial’ — once again in that sea area and for that period of time. Submarines (along with seamines) are classic platforms for sea-denial operations. Another feature of combat at sea is that the hunter and the hunted can operate in totally different mediums (surface, sub-surface, air / aero-space), each pretty much oblivious of the presence of the other — as in the case of submarines versus ships or submarines pitted against aircraft — whether fixed-wing or rotarywing, manned or unmanned. Submarines have traditionally been used as a counter to surface ships — both, merchantmen (easy) and warships. This is where they have the most advantage, operating in a different medium from their adversary and being able to vary their depth to take advantage of the various density-layers that lie between the surface and the sea-bed and affect the propagation of sound underwater.

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Weapons employed in such cases are typically anti-ship torpedoes and/or antiship cruise (i.e., non-ballistic) missiles. Submarines can also be used against targets ashore (on the land) — i.e., for landattack. They must then be equipped (or be retrofitted) with suitable land-attack missiles with either conventional or nuclear warheads. Naturally, this impacts the size of the submarine’s hull and imposes restrictions upon how close it can approach the coast. When submarines are designed or deployed to operate against other submarines, the advantages accruing from disparity of medium no longer apply, for both opponents are now within the same (underwater) medium and torpedoes become weapons-of-choice. Since submarines generate underwater sound in a variety of frequencies,the factor determining surprise is relative noisiness — more usually expressed as ‘stealth’. SSBNs are inherently noisy. Consequently, smaller and equally speedy but much quieter SSNs, equipped with missiles

MOD

and torpedoes instead of nuclear-tipped, long-range ballistic missiles are deployed to detect and continuously track an adversary’s SSBNs. Likewise, modern diesel-electric submarines (SSKs) are often far quieter than an SSN and are designed to track and, where necessary, attack not just surface ships but also SSNs — or even other, relatively-noisier diesel-electric submarines. Nuclear propulsion maximises underwater speed and endurance, but demands a larger hull and constrains the submarine in littoral waters. Diesel-electric submarines are far smaller than SSNs and SSBNs and can, consequently, operate both, in the deep seas and in relatively-shallow littoral waters. They make-up for their relative lack of underwater-endurance by one or another type of Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) package, but nevertheless yield enormous underwater speedadvantages to SSNs/SSBNs. It is against this very rudimentary and fairly simplistic backdrop that one should review the state of Indian submarines

(aka boats) and their upgrades. India currently operates two classes of nuclear-propelled boats: SSBNs (the Arihant) and SSNs (the Chakra), and two classes of diesel-electric SSKs (the KILO or Sindhughosh Class, and the Type 209/1500 Shishumar Class), with the commissioning of the lead boat of a third class — the Scorpène Class (which will thereafter be known as the Kalvari Class) — imminent. Current upgrades to the Arihant revolve about the replacement of its twelve ‘K-15’ submarine-launched ballistic missiles (which have a range of 750km) by four longer-range (3,500 km)‘K-4’ Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBM), which have already been successfully test-launched (in April 2015) from the Arihant. This weapon-upgrade is well in hand. However, as India takes the next step in the K-series and begins to produce K-5 — a true submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) — the submarine will need to be correspondingly larger with a greater displacement-

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tonnage. Consequently, for the next boat of the Class, the Arindham, there is a clear need to upgrade the reactor. The Arihant has an 85-MWt reactor (≈17 MWe, since in a naval reactor, roughly 5 MWt = 1 Mwe). The one for the larger and heavier Arindham will need to be somewhere between 160-190 MWt (32-38 MWe) and this is an upgrade that is ongoing. There is no immediate equipment upgrade planned for the Chakra whose 10year lease is at the halfway mark. However, the fact that in February 2015, the Modi government accorded political approval for six SSNs, makes a training and manpower upgrade for the Navy a critical objective over the next decade. Turning now to the central issue of upgrades to India’s conventional submarines, two aspects overarching aspects need to be borne in mind. Contrary to some mildly hysterical reports in the electronic media, these upgrades are not a knee-jerk reaction to the large Chinese submarine inventory or Pakistan’s submarine programme. Nor are they some desperate measure being taken to counter inadequacies in the numbers of submarines held by India. Even if the Indian Navy had three times as many submarines as it does, periodic upgrades would still be the norm. The second is that contrary to the alarmist lament that India’s dieselelectric submarines — especially the nine surviving boats of the Sindhughosh Class — have crossed their designed-life and are not much better than floating coffins and the truth is much more reassuring. The authorised total technical service life of each submarine is actually 35 years. At or around the 13th year of service, each boat undergoes what is known as a ‘Medium Refit’ (MR). This takes two-to-three years, during which time, major upgrades are affected and the submarine is made ready to operate in the contemporary environment for another decade-plus. Then, around the 26th year of service, each boat undergoes a 27-month Service Life Extension Programme (SLEP), which enables it to be materially and operationally viable — once again within the prevailing contemporary environment — for the next 9-10 years. Most MRs of the Sindhughosh Class, have been undertaken in Russia. However, two — Sindhudvaj and Sindhudvaj— underwent MRs at the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, while the Sindhukirti suffered a dreadfully protracted MR in HSL. The Sindhukesari is the first to have has commenced her SLEP. The residual life of the Class may be assessed through the following tabulation: (See table 1) The corresponding tabulation in

NAVAL ODYSSEY

Table 1

Submarine

Commissioned

13th Year

MR done in:

26th Year SLEP (done in)

Apr 99

Medium Refit (MR) 2002-05

Russia

Apr 12

35th Year Apr 21

Sindhughosh

30 Apr 86

Sindhudhvaj

12 Jun 87

Jun 00

2002-05

India (ND[V])

Jun 13

Jun 22

Sindhuraj

20 Oct 87

Oct 00

1999-01

Russia

Oct 13

Oct 22

Sindhuvir

26 Aug 88

Aug 01

1997-99

Russia

Aug14

Aug23

Sindhuratna

22 Dec 88

Dec 01

2001-03

Russia

Dec 14

Dec 23

Sindhukesari

16 Feb 89

Feb 02

1999-01

Russia

Feb 15

Sindhukirti

04 Jan 90

Jan 03

2006-15

India (HSL)

Jan 16

Jan 25

Sindhuvijay

08 Mar 91

Mar 04

2005-07

Russia

Mar 17

Mar 26

Sindhushastra

19 Jul 00

Jul 13

2013-17

India (ND[V])

Jul 26

Jul 39

Submarine

Commissioned

13th Year

Medium Refit (MR)

MR done in:

26th Year

Shishumar

22 Sep 86

Sep 89

Jun 98-Mar 01

Mumbai

Sep 15

Sep 24

Shankush

20 Nov 86

Nov 89

Aug 00-Mar 06

Mumbai

Nov 15

Nov 24

Shalki

07 Feb 92

Feb 05

Mar 07-Jul 10

Mumbai

Feb 18

Feb 27

Shankul

28 May 94

May 07

Feb 08-Jun 12

Mumbai

May 20

May 29

2016-2018 (Russia)

Feb 24

Table 2

regard to the Shishumar Class (Type 209/1500) SSKs is similarly instructive: (See table 2) With ‘alarm’ having been removed from the equation, it is possible to dispassionately examine a few major thrust lines relevant to ongoing and planned upgrades. For the professional naval submariner — planner and practitioner alike — upgrades-of-choice are those that enhance: • • •

Stealth Endurance Sensor Performance:  Radar  Sonar  ESM • Communication • External Situational Awareness (Combat-Information Management Systems) • Internal Situation Awareness and Control of the Internal-Environment (Platform-Management-and-Control Systems) • Weapons and weapon-delivery systems • Safety and Survivability Systems These upgrades may be either through indigenous or foreign replacements of the original equipment. Obviously, the former is preferable and, indeed, has yielded laudable results.

Stealth-Enhancement

Although such upgrades are not being ‘sexy’ enough to merit media-attention, in truth, stealth is always a life-and-death issue in submarine combat. With the hull design being resistant to any modification or change, these upgrades pertain to the reduction of vibrations and the underwater transmission of these vibrations as sound waves that can be picked up by an adversary’s passive listening devices. Thus, engineering-improvements to propulsion equipment such as speedgovernors, bearings, fuel racks, supercharges clearances, and rotating machinery such as superior bearings, pumps, rubber-mounts, etc., count as major— albeit largely unacknowledged — upgrades. Indigenisation has been both successful and invaluable, with the increasing involvement of the Indian private sector companies such as L&T, Mahindra, Reliance, Tata, Siemens, Yeoman, Exide, Elcome, etc., being most encouraging

Endurance-Enhancement

Although enhanced submarine endurance is almost invariably associated with the provision of AIP systems or nuclearpropulsion, habitability is another factor that directly impacts submarine endurance. For instance, the original air conditioning plants (35 TR capacity) aboard the Sindhughosh Class, which were grossly

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SLEP (done in) 35th Year

inadequate in Indian conditions, have been upgraded by indigenous (KPCL) plants of 67 TR capacity. This upgrade has increased the life of the on-board weapon-sensor suites and allied equipment, and, has enhanced operational endurance by improving habitability and reducing environmental human-fatigue. Where batteries are concerned, the upgrade to indigenous production by Exide Industries is stable and world-class — so much so that exports to Algeria and Iran have also been achieved. HBL-Nife is another success story in battery-production.

Sensor-Performance Enhancement

Sonars • The NSTL-developed and BELproduced Panchendriya FCS and USHUS bow-mounted cylindrical array— have certainly had their share of protracted teething troubles but the systems have settled down and are delivering world-class performances on each of the six retrofitted boats of the Sindhughosh Class. This upgrade is in progress as part of the ongoing MR of Sindhukirti, leaving only Sindhuratna and Sindhuvir with the original (Russian) MGK-400 sonar. • Likewise, all four boats of the Shishumar Class have been upgraded with the ATLAS Elektronik’s ISUS-90 combat management system, the

•

CSU-90 cylindrical active/passive bow-mounted sonar, passive planar flank arrays and intercept arrays (for providing warning against approaching torpedoes), passive ranging array, a three-dimensional mine and obstacle avoidance sonar. As part of their SLEP, the Shishumar Class boats Shalki and Shankul are being retrofitted with thin-line towedarray sonars. Electronic Warfare (EW) systems — especially Electronic Support Measures — are crucial to submarines. The upgrade of the originally-fitted ESM suites of all 13 Indian submarines, through their replacement with the indigenously-developed Porpoise EW system, represents a significant enhancement of combat capability.

Optronics By and large, the Indian media has a suboptimal understanding of the criticality of optronics aboard submarines and, consequently, little interest in periscope-upgrades. This not with standing, the fitment of new optronic periscopes onto the Shalki and the Shankul as part of their SLEP is an extremely significant upgrade. Communications Within the many criticalities of submarine warfare, communications enjoy a degree of centrality that is underappreciated. The upgrades provided by the retrofitment of the indigenously-developed CCS-Mk2 communications-suite are hugely significant. Where shore-to-submarine VLF communications are concerned, on-board upgrades by way of receiving equipment and Trailing Wire Antennae (TWA) have resulted in noteworthy improvements in combat deployments of all classes of our submarines.

Weapon Upgrades

Missiles The most telling upgrade to the weapon-suite of Indian Naval SSKs has been the addition of anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) and land-attack cruise missiles aboard the Sindhughosh Class. Of the nine boats of this Class, six now have land-attack missile capability by way of ‘Klub-S’ (3M-14) missiles, while seven have anti-ship cruise missile capability by way of ‘Klub-3M-54Э. Likewise, the two boats of the Shishumar Class (Shalki and Shankul) that have commenced their SLEP in Mumbai by ThyssenKrupp Ma-

rine Systems (TKMS) are being retrofitted with 12 x UGM-84L Harpoon Block II Encapsulated Missiles and 10 x UTM-84L Harpoon Encapsulated Training missiles. Torpedoes India’s investment in infrastructure for the development and testing of torpedoes notwithstanding, each such programme is time-consuming and can take upwards of 15 years. However, the successful induction of the Varunastra heavyweight torpedo aboard the IN’s surface combatants has led to an ongoing development of a submarine-launched version (an upgrade of DRDO’s now-defunct Takshak project). An unfortunate spinoff from the Sindhurakshak tragedy (and that of the Russian Kursk) is a loss of confidence in thermal torpedoes and consequent uncertainties in respect of DRDO’s develop-

BEL’s Composite Communcations CCS Mk II

ment of the Shakti thermal heavyweight torpedo, which was expected to be the main armament of India’s nuclear submarines and additionally represented an upgrade-option for the Sindhughosh Class. External Situational Awareness The Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) of all boats has received a significant fillip with the upgraded communication-anddata capability provided by the Navy’s Rukmini satellite, coupled with excellent progress in VLF communication and its remote keying by naval Long-Range Maritime Patrol-cum-ASW aircraft. Moreover, the indigenous Combat-Information Management Systems (CMS) developed by WESEE represents another critical combat-capability and is fitted aboard all boats.

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Internal Situation Awareness and Control of the Internal-Environment

(Platform-Management-and-Control Systems) The motion-control system of the Sindhughosh Class has been upgraded from the PIRIT-2E to the PIRIT-M. Likewise, the diving-and-surfacing control system has been upgraded from the PALLADI-2E to PALLADI-M. Functionally-corresponding systems are being upgraded as part of the ongoing SLEP of the Shalki and the Shankul.

Safety and Survivability Systems

Critical upgrades in terms of safety and survivability include the installation of the AIDSS (Advanced Indigenous Distress Alert Sonar System) on the nine boats of the Sindhughosh Class submarines, as also the ongoing retrofitment of the Shishumar Class boats Shalki and Shankul with the Alenia Sistemi Subacquei’s C-310 submarine-fired torpedo decoy dispensers and a selfnoise monitoring system, being part of their SLEP. Seldom recognised but hugely critical nevertheless, are rubber sealants, O-rings, gaskets, etc., that are used to seal the various periscopes and retractable masts that every submarine operates. There have been past incidences of an otherwise fully-operational submarine being rendered unseaworthy for the lack of rubber sealing devices! Consequently, indigenous upgrades under the aegis of the Indian Rubber Board and the Indian Rubber Institute, are far more significant than most media analysts are aware.

Conclusion

Even as the country awaits with bated breath the arrival of the Indian Navy’s Scorpènes, the process of upgrading the combat capability, safety and survivability of our existing sub-surface assets is continuing apace. The truth of the Indian Navy’s subsurface capability lies somewhat removed from the breathless Cassandran prophets of doom that currently crowd our media airwaves. Perhaps this is because of the abiding belief that bad news even alarmist bad news sells. On the other hand, perhaps our countrymen and countrywomen should be considered mature enough to decide for themselves based upon the facts as they are. The author retired as Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala. An alumnus of the prestigious National Defence College

NAVAL ODYSSEY

INDIAN NAVY – TOWARDS EFFECTIVE UNDERWATER DOMAIN AWARENESS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION

INS Chakra, Nuclear-powered submarine

The Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) is a notion that is defined as our eagerness to know what is happening in the undersea realm of the maritime areas, writes DR. (CDR) ARNAB DAS

he Indian Navy (IN) is emerging as a major force not just in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), but globally as well. The force levels and assets are getting specialised and strategic, opening up a whole new sphere of operations and deployments. The induction of the aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya with far more reach and capability means higher vulnerability from underwater threats. The joining of INS Chakra and the possible deployment of INS Arihant in the near future is a game changer in many ways than we have seen ever before. Strategic submarine deployment demands a new level of understanding of the underwater space not just for the mission but also

INS Vikramaditya

for its safety. The IN has planned its role and force structure in a very meticulous manner and sought government approvals and support through regular formal declarations. The latest being the recent release of the Military Maritime Strategy document, “Ensuring Secure Seas: Indian Maritime Security Strategy.” In the academic literature, we call such a transformation to be related to emerging from a ‘Pre-modern’ Navy to a ‘Modern’ or a ‘Post-modern’ Navy. The force structure of the modern navy is well planned with all the associated capabilities and capacities, put in place before we commence deployment of high-value assets. The Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) is a notion that is defined as our ea-

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gerness to know what is happening in the undersea realm of the maritime areas. The keenness for undersea awareness from the security perspective means defending our Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC), coastal waters and varied maritime assets against the proliferation of submarines and mines intended to limit our access to the seas and littoral waters. However, just the military requirement may not be the only motivation to generate UDA. The earth’s undersea geophysical activities have much relevance to the well being of a human kind and monitoring such activities could provide vital clues to minimise the impact of devastating natural calamities. The commercial activities in the undersea realm need precise inputs

BOEING

Boeingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Echo Voyager is an unmanned undersea vehicle

INDIAN NAVY

on the availability of resources to be able to effectively and efficiently explore and exploit them for economic gains. The regulators, on the other hand, need to know the pattern of exploitation to manage a sustainable plan. With so much of activities, commercial and military, there is a significant impact on the environment. Any conservation initiative needs to precisely estimate the habitat degradation and species vulnerability caused by these activities and assess the ecosystem status. The scientific and the research community need to engage and continuously update our knowledge and access to the multiple aspects of the undersea domain. The underlying requirement for all the stakeholders is to know the developments

in the undersea domain, make sense out of these developments and then respond effectively and efficiently to them, before they take the shape of an event, rather than record and manage the situation as the event unfolds. The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) by all means is emerging as the strategic and economic center of gravity in the 21st century. The region, on the one hand, is driving economic boom, however, on another account is also being seen as the hotbed of piracy, maritime trafficking and maritime terrorism, posing a danger to international peace and security. The special status of the region and political instability is not just attracting littorals in the region, but also extra-regional powers as well. The entire post-Cold War dynamics is unfolding, and the flexing of muscles by all kinds of global entities is being seen in the IOR. The IOR is marked by tropical waters, and the UDA formulation suffers substantially due to sub-optimal performance of the sonar systems. The random fluctuations of the medium and the unique sitespecific behavior ensure significant (upwards of 50 per cent) deterioration in the effectiveness of the underwater systems. The Cold War era that was instrumental in the rapid progress of underwater technology was largely restricted to the temperate regions in the vicinity of North-West Europe. In the absence of indigenous efforts, the IOR will continue to throw challenges to the UDA initiative, both at the tactical and the strategic levels. The UDA on a comprehensive scale needs to be understood in its horizontal and vertical construct. The horizontal part would be the resource availability regarding technology, infrastructure, capability and capacity specific to the stakeholders or otherwise. The vertical part is the hierarchy of establishing a comprehensive UDA. The first level or the ground level would be the sensing of the undersea domain for threats, resources, and activities. The second level would be making sense of the data generated to plan security strategies, conservation plans and resource utilisation plans. The next level would be to formulate and monitor regulatory framework at the local, national and global level. The UDA initiative in India is largely driven by the security requirement and the efforts of the Indian Navy and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is the primary input. However, the challenges of the tropical littoral waters are too severe for only one stakeholder to overcome. The hardware is all

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imported and continues to be deployed with sub-optimal performance. The corporate involvement has been minimal and the blue economic potential remains significantly untapped with an abysmal contribution to the GDP. The awareness of the environmental degradation is near zero, so noise ever gets generated. Any event of marine mammal stranding (indicating severe degradation of the habitat) gets attributed to several unrelated causes and forgotten in short time. The UDA at its heart involves the core competence of acoustic sensing, supported by non-acoustic means to disseminate the information to multiple stakeholders. The immediate physical layer is to see, where we need sensors and the associated hardware required to deploy the sensors to map the entire region and highperformance computing processors. The second aspect is to understand or the analysis capability, where we make sense of the raw data that has been corrupted by noise and medium distortions. There are two aspects here â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the first is the data integrity that minimizes errors due to data corruption and the second is the analysis capability to make meaningful interpretations from the data. The error mitigation requires significant understanding of the local conditions related to noise and the medium fluctuations. The analysis capability apart from the data processing and analytic techniques also requires long-term information on the local conditions to differentiate the routine from the evolution of an event. Both the aspects involve large-scale oceanographic studies and acoustic surveys. The third is the shared category, where we can make the information available to multiple stakeholders and activate a response in real time. Acoustic capacity building refers to generating significant information on the local conditions, both to mitigate the errors and also enhance the data analytic capabilities. These sensor networks will mean fixed and mobile network nodes comprising of observatories, underwater gliders, autonomous underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles. Development of algorithms for data processing across stakeholders indigenously will be a critical capability. This will translate to enhanced performance of the underwater systems regarding range, robustness to medium fluctuations, data integrity and also enhanced understanding of the local underwater domain to quickly recognise any change in the status quo. The interesting fact here is that noise is highly contextual and the desired

NAVAL ODYSSEY Comprehensive Perspective of Undersea Domain Awareness

mandos

signal and noise varies based on the stakeholder. For military sonar, the signal from an adversary is the desired signal and any other signal in the environment is a noise like a biological signal or reflection from undersea minerals. Similarly, for a marine biologist, the biological signal is of interest and everything else is noise. The see and the shared infrastructure could be imported (possibly at a high cost due to its strategic value) to start with. However, the understood mechanism is where the indigenous efforts specific to the stakeholders will be critical. On multiple fronts, pooling of expertise could be possible. However, the starting point is the infrastructure for generating the data over long time frames. The prohibitive cost of such an infrastructure discourages the stakeholders to go ahead and invest. The classified nature of the data, whether for security concerns or commercial reasons have eluded any collaborative initiatives. Probably government involvement is inescapable to build the basic infrastructure and the acoustic capabilities. In the developed world during the Cold War era, massive acoustic infrastructures were built to generate UDA, like the Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) and Pt. Sur Light Station, for military purposes. The Cold War period, facilitated unrestricted investments in military infrastructures, so such huge grants were supported. However, post the Cold War, massive military spending was politically unviable and to sustain the operational cost of these facilities, they had to be opened for civilian applications. This gave a boost to open research by scientists for multiple applications in the underwater domain. Underwater research is a highly resource intensive activity and only pooling of resources is the answer in today’s geopolitical framework.

In the IOR, the Indian Navy is frequently being called upon to perform multiple roles, other than their mandated roles. Their assets and platforms meant for full-blown conflicts get deployed for non-traditional threats like piracy, maritime terrorism and even humanitarian relief and the constabulary role of maintaining good order at sea. Effective UDA, if realised across all the hierarchy (vertical construct) can rationalise the deployment of maritime forces and ensure efficient utilisation of their resources. Events could be prevented, and damages post an event if any could be minimised. Effective UDA requires significant resources and infrastructure for acoustic capacity building to enhance the performance of sonars when deployed in the region. Such capabilities will be highly relevant to all the nations in the region, so opens the possibility of economic and political viability for India to play a leadership role in the region. Once the networks are in place, the second stage of generating resources and threat maps of the region can facilitate planning and monitor resource utilisation and security strategies. Information sharing with nations in the region could give diplomatic and political leverage on multiple aspects. Regulations govern the good order at sea and land. With effective UDA infrastructure and understanding, we can pitch for the comprehensive regulatory framework at the local, national, regional and global level on multiple fronts, specific to the stakeholders. The underwater domain is known to be poorly regulated due to lack of transparency and awareness. IOR with its emerging strategic and economic status requires urgent measures to regulate

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

from the security, equitable sharing of resources and conservation perspective. Effective UDA has the potential to provide soft power for maritime security paradigm for the emerging Blue economic thrust in the IOR. The first step is probably the recognition that Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) is grossly incomplete without UDA. Only a military approach (the maritime military strategy being released independent of the grand strategy) to maritime security may be limited in the absence of a comprehensive maritime strategy. Acoustic capability building for UDA needs far more emphasis in our discourse on maritime security initiatives. The UDA in IOR needs to be understood in its entirety that may require extensive deliberations and research. A detailed study on ‘Indian Navy – Towards Effective Underwater Domain Awareness in the Indian Ocean Region’ could be a good beginning. The study should include the technology gaps, resource requirement for bridging the gap, policy framework to bring together the stakeholders and facilitate that along with organisational structure to make it happen. Acoustic capacity building for effective Underwater Domain Awareness is something we need to focus on going forward for a sustainable blue economic push with good order at sea in the IOR. IN may like to take the lead in bringing onboard the other stakeholders for a much greater focused initiative with pooling of resources nationally. The author is Director, Maritime Research Centre, Indian Maritime Foundation, Pune

MARITIME STRATEGIES OF INDIA AND CHINA LT. GENERAL S L NARSIMHAN analyses the maritime strategies of India and China and argues that one should not think that Navy is the only service that ensures maritime security

Map 1: Map showing Admiral Zheng He’s Seven Expeditions

ontrary to what she would like us to believe, China has never been a maritime power. For most part of her history, she has been inward looking. There was a brief period in the 15th Century, during the Ming Dynasty’s rule when the emperor encouraged naval expeditions under Admiral Zheng He. Between the third year of the Yongle reign period (1405) and the eighth year of the Xuande reign period (1433), Zheng He

led seven great western maritime expeditions, traversing the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean into the Persian Gulf and Red Sea and reaching as far west as the East coast of Africa. (See Map 1) Barring this period China never ventured into sea.In contrast, India’s maritime history began when inhabitants of Indus Valley initiated maritime trading contact with Mesopotamia and region around Indus river began to show visible increase in length and frequency of mar-

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December 2016

itime voyages. Optimum conditions for viable long-distance voyages existed by 2900 BC. India’s ‘Look East’ policy started during the Chola Empire. Under Rajendra Chola (1012-1047) South India experienced a period of imperial expansionism. After his father Rajaraja had already conquered the whole of South India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Rajendra subdued the Eastern coast of up to Bengal in the 11th century and launched a naval expedition to Southeast Asia in 1025

NAVAL ODYSSEY

Map 2: Map showing Chola empire’s Voyages

conquering the maritime power Srivijaya (present-day Palembang) and its harbour cities on Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. (See Map 2) In both the maps, what draws one’s attention is that both the voyages had

used the Malacca Straits. Even today, Malacca Straits dominates the narrative on Maritime Strategy of both India and China. In the contemporary period, Chinese Navy remained a coastal navy till the first half of the first decade of this

Map 3: Map showing Panama and Nicaragua Canals

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century. Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) started moving out of China’s coasts on the premise of anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden in 2008. In the eight years that have followed till now, China has sent 24 task forces to the Gulf of Aden. PLAN rotates the ships for these missions to give exposure to all the ships. After completing the deployment for the anti-piracy operations these ships visit various countries before returning to their home port. These anti-piracy missions have given PLAN the capability to operate for long periods of time away from the home ports, much lacked exposure in operating with other navies and the confidence to operate on high seas. Moreover, going against her stated policy of not having bases abroad, in the garb of looking for sustenance for these task forces, China is constructing a base in Djibouti. On November 23, 2016, General Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, visited Djibouti and urged early completion of the base. Combined with this, China is also inducting modern ships into her navy. India, on the other hand, has been slow on the modernisation of the navy during the last quarter of the last century. The pace of modernisation of the Indian Navy has picked up in the recent past with approximately 45 hulls under construction. With both Indian and Chinese navies getting modernised, what is the maritime strategy that these two nations are looking at? China is looking at the maritime strategy of controlling the seas. Let us see as to how China has been working towards achieving this. Panama Canal is operated by Hutchison Whampoa, a company owned by the business tycoon Li Ka-shing of Hong Kong. In June 2013, Nicaragua’s approved a grant of 50 year concession to finance and manage the project to Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company headed by Wang Jing, a Chinese billionaire.These two canals give the Chinese the ability to control the movement between Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. (See Map 3). When the recession took place in 2008, China was flush with Foreign Exchange Reserves. She offered to buy the sovereign debts of Spain and Portugal. This will give China the influence in Gibraltar which is the entry into Mediterranean Sea and exit into Atlantic Sea. This is also vital for her One Belt One Road (OBOR) project. The Maritime Silk Route of 21st century, which is part of the OBOR passes through the Mediterranean

Kra Infrastructure Investment and Development Company and Asia Union Group in Guangzhou. According to the news reports, the Kra Canal project will take a decade to complete and incur a cost of $28 billion. This has been claimed by China to be part of the One Belt One Road Initiative and this canal will bypass the Malacca Straits. (See Map 6) China’s stand on South China Sea and East China Sea is well known. Her strategy on these two seas is to get to the First Island Chain which she indicates by the Nine Dash Line. Once she stabilises at the first Island Chain, she is likely to stake her claim to the Second Island Chain. (Refer September 2016 Issue of Geopolitics). If she can achieve that then the benefits that accrue to her will be enormous. She will control all the trade that passes through the East and South China Seas. She will also immensely benefit from the blue economy that this extended maritime territory would give her. This is the reason for her hyper reaction when the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling on July 12, 2016 went against her. Therefore, China’s maritime strategy can be summed up as follows: (a) Gain influence at the entry and exit Map 4: Map showing Gibraltar and Djibouti

Sea. By constructing the base at Djibouti, China seeks to establish her influence in the route between Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean which passes through Suez Canal and Red Sea. (See Map 4) China’s interest in Gwadar is twofold. Gwadar gives China an opportunity to dominate the Sea Lines of Communication that pass through the Arabian Sea and also gives an entry into Arabian Sea via the land route from Kashgar in China to Gwadar thus avoiding the Malacca Straits.Though there are concerns about the economic viability of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), these could be the reasons for China pursuing it vigorously. (See Map 5) China is constructing Colombo and Hambantota Ports in Srilanka. There are reports that the Chinese submarine that docked in Colombo did so at the pier owned by the Chinese contrary to the existing norms. She is also constructing the Chittagong Port in Bangladesh and the Sittwe Port in Myanmar. These will facilitate her entry into Bay of Bengal. China is also making efforts to maintain good relations with countries astride the Malacca Straits. On May 15, 2015, the MoU was signed by the China-Thailand

Map 5: Gwadar

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December 2016

NAVAL ODYSSEY

Map 6: Shipping through Kra Canal is shown in Blue Line

points of the world’s oceans. (b) Find alternate routes to avoid Malacca Straits. (c) Gain maritime territory up to the second island chain. To achieve her maritime strategy, she has the PLA Navy that is the third largest in the world. She possesses one aircraft carrier, two amphibious attack ships, 25 landing vessels, 26 destroyers, 50 patrol vessels, 51 frigates, six missile submarines, 27 counter mine vessels and 52 assault submarines. However, her aircraft carrier is in the initial stages of operationalisation. To become a carrier battle group, she is likely to take a few years. Having looked into China’s maritime strategy, let us see what India’s Maritime Strategy is. The Indian Navy released its latest maritime strategy, titled “Ensuring Secure Seas: Indian Maritime Security Strategy” on October 26, 2015. The previous version titled “Freedom to Use the Seas: India’s Maritime Military Strategy” was of 2007 vintage. Admiral R K Dhowan, Former Indian Navy Chief, said, “The shift in worldview from a Euro-Atlantic to an Indo-Pacific focus and the repositioning of global economic and military power towards Asia has resulted in significant political, economic and social changes in the Indian Ocean Region and impacted India’s maritime

environment in tangible ways.” The implication was that India needs to revisit her maritime security strategy and hence the 2015 version. The title itself shows that India’s Maritime Strategy is maturing. Darshana Baruah, now at Carnegie India said in 2015, “The latest version of India’s Maritime Security Strategy indicates that the Indian Navy and therefore India is graduating from considering only the Indian Ocean Region as its area of interest to the concept of Indo Pacific.” Abhijit Singh of Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses has written that this time around the Indian Maritime Security Strategy highlights the hybrid nature of naval warfare (implying that the Military Operations other than War which include Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief and anti-piracy operations are gaining in importance), use of Indian navy as the prime source for achieving the strategy and importance of protecting the financial interests of the country. To summarise, India’s Maritime Strategy is as follows: (a) Her sphere of interest is expanding albeit gradually from Indian Ocean Region to Indo Pacific region. (b) She is concentrating on MOOTW which will enhance her status in the comity of nations. The Indian Navy is the seventh larg-

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

est navy in the world. Indian Navy possesses one aircraft carrier, one amphibious attack ship,19 landing vessels, eight destroyers, 24 corvettes, 12 frigates, 32 patrol vessels, 8 counter mines vessels, 14 assault submarines and one missile submarine. From the above description one can clearly see the differences in China’s and India’s Maritime strategy.China’s maritime strategy is global. It gives the framework for PLAN to plan and execute the capability and capacity building and also integrates the Government of Peoples Republic of China and the PLAN in achieving that strategy. In the case of India, her maritime strategy indicates a strategy commensurate to the capabilities of the Indian Navy. One is also not sure whether the government has endorsed this strategy. There is a need to integrate the nation’s vision with that of the navy. If India wants to become a power to reckon with then she has to start thinking big. She needs to enunciate what she would like to be in short, middle and long term. She also needs to get out of her obsession with her Western adversary. One should not think that Navy is the only service that ensures maritime security. In future wars, no single service can win a war on its own. India needs to develop joint operational capabilities and thereafter graduate to integrated operations. In a lay man’s language, joint operations means joint planning and execution of operations by all the services. Once this is achieved, Indian armed forces need to graduate to carrying out joint operations in an environment where all the services are integrated by common information networks. Such a capability will be deemed as integrated warfare. Once that is achieved, India would have really arrived on the International Maritime scene in true earnest. As far as India is concerned, she needs to have an in house mechanism to deliver on the promises made by our leaders when they travel to countries. This will increase the trust they repose on India. India also needs to leverage her soft power till the time her naval capabilities become top of the line, particularly in small littoral countries along the entry and exit points to the oceans. The author retired as Commandant of Army War College, India and had previously served as Defence Attache in China

INTERVIEW

‘RAFAEL IS OFFERING ITS ANTI-TORPEDO DEFENCE SYSTEM FOR THE IADS PROGRAMME’ MOSHE ELAZAR, EVP and Head of Rafael's Land and Naval Systems Division, talks about offering its Anti Torpedo Defence System and the Sea Spotter and Toplite to the Indian Navy India is already looking for anti-submarine weapons. Are there any defence suites that you are in a position to offer India to meet its needs? Rafael is offering its Anti-Torpedo Defence System for the IADS programme. The offer consists of Anti-Torpedo Decoys and the Fire Control System which generates the Defence plans both in terms of use of decoys and evasive manoeuvres of the ship. The offered decoys portfolio consists of the Scutter, Lescut and the hard kill measure – Torbuster.

India is preparing for Project 75I. Is Rafael intending to offer its underwater systems to this project? What are these products from the Rafael stable that you think could be of use to India for Project 75I?

Rafael has an array of equipment suitable for use in modern submarines such as the P 75-I project of the Indian Navy. Rafael intends to offer the following equipment: (a) Torpedo decoys - Scutter, Subscut and the only one of its kind hard kill measure - Torbuster (b) Torpedo Defense Suite - Shade These can be offered as a composite package or tailored to the requirements of the Indian Navy.

Are there any naval targeting systems in your portfolio that you are interested in offering to an Indian naval programme such as TOPLITE, C-PEARL DV and SEA SPOTTER?

The Sea Spotter and Toplite are being offered to the Indian Navy as part of their Infra-red Search and Track (IRST) system for which the RFP is likely to be issued shortly.

weapon but also provide for a robust platform and foundation for the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government.

Is there a 'Make in India' programme from Rafael in the naval sector?

Rafael has been in the forefront of the ‘Make it India’ initiative of the Indian government and has always strived to provide the know-how and transfer of technology in all our programmes in India. Rafael has been the first to establish Joint Ventures (JVs) with Indian OEMs across diverse fields and will Tell us about your 30mm gun for the Navy utilise them to strengthen the indigenisation effort in the field of military and what is its USP when it comes to its applications. Rafael is participating in suitability for the Indian Navy's revarious RFPs under the ‘Buy and Make quirement? Rafael is the undisputed leader Indian’ categorisation in the field of Remote Stabifor the Indian Navy lised Weapon Stations for and Coast Guard and maritime applicais providing it’s Int ions dian partners with and cutting edge and has advanced technology over two decades to enable them to make Typhoon 30mm of experience with its Typhoon India self reliant. naval RCWS Series of weapon stations. The Typhoon 30mm Gun offered in response to the RFP to the Indian Navy and Coast Guard is in service with various navies across the world and are combat proven in various maritime scenarios. It offers a high degree of reliability, proven design and years of development experience, most of which will be transferred to the Indian Production Agencies, namely BHEL, BEL and OFB. This will not only ensure a high Rafael’s SEWS DV, degree of india naval EW system genisation for the

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December 2016

INTERVIEW

‘MT30 IS CONSIDERED TO BE A 21ST CENTURY PRODUCT’ KISHORE JAYARAMAN, President, Rolls-Royce South Asia, talks about its long term association with Indian Navy The Indian Navy flies the Sea Kings that are powered by Rolls-Royce 1400-1T turbofans. What are the MRO arrangements for these engines in India?

Rolls-Royce is proud to have been associated with the history of naval aviation in India with the induction of the Indian Navy’s first aircraft back in 1953. The Sea King, since it’s induction has been a potent weapon platform in the arsenal of the Indian Navy. It is being employed in a wide array of roles ranging from AntiSubmarine Warfare, Commando operations, Ambulance to Anti-Shipping Strikes in multifarious weather conditions both by day and night. It is our priority to support the mission-readiness of the Indian Navy’s Seaking fleet which has many years of operation left in its role as a versatile force multiplier for the Indian Navy. Our engines provide operators with unparalleled fuel efficiency that enables to stay on station and on mission for longer times. The engines reliability provides our customers with the capability to be operationally ready anytime, anywhere. Our services and support is aimed at further maximising the number of engines available to fly and reduce the cost of support to operators.

How can you help the Indian Navy maximise its use of the Rolls-Royce powered Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer, which is an expanding fleet, crucial to the Navy’s combat aircraft capability?

Rolls-Royce is providing the highest possible levels of support to the Adour Mk871 engines of the Indian Navy’s Hawk Advanced Jet trainers. The Hawk Advanced Jet trainer fleet in the Indian Navy is currently expanding. Powered by the Adour 871, the Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer, has over 1.5 million hours of service with operators around the world. The Hawk-Adour combination is the global leader in advanced jet training for armed forces globally. Our sup-

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

INTERVIEW

port services are aimed at providing comprehensive support by combining our legacy of capabilities and expertise. Technical support enhanced by regional and global service networks provides unparalleled support to our customers.

With the talks for US-2I amphibious aircraft progressing with Japan, how do you think Rolls-Royce can offer its assistance to the Indian Navy on this aircraft?

The US-2I amphibious aircraft will be an important asset in enhancing the naval aviation capabilities of the Indian Navy, which is playing an increasingly important role in maintaining maritime safety in the region. The US-2I amphibious aircraft share a largely common engine type, the AE2100, with the Indian Air Force’s existing C-130J Super Hercules fleet as well as the CTS-800 engine which assists with take-off. Rolls-Royce is already providing extensive support to the C-130J fleet in India, which is expanding as further tranches enter into service. Drawing on this experience with a common engine fleet, we are the perfect choice to provide support for the US-2I fleet to ensure mission readiness and all-time operational capability.

What serious talk and discussion has taken place between RollsRoyce and Indian officials on the MT30s for the future programmes of the Indian Navy?

While we will not be able to comment on specific programmes, Rolls-Royce marine gas turbines are used by navies across the world, from the USA – which is the largest operator – to Japan, in second place. Roll-Royce’s MT30 Marine Gas Turbine is considered to be a 21st century product which is used for powering the US Navy’s mono-hull Littoral Combat Ship USS Freedom and other ships of this class. The MT30 is a member of the RollsRoyce Trent aero engine family that has accumulated over 30 million operating hours since entry into service in 1996.

guards already use Rolls-Royce-designed vessels for EEZ duties and more than 70 navies around the world use our power systems and equipment. In India, we continue to build on our distinguished legacy and long-standing partnership with Indian Navy. We are proud of the fact that over 40 Indian Navy & 41 Coast Guard vessels are powered with Rolls-Royce equipment. Today, Coast Guard and Indian Navy are transitioning to a faster fleet for increased littoral security – replacement of propellers by Water Jets for smaller craft. Even the Indian Navy’s major modernisation drive presents an opportunity to develop indigenous capability for design and manufacturing of ships, submarines MT30 Marine Gas Turbine and subsystems. Our extensive product base and experience in both ship design and propulsion and power systems integration, enables Rolls-Royce to contribute to system selection, the interfacing of the propulsion system to the ship structure, ship services, auxiliary systems and ancillaries. Our marine business, offers an extensive product base and proven experience in both ship design and system integration which enables us to bring the right products together when deadvanced destroyers. In addition, MT30 veloping power, propulsion and mohas been selected for the Italian Navy’s tion control solutions that are fully new multi-purpose amphibious vessel. matched to a vessel's operating proThis new vessel, the Landing Helicopter file. Our approach enables us to deDock, will be the sixth naval platform liver a complete service, from initial to feature the MT30, making it the gas concept studies, through equipment turbine of choice for many of the World’s selection, systems integration and advanced naval programmes. The MT30 through life support. can be offered as part of an integrated The products being offered to power and propulsion system together Indian Navy include Engines, Ship with a wide range of Rolls-Royce marine Design, Gas Turbines, Propulsors, products. Electrical power systems, underway What makes India such an attractive marreplenishment, propellers and water ket for Rolls-Royce in the naval sector? jets, cranes and handling systems, etc. What does the future have in store for Recent orders include supply of stern Rolls-Royce in the sector? gear for seven Indian Naval Frigates Globally, a number of the world's coastand five Indian naval OPVs. It encompasses the very latest in marine gas turbine technology and gives operators of gas-turbine powered vessels efficiency and reliability improvements, with a market leading power-toweight ratio and reduced operating and through-life costs. Designed with 50 to 60 per cent fewer parts than other aero-derivative gas turbines in its class, the MT30 maintains operating efficiency down to 25MW. MT30 has been selected to power the FFX-II frigate for the Republic of Korea Navy and the UK Royal Navy’s innovative Type 26 Global Combat Ship. MT30 alternator packages powers the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers and the US Navy’s DDG 1000

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December 2016

DEFBIZ

UNITED SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION A RELIABLE PARTNER FOR INDIA T

he United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) is the world's leading manufacturer of high-tech shipbuilding products for Russian and foreign customers. USC shipyards export their products to more than 20 countries around the world. Russia ranks seven in the world for the number of exported ships and first in displacement. USC enterprises’ naval products have been consistently distinguished by a high degree of operational reliability combined with an affordable price. Combat capabilities of the ships built at the Corporation’s shipyards have been clearly demonstrated both in the long-term operation by the Russian Navy and in the course of real

fighting against international terrorism. Russia and the India are tied by

sphere of military-technical cooperation. India remains Russia’s largest partner in this area. Currently, work on more than 40 contracts in the interests of the InProject 11356 class of dian Navy is underway at guided missile frigate USC enterprises under the supervision of state intermediary Rosoboronexport and the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation. The agreements on the construction in Russia of two improved Project 11356 (Talwar-type) Frigates signed in India recently, as well as the subsequent construction of two similar ships at an Indian shipyard with technical assistance from Russia in the framework of the Indian Governlong-term close interaction in the ment’s ‘Make in India’ programme is

‘FASTEST GROWING DPSU SHIPYARD IN THE COUNTRY’ G

oa Shipyard Limited (GSL), youngest of the Defence Shipyards, embarked on a mission to actively participate in the task of contributing to India’s indigenous ship building capability six decades ago. Established by the Portuguese, on November 26, 1957 as ‘Estalerios Navais de Goa’, Goa Shipyard started functioning under its own Board of Directors since September 26, 1967. GSL has designed, built and commissioned a wide range of sophisticated vessels for varied applications in the defence and commercial sectors with special expertise in building modern Patrol Vessels of Steel, Aluminum and now Composites (GRP) hull structure. GSL’s unique strength is its in-house design capability that puts us in a different league with respect to other ship-

yards in the country. Quality construction, short delivery schedules and sensitivity towards customer requirements are some of the key differentiators that puts GSL in different league and make it a ‘Preferred Shipyard’ with its clients. GSL has also successfully implemented Enterprise Management and e-procurement system. The Shipyard has undertaken massive infrastructure upgradation over last six years. GSL has already invested around `700

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

An aerial view of Goa Shipyard Ltd

DEFBIZ

yet another proof of the mutually beneficial cooperation. Recall that between 2003 and 2013, India had already received six frigates of the project built in Russia at Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg and at Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad. These are the first ships of the Indian Navy built using stealth technology and equipped with a vertical missile launch system. Severodvinsk-based Sevmash, which built the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya for the Indian Navy in 2013, successfully provides post-warranty service of the flagship. In October 2016, in order to establish contacts not only in the area of military-technical cooperation, but also in commercial shipbuilding, the USC delegation visited the city of Vijayawada, where it signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Council on Economic Development in Andhra Pradesh, which provides for cooperation in the design and construction of civil vessels, ship repair and modernisation of the Russian- and Soviet-built ships. In March 2016, the United Shipbuilding Corporation presented its

capabilities at the Defexpo India 2016 International Exhibition of Land and Naval Armaments held in Goa. DurProject 636 Submarine

crore and further around `600 crore will be invested over next three years. Responding to the clarion call for ‘Make in India’, given by the Prime Minister, in September 2014, GSL in October 2014, offered to undertake indigenous

construction of the sophisticated Mine Counter measures Vessels (MCMVs) in India, against earlier clearance of Govt of India/MoD to make two ships overseas and six in India. DAC approval was accorded for indigenous construction as per GSL proposal in February 2015, for MCMV project at a cost of `32600 crore and GSL has since taken all steps to commence construction in early 2018, including arrangements for Transfer of Technology from foreign Collaborator. With the start of the MCMV project, GSL/Goa will have the unique capability in India, to build these high-end ships indigenously and will be prominently placed in the world map, with only 4-5 countries internationally, having the capability to make MCMVs locally. ICGS Sarathi, third ship in the series of six Off Shore Patrol Vessels (OPV) being commissioned at Goa by Home Minister Rajnath Singh

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December 2016

ing meetings with the Indian counterparts, the delivery of Russian ships and marine equipment for the Navy and the Indian Coast Guard was discussed. The prospects for expanding cooperation in the framework of the national ‘Make in India’ programme were considered with the Navy officials, the leading public and private shipbuilding companies. The main topics for discussion in the framework of negotiations were as follows: Organisation of postwarranty maintenance of the Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier Vikramaditya’s equipment with the involvement of Indian contractors, as well as the prospects of cooperation. This gains the particular importance at a time when the United Shipbuilding Corporation has received the legal right to carry out foreign trade activity in respect of equipment supplies and the provision of maintenance services. This makes it possible to reduce the time for considering requests from foreign customers and improve the after-sales service system for naval equipment throughout the entire life cycle.

In the last nine months, GSL has delivered three OPVs of 2500 tonne each to Coast Guard, besides 14 other small vessels/projects have been completed. 7500 tonne annual delivery attained by GSL, is the highest annual delivery achieved by any other DPSU shipyard in the country. Over 30 per cent (onethird) of the turn-over GSL clocks, is from exports and because of our unique in-house design capabilities and execution skills, we are known not only in India but world-wide as one of the best shipyards in our product range for ‘fixed cost’ and ‘timely deliveries’. The company has achieved excellent all round results both on the Operational and Financial fronts in FY 15-16, wherein Profit before Tax (PBT) of the Company has more than doubled to `110 crore from `53 crore reported in FY 2014-15. Similarly Value of Production (VoP of `726 crore), has shown a 27 per cent increase over the last FY and a cumulative growth of 43 per cent from FY 2013-14, catapulting GSL as the ‘Fastest Growing DPSU Shipyard in the country’.

DEFBIZ

MBDA, A SHIPMATE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE T

he world’s oceans, territorial seas, coastal land targets as well as ships. coastal areas and estuaries are MBDA’s Brimstone has been making the arterial lifeblood of today’s tradheadlines ever since it entered sering system. They are also crucial in vice with the UK RAF in 2005. Conterms of a country’s’ defence, especeived initially as a fast jet launched cially for countries such as ATGM weapon, it now also India with its coastline meafeatures amongst MBDA’s suring over 7,500 km (4,600 anti-surface naval weapons. miles). A strong, well trained Significantly, it is the only and equipped Navy is needed weapon currently available not only to protect sensitive capable of effectively dealing coastal areas (ports, industriwith the growing FIAC (Fast al installations and so on) but Inshore Attack Craft) threat also to assure safety of pasin brown waters. It is in the sage to the home country’s area of naval air defence that Loic Piedevache shipping in international waMBDA is a clear world leader ters. For many years, MBDA with systems such as those has been supporting the world’s nabased on the Aster missile family cavies with what is widely recognised pable of dealing with the full range of as the widest range of naval weapons air threats including TBMs. MBDA is systems in the sector. These cover the offering its skills in this area to India full range of maritime requirements with the much-documented SRSAM from deep strike and long-range anti-ship operations through to inner point, medium and long EXOCET SM 39 range air defence. Exocet is probably MBDA’s best known maritime product and indeed it ranks as the world’s best known anti-ship missile. It is certainly well known in India where the submarine variant, SM39, has been delivered to the Indian Navy to arm its Scorpene submarines. The AM39 version can be launched from Maritime Patrol Aircraft, strike fighters such as the Rafale as well as medium to heavyweight helicopters. Features such as low signature, sea-skimming flight at very low altitudes, late seeker activation, enhanced target discrimination and ECCM combine to make this a redoubtable weapon indeed. In its Block2 Mod2 latest evolution it is now fully compliant with the latest generation of aircraft platforms. The MM40 Block 3 variant within the Exocet family, is a 200+ km class weapon suitable for launch from ships and from coastal batteries. Already in service, this latest generation EXOCET features 3D waypoints, low sea-skimming flight profile and the ability to strike

missile for the Indian Navy. SRSAM is an Indian DRDO project which MBDA is proud to be supporting as it reinforces the partnership model which

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

the company is advancing within the country. Totally in line with the new IDDM (Indian Designed Developed and Manufactured) category introduced by the latest DPP, SRSAM is a clear indicator of MBDA’s commitment to India’s Make in India policy. Offering the highest levels of technology transfer and a major boost to the Indian defence industry sector, SRSAM is an ideal solution for the short range air defence needs of India’s Navy. Importantly the project is ready to start at once to provide the Indian Navy with a world-leading capability against target set including fast combat jets, helicopters, subsonic and supersonic cruise and sea-skimming anti-ship missiles. MBDA’s proposal for India’s VSHORAD longstanding requirement also offers very strong industrial advantages for India. Ostensibly for the Indian Army, both the IAF and the Navy share a similar requirement. MBDA’s Mistral MANPADS fire and forget solution has performed exceptionally well in the required field evaluation tests, proving its capabilities under all the environmental conditions demanded of it. An important part of the offer involves the manufacture under license of the Mistral missile in India, taking advantage of the experience already gained over the last 40 years or so by BDL in a similar arrangement with the Milan ATGM. India has set itself a very challenging task. Not only is it set on wide scale modernisation of its military capabilities, it is also determined to establish the level of defence industry sovereignty that a country of its world stature merits. With regard to these goals, Loïc Piedevache, MBDA Country Head - India points out that: “MBDA is committed to working with India to achieve these goals. With the partnership model we have been building with India’s armed forces and with its defence industry sector, we are establishing the essentials that will contribute towards making ‘Make in India’ a success.”

DEFBIZ

L&T: A TRUSTWORTHY PARTNER OF THE NAVY D

efence manufacturing is at the heart of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. This is a Journey that will evolve into Make-forIndia with indigenous technologies, and later lead to Made-by-India for global supplies through exports. This Journey has the potential to provide sizeable contribution to realise India’s ambitious plans to grow manufacturing sector from 15 per cent of GDP to 25 per cent of GDP over the next decade as also realise the double digit GDP growth for Indian economy. This would enable India to accomplish its ambition of becoming a Regional Superpower through a robust and strong economy. Maritime security would be a strong prerequisite for the same and would demand India to possess Blue Water Navy. L&T’s association with Indian Navy dates to mid-eighties and over the past three decades we invested to evolve in to a trust worthy partner for the Navy by building an enviable track record to undertake detailed design, engineering and construction of warships for Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard as also build wide portfolio of equipment and systems across the “Float, Move and Fight” segments. Float & Move Segment: Our tryst with Navy’s Indigenisation commenced when we realised Controllable Pitch Propeller & Shafting Systems, Bearings & Stern Tubes, etc. for the Offshore Patrol Vessels and Brahmaputra Class of ships. Subsequently, we were qualified for realisation of Fixed Pitch Propeller systems for frigates and destroyers. Over the years, we have enhanced the portfolio in Naval Engineering Systems of Indigenously Designed, Developed, & realised Systems such as Steering Gear, Fin Stabilisers (Fixed and Retractable type), Helicopter Handling Suite, Stabiliser systems for Radar, Towed Array Handling systems, Boat Davits, Replenishment at Sea (RAS) gear, Water-tight Hatches & Doors. In our drive for increasing value addition within the country, the latest system realised is the Water-jet propulsion systems, which is presently undergoing sea trials. With the experience gained from above initiatives and basket of technologies developed in-house over the years, we added Naval platform control systems viz. Automated Power Management System (APMS), Integrated Bridge System (IBS), Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS), Degaussing Systems and range of marinised switch gear, control gear & Switchboards to the Marine Equipment portfolio being offered from L&T.

Fight Segment: We leveraged the of locating such a facility on the East coast. learnings from development of weapon Set up over a 1225 acre sprawling complex, systems for DRDO to design and develop today Kattupalli Shipyard is India’s larga range of weapon systems for the Fight est shipyard designed in- house and built Segment for the warships and submarines. to globally bench marked technological For Surface Ship Weapon Systems we re- practices. Throughout this journey, the differalised ASW Lightweight Torpedo Tube Launchers including Fire Control Systems, entiating factor for L&T has been its inBeach Clearance Systems with stabilised house design capabilities. During a visit platforms for WM18 Rockets & Fire Control to all the eight work centres, one can witSystems in the early nineties. The product ness dedicated & world class infrastructure range grew to include complete Dhanush and globally benchmarked capabilities Strategic Launch Systems, BrahMos In- that L&T has built and nurtured over the clined & Vertical configuration Launchers past almost three decades for design and with associate Fire Control systems, Heavy construction of submarines & warships Weight Torpedo Launch Systems (ITTLs), building – holistically for serving Defence Indigenous Rocket Launcher (IRL) Sys- Sector. In this journey, L&T has actively intems, Repair of Torpedo Tubes for HDW volved industry segment across the MSME class submarine and refitting on board, segment as a part of its supply chain. Today universal underwater torpedo launch sys- about 200 of such enterprises are ‘Partners’ tems (push out as well as swim-out) as also to L&T’s drive for increasing indigenisamissile launch canisters for vertical com- tion. It is a matter of pride for L&T that our plexes besides range of embarkation/disembarkation systems, weapon handling systems for warships and underwater platforms, amongst other systems. Besides realising the Weapon Delivery Systems for the Naval platforms, L&T also contributed to integration of these systems to the Sensors on board the ships. As a development partner to LRDE and BEL for naval radar ‘Revathi’, L&T developed & delivered Stabilised Platforms fitted out (operational) on Destroyers and Corvettes. L&T is geared to provide end to end L&T’s Kattupalli Shipyard integration solutions in partnership with DRDO, BEL, leveraging L&T’s track record in Fire Control Systems, systems are installed and are operational Command Control, secure communica- across about 70 Indian Naval Platforms tion systems and Launch Systems. In the and about 43 under construction vessels spirit of Public-Private Partnership, L&T ranging from Front line Warships, Auxiliajoined hands with DRDO (LRDE) & BEL ry Ships as well as underwater Vessels built in 3D-CAR programme. L&T continued its or refitted over the past two and a half dejoint efforts for development of Platform cades. In addition, L&T made equipment and Antenna for the Arudra and Ashwini were also supplied to around 5 platforms Phased Array Radars. L&T has also made exported to friendly nations. L&T has also significant investments in development of delivered 28 Interceptor Boats (high speed ‘Stealth’ Radar technology capabilities to interceptor vessels) to Indian Coast Guard build Low power FMCW (Frequency Mod- and built 20 more while 6 are under final ulated Continuous Wave) Radars. With the integration. We are also building seven opening of the Defence Sector in 2002, Coast Guard OPVs and a Floating Dock for L&T with a deep rooted commitment to Indian Navy. With the thrust and the vision serve the Indian Defence Segment, built a of ‘Make in India’ as brought out earlier, defence shipyard at Hazira Manufacturing this strategic sector shall only continue Complex in 2007 and added a Greenfield to witness enhanced thrust from L&T toMega Shipyard at Kattupalli near Chennai wards attaining self-reliance in mission in 2012 leveraging the strategic advantages mode.

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December 2016

DEFBIZ

Upgraded Jaguar (DARIN III) Aircraft gets Initial Operational Clearance

ir Marshal RKS Bhadauria, AVSM, VM, Dy. Chief of the Air Staff, flew the upgraded Jaguar DARINIII twin-seat aircraft at HAL airport recently and announced satisfactory completion of Initial Operation Clearance (IOC) of Jaguar DARIN III Upgrade. Reacting to the development, T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL said the aircraft is now equipped with world class avionics system. Air Marshal Bhadauria congratulated all those involved in achieving this milestone and said the DARIN III Upgrade is one of best upgrades in terms of data handling and overall capabilities. The total design and development covering system requirement capture, specification preparation, software, hardware, electrical and

mechanical design and development were carried out indigenously at HAL’s Mission & Combat System Research & Design Centre (MCSRDC) and aircraft modification was done at Overhaul Division, added Raju. The upgrade incorporates new state of the art avionics architecture including the Open System Architecture Mission Computer (OSAMC), Engine & Flight Instrument System (EFIS), Fire Control Radar, State of the Art Inertial Navigation System with GPS and Geodetic height correction, Solid State Digital Video Recording System (SSDVRS), Solid State Flight Data Recorder (SSFDR), Smart Multi-Function Display (SMD), Radio Altimeter with 20000 ft range, Autopilot with Alt Select & HNAV and Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF).

Rustom II makes flight debut I

ndia’s indigenously developed Rustom II Unmanned Air Vehicle carried out its maiden flight at Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, 250 km from Bengaluru, which is a newly developed flight test range for the testing of UAVs and manned aircraft. Development of the UAV has been led by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), which is part of India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The debut flight was intended to prove the aircraft’s take-off, banking, level flight and landing performance. Also known as TAPAS 201 (RUSTOM-II), it is a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV with an endurance of 24 hours and can conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions for the country’s armed forces. The UAV can also be used as an unmanned armed combat vehicle on the lines of the US’s Predator drone.

Elbit-Adani JV targets Indian UAV market

lbit Systems and Adani Enterprises have finalised a joint venture agreement to manufacture unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in India. The new entity, Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India, was established on November 7, and will operate in the aerospace and defence manufacturing sector. Adani Enterprises will hold 51 per cent stake in the joint venture, while the Israeli firm Elbit will own the rest 49

per cent. It was announced in April that Elbit had signed a letter of intent with Adani for the JV, along with a separate agreement with Alpha Design Technologies. Both JVs involve pitching Elbit’s Hermes 450 and 900 systems to the Indian market. The new JV will try to break into the Indian UAV market that is largely dominated by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

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DEFBIZ

New CMD takes charge at BEL

V Gowtama has taken charge as the Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Electronics Limited on November 8, 2016. He joined BEL at Ghaziabad Unit in January 1983 as a Probationary Engineer. He was initially posted to the D&E-Radar Division where he contributed to the development of Receiver subsystem of Cyclone Warning Radar. In about three-andhalf years, his team was able to design, develop, manufacture, deliver and commission the first Cyclone Warning Radar at Paradip in Orissa. The Cyclone Warning Radar development team won the R&D Award. Gowtama was transferred to Hyderabad Unit in May 1986. At Hyderabad Unit, he worked in the D&E, Testing, System Integration, Installation & Commissioning groups of Ajanta project

till 1998. His team developed in-house the high voltage power supplies for Ajanta, which was commended by

From 1998 to 2006, he worked on the Sangraha programme of Indian Navy. With ToT from DLRL, his

then CMD. He completed MTech in Advanced Electronics from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, even while in service.

team developed different ESM systems for submarines, helicopters, medium and long-range aircraft. They also developed in-house a light-weight ESM system for

small ships called Sanket. Traditionally, project teams at Hyderabad used to look after ToT, development, testing and installation and commissioning activities. However, a new D&E division was established in 2006 to address future businesses in line with the new defence procurement policy and Gowtama had the opportunity to lead this D&E group as AGM. He was able to establish strong R&D teams at Hyderabad Unit for product/sub-system development, engineering for different platforms and development of complex software. M V Gowtama took over as GM (Technology Planning)/BEL-Corporate Office, on February 1, 2010. Later he served as GM (Milcom)/BELBengaluru and was Executive Director (Missile Systems)/ BEL-Bengaluru till his elevation as CMD, BEL.

Vice Admiral GS Pabby, AVSM, VSM is the new Chief of Materiel, Indian Navy

ice Admiral GS Pabby, AVSM, VSM has assumed charge as the Chief of Materiel, of the Indian Navy. The Admiral is a graduate with Honours in Mechanical Engineering and MTech in Systems and Controls from IIT Mumbai. The Flag Officer has been the Controller Warship Production and Acquisition prior to taking over his current appointment and has closely worked with various Defence Public Sector Undertakings in improving procedures and productivity to enable timely delivery of ships and submarines under construction. The Admiral has also interacted extensively with various professional bodies and the Indian

Industry on the policy and procedures to encourage the participation of the Indian Industry, particularly the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, in construction of equipment for ships and submarines for the Indian Navy. As a Principal Staff Officer and the senior most Technical Officer in the Indian Navy, the Admiral would be in charge of all aspects related to selection, induction and maintenance of all types of equipment and weapon systems for ships and submarines. Creation of major marine and technical infrastructure and all logistics management functions of the Indian Navy would also fall within the purview

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of the Admiral. He relieves Vice Admiral AV Subhedar, PVSM, AVSM, VSM who is relinquishing

December 2016

active service on completion of an illustrious Naval career spanning over close to four decades.

DEFBIZ

Guided Missile Destroyer INS Chennai joins the Indian Navy

NS Chennai, a P 15A Guided Missile Destroyer, was commissioned into the Indian Navy by Raksha Mantri, Manohar Parrikar at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. The event marks the formal induction into the Navy of the third and the last of the three ‘Kolkata’ class destroyers, indigenously designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house organisation, Directorate of Naval Design and constructed by Mazagon Dock Limited, Mumbai. Raksha Mantri Manohar Parrikar said that this is a historic day for the Indian Navy as it adds another milestone in our relentless journey towards achieving self reliance in battle readiness. The ship represents a significant ‘coming of age’ of our warship building capability and defence preparedness. He further stated that the Indian Navy, in addition to providing overall maritime security to our country, also plays a crucial role as the ‘net security provider’ in our adjoining seas. Manohar Parrikar also stressed that the Navy’s growth and development must keep pace with the nation’s growth and maritime security needs. Lauding the role played by the naval designers (DGND) and the ship builders i.e. MDL Mumbai, the Raksha Mantri said “with the induction of INS Chennai, a new benchmark has been achieved for our warship design and construction endeavours, with the sophistication of systems and

equipment, and utilisation of advanced ship building techniques.” During his address, Admiral Sunil Lanba the Navy Chief said that commissioning of INS Chennai marks another milestone in the Navy’s quest for self-reliance as it signifies completion of the challenging Project P-15A and heralds a new era of advanced warships built indigenously by Indian shipyards. The Admiral also stated that indigenisation of platforms, weapons, sensors and equipment with participation of public as well as private sectors, will continue to remain a focus area of the Indian Navy, in line with the ‘Make in India’ policy enunciated by the Prime Minister. He emphasised that the ‘Roadmap for the Navy’s expansion and growth would continue to remain firmly anchored on Self-reliance and Indigenisation.’

Specifications

The ship measures 163m in length, 17.4m in breadth with a displacement of 7500 tonnes and can rightfully be regarded as one of the most potent warships to have been constructed in India. The ship is propelled by four powerful Gas Turbines, in a Combined Gas and Gas (COGAG) configuration, capable of achieving speeds in excess of 30 knots. The ship has enhanced stealth features resulting in a reduced Radar Cross Section (RCS) achieved through efficient shaping of hull, full

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

beam superstructure design, plated masts and use of radar transparent materials on exposed decks.

Weapon Suite

INS Chennai is packed with contemporary and sophisticated ‘state of the art’ weapons and sensors such as Surface to Surface Missile and Surface to Air Missiles. The ship is fitted with a modern Surveillance Radar which provides target data to the gunnery weapon systems of the ship. The ship’s Anti Submarine Warfare capabilities are provided by the indigenously developed Rocket Launchers and Torpedo Launchers. The ship is equipped to fight under Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) warfare conditions. A unique feature of this ship is the high level of indigenisation incorporated in the production, accentuating our national objective of ‘Make in India’. Some of the major indigenised equipment / system onboard INS Chennai include Combat Management System, Rocket Launcher, Torpedo Tube Launcher, Automated Power Management System, Foldable Hangar Doors, Helo Traversing system, Auxiliary Control System and the Bow mounted SONAR. With the changing power dynamics in the Indian Ocean Region, INS Chennai will augment the Indian Navy’s mobility, reach and flexibility whilst proudly flying the Indian flag.

DEFBIZ

Israel is committed for ‘Make in India & Make with India’

peaking at the ‘Round table on Indo-Israel Cooperation in Defence & Homeland Security’, organised by FICCI, Brig. Gen. (Retd) Mishel Ben Baruch, Director, SIBAT, Ministry of Defence, Israel, observed that the meeting was a historic event for IndiaIsrael collaboration in Defence and Homeland Security, and an opportunity to find ways to enhance cooperation between India and Israel in these areas. Referring to the address of the President of Israel, Brig Gen Baruch highlighted that Israel is committed for ‘Make in India and Make with India’ in security domain. He underlined three core competencies of Israel to cope up with neighbours; spirit of people to be united, technological solutions to the problems and friendly countries like India, which also face same cross-border threats from un-friendly neighbourhood, just like Israel. “We are willing to cooperate with India and transfer technologies through partnership with Indian companies. SIBAT and Ministry of Defence of Israel are committed for long term relationship with India,” he said.

Shambhu S Kumaran, Joint Secretary (Planning & International Cooperation), Ministry of Defence, Government of India, emphasised that there is a great degree of trust between the two countries and said that there are growing concerns of cyber threats, which is one of the areas where India and Israel could collaborate. He mentioned that security trade has a lot of complex legal issues and have trade restrictions; hence there is a need for greater engagement and collaboration by jointly leveraging markets which could not be accessed individually. “In India defence production is set

to shift from public sector to private companies and offset programme of the country is also taking shape with a target of $10 billion in next 5 years,” he observed. Reacting to the issue of procurement in homeland security raised by Israeli delegation, Rajan Luthra, CoChair, FICCI Committee on Homeland Security, said that FICCI is working towards the policy of public procurement in security to ensure transparency and standardisation. Cmde. Sujeet Samaddar, NM (Retd), Hony. Advisor - Defence & Aerospace, FICCI, said that the defence sector will throw up an opportunity worth over $250 billion in the next 10-15 years. He mentioned that in addition to cooperation in Army, Navy and Air Force, UAV technologies is an area worth exploring. Cyber security, counter terror and border management are the key areas of cooperation in homeland security, he added. The roundtable witnessed participation of key representatives from Indian defence and security companies along with the visiting Israeli delegation.

Godrej & Boyce delivers 50th LR-SAM Motor casing G odrej & Boyce, the holding company of Godrej Group, commemorated delivery of the 50th Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM) motor casing in a ceremony attended by Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri. Speaking about the milestone, Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy said, “I am immensely satisfied to note that illustrious Indian companies like Godrej & Boyce are at the forefront of our ‘Make in India’ campaign. Over the years, Godrej has been contributing significantly towards our defence and space programmes. We anticipate and look forward to such significant contributions from other Indian manufacturers as well.” Anil G. Verma, Executive Director & President, Godrej & Boyce said, “We are extremely proud to announce the delivery of 50th Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM) motor casing

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December 2016

from this order for serial production. Considering the earlier production, this would be the 180th hardware. Godrej has consistently contributed to strengthen the defence and aerospace capabilities of our country. For LR-SAM, we started the development in 2010 and have over time established a set up for serial production for the same. This endeavor and milestone demonstrates our commitment towards indigenous manufacturing for India’s defence and space programmes.” The new facility will manufacture rubber and composite components such as Ablative lining for Solid Motor Casings, Reinforced Airframe Seals, Conductive Seals, EFI/RFI Shielded Seals, Aero-engine components, Composite motor casing, Sandwich panels (honeycomb / foam, Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) Sic-Sic, NOBBED and other High-temp Aero-engine parts.

DEFBIZ

Elbit’s new Emergency Smart survivability for armoured vehicles Scenarios Virtual Reality lagship event on Armoured Vehicles with modern techniques to reduce the Trainer F “Future Armoured Vehicles India”, weight and thickness of armour panels was organised in the capital by DGMF in by almost 40 per cent. This translates

lbit Systems showcased its Emergency Scenarios Virtual Reality Trainer (ESVRT) at HLS & Cyber 2016 in Tel Aviv. The new VR-based simulation trainer provides a realistic 3D virtual environment for training Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) to deal with a range of minor and serious emergency situations. Emergency scenarios that can be simulated using the ESVRT include ballistic missiles falling on an urban area, earthquake and disaster response, search and rescue operations and more. An important addition to the Company’s simulation training portfolio for home front forces, the new VR trainer further enhances simulation training capabilities and meets the evolving preparedness needs of military and civilian forces in emergency situations. The new system joins the Incident Command Team Training System (ICTTS) used for combined training of Israel’s home front command and ground force commanders in preparation for current and future security-related incidents, emergencies and threats. Elbit Systems has recently expanded ICTTS’ simulation capacities to allow addition of civil administration and municipality forces, who play a major role in emergency preparedness and decision-making.

association with South Asia Defence & Strategic Review. The two day seminar discussed varied topics with relation to armoured vehicles, including modernisation, upgrades and overhaul. With focus on the future of armoured vehicles in India, a special presentation focused on Smart Survivability of these vehicles. MKU made a presentation highlighting their capabilities in armour protection focusing on contemporary and future light weight armour solutions in composite materials. Over these years, MKU has provided protection solutions for more than 2000 platforms globally including a wide range of naval vessels, land vehicles and aircrafts. Many of the naval vessels doing duty on the Indian coastline have armour provided by the company. Engineers at MKU have developed Armour solutions using Gen 6 technology, which combines advanced material

into more useful payload without compromising its protection or performance. Ballistic solutions provided by MKU conform to Environmental Standards as per MIL 810 G. In their presentation MKU stressed on the importance of using these solutions more extensively on the existing and upcoming platforms and suggested the services should look at it more closely. A number of Indian vehicle programmes are in the pipeline. These include the LAM, LSV, LBPV and the mother of all programmes FICV. Over the course of two days the services and the industry discussed on the configuration of these platforms to meet future threat requirements of the Indian Armed Forces. MKU in the presentation mentioned that the solutions for some of the programmes already exist and the technical team is working on the development for futuristic platforms like the FICV and the FRCV.

Indian Navy’s seventh landing craft utility launched

K Verma, Rear Admiral (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) launched Indian Navy’s seventh landing craft utility, the largest of its kind. The L-57 is fully designed in-house by GRSE. “This is the largest ship of this kind built anywhere in the world. The ship is cost effective, fuel efficient and best suited for protection of our island territories of Andaman and Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal as well as Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea,” he said. The ship will be extremely useful for joint operations carried out by the Indian Navy and Indian Army for ensuring maritime security and protec-

December 2016 www.geopolitics.in

tion of remote islands. It also has a capability to transport two tanks or four special vehicles and 160 Army troops for landing in remote areas, he said.

DEFBIZ

Boeing Names new senior leaders B

oeing Chairman, President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg named Kevin G. McAllister President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, succeeding company Vice Chairman Ray Conner in that role. Muilenburg also appointed Stanley A. Deal President and CEO of Boeing Global Services, a

Conner Ray

McAllister Kevin

new business unit to be formed from the customer services groups within the company’s existing commercial airplanes and defense, space and security business units. McAllister joins Boeing from GE Aviation. Deal is a veteran Boeing Executive. Conner, 61, will continue to serve as Boeing Vice Chairman through 2017.

He will work closely with McAllister in the months ahead on a purposeful hand-off of customer, supplier, and community and government relationships, and to ensure continuity of operations and customer support. Conner also will provide strategic oversight and guidance for the company’s transition to a single integrated services business and remain involved in ongoing product development strategy at Commercial Airplanes. Boeing Global Services will bring together core capabilities currently within Commercial Aviation Deal Stan Services and Boeing Defense, Space & Security’s Global Services & Support group. While some defence and commercial customer fleet support will remain within the two existing business units, the new unit will provide a broad portfolio of advanced services and incorporate the capabilities of various Boeing subsidiaries, including Aviall and Jeppesen.

Type-Certifiable Predator B takes flight G

eneral Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI) announced that its Type-Certifiable Predator® B (TCPB) variant completed its first flight test at the company’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, Calif., on November 17th. Qualification testing for type certification will continue over the next two years, with deliveries to the UK Royal Air Force, expected to begin in late 2018. To facilitate qualification testing, GA-ASI is building three company-owned aircraft, along with two airframes designed spe-

cifically for full-scale fatigue and static testing. GA-ASI began its internally-funded development effort to modify Predator B in 2012. The typecertifiable aircraft is fully compliant with NATO’s UAV SYSTEM AIRWORTHINESS REQUIREMENTS (defined in STANAG 4671) and the related UK DEFSTAN 00-970. TCPB will be offered in several configurations, including an unweaponised maritime patrol variant to support open-ocean and littoral surface surveillance for border patrol, coast guard, and disaster relief missions.

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December 2016

India signs Letter of Acceptance with US govt for 145 M777 Howitzers

nding a three-decade-old howitzer drought, India signed a contract with the US for buying 145 M777 ultralight howitzers for $737 million (`5000 crore). India will join the US, Canadian and Australian forces in gaining the M777’s unmatched strategic and tactical mobility. BAE anticipates signing a contract in the coming weeks with the US Department of Defense to supply these M777 Howitzers to the Indian Army, providing them with superior artillery capability. At half the weight of other 155mm towed howitzers, the M777 provides a rapid reaction capability and a proven pedigree that delivers decisive firepower when needed most in sustained combat conditions. With more than 1,090 M777s in service, it is the only battle-proven 155mm Ultra-lightweight howitzer in the world. It will remain at the forefront of artillery technology well into the future through the use of technical insertions, long-range precision guided munition developments, and flexible mobility options. Earlier this year, BAE Systems announced to establish an Assembly, Integration & Testing (AIT) facility in India which will expand our global supply chain and is an integral part of the offset offer to the Government of India. The offset offer commits to investing in, and the development of, a number of Indian defence suppliers, providing them with access to the BAE Systems group across Air, Land, Sea and Security programs. The conclusion of this procurement will enable BAE Systems to make an investment of over $200 million in those Indian defence suppliers.

DEFBIZ

Gripen Design and Development Network in Brazil

RADA Appoints New CEO

R D

efence and security company Saab and Embraer Defense & Security have inaugurated the Gripen Design and Development Network (GDDN) in Gavião Peixoto, in the state of São Paulo. The GDDN will be the hub for the Gripen NG technology development in Brazil for Saab and Embraer together with the Brazilian partner industries and institutions, AEL Sistemas, Atech, Akaer and the Brazilian Air Force, through its research department DCTA. The GDDN includes the development environment and simulators required to undertake the fighter development work. In addition, the GDDN is connected to Saab in Sweden and the industrial partners in Brazil, securing both technology transfer and efficient development. “We have a long-term commitment to Brazil. The launch of the GDDN is a key milestone in the Brazilian Gripen programme as it will be the basis for the technology transfer and fighter development in the country,” said Håkan Buskhe, CEO and president of Saab. “Embraer and Saab have a long and proven record in the development and application of innovative technologies in the aeronautical industry. This cooperation is key to assure the best support for the Brazilian Air Force in the coming years,” said Jackson Schneider, President and CEO of Embraer Defense & Security. The GDDN facility is located at Embraer premises in Gavião Peixoto, where also the Gripen Flight Test Center and the Gripen Final Assembly will be based. Facts about the transfer of technology programme Between 2019 and 2024, 36 Gripen

NG fighters will be delivered to the Brazilian Air Force. To accomplish the deliveries Saab has a strong collaborative partnership with Brazilian industry, such as; Embraer, AEL Sistemas, Akaer, Atech, Mectron, Inbra, and Atmos. The technology transfer programme for Brazil covers four areas aiming to provide the Brazilian aerospace industry with the technology and knowledge needed to maintain and develop Gripen in Brazil: • Theoretical training • Research & Technology programmes • On-the-job-training in Sweden • Development and production work Between October 2015 and 2024, more than 350 professionals, engineers, operators, technicians and pilots from Saab’s partner companies and the air force in Brazil, will go to Sweden to participate in courses and on-the-job training. Skills and knowledge will be gained by Brazilian industry enabling extensive Gripen development and production work, including final assembly, in Brazil. As of today, about 100 Brazilian secondees have been in Sweden and started to return to Brazil earlier this month. The technology transfer programme is divided into 60 key projects, lasting up to 24 months. Embraer will undertake a large share of work in the production and delivery of both the single and twoseat versions of the Gripen NG. The company will also be responsible for extensive work packages in systems development, integration, flight test, final assembly and aircraft deliveries. Furthermore, Embraer and Saab will be jointly responsible for the complete development of the two-seat version of the Gripen NG.

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ADA Electronic Industries Ltd. – a leader in the development, production, and sale of tactical land radars for force and border protection – has announced the appointment of Dov (Dubi) Sella as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Sella will be replacing Alon, who decided to step down, following 17 years of service, of which 10 years as CEO, since July 2007. Yossi Ben Shalom, RADA’s Chairman of the Board, said: “Zvi (Zvika) served RADA for 17 years, and became an integral part of the development and growth of the company. During the past year, Zvika led the company’s evolution from the traditional avionics market to a leading company within the advanced tactical radar systems. We thank Zvika for his outstanding loyalty, efforts and contribution, and I would like to wish him the best of success in his new endeavors.” Sella joined RADA in January 2003 and has served as COO since April 2003 until July 2007, at which point he was appointed the company’s Chief Business Development Officer. Prior to RADA, between 1982 and 1997, Sella worked at Israel’s largest publicly traded defence company, Elbit Systems Ltd., where he served in a number of managerial roles including Director of Programs, Director of Avionic Engineering and Director of Business Development. Between 1997 and 2000, he served as VP of Business Development and VP of R&D of a medical devices start-up, UltraGuide Ltd. The three years prior to joining RADA, Sella was the president of NeuroVision Inc., a medical technology start-up.

DEFBIZ

Rosoboronexport promotes Russian military robots on the world market

ilitary robotic systems and automated fire control means enjoy ever increasing demand on the world arms market. JSC Rosoboronexport is promoting land forces equipment developed by Russian defence industry enterprises in full accordance with the recent trends in the global arms market. Two meetings of the Land Forces Equipment and Armament section of Rosoboronexport’s Science and Technology Council were held in 2016. During these events, the representatives of Rosoboronexport, developers and manufacturers discussed the prospects for Russian export of automated fire control systems, the various types of remotely controlled weapon stations and military robotic systems, as well as the possibilities for accommodating the recent global trends in the development of the best weapon systems.

Among other things, the participants of the meetings decided to arrange for obtaining the necessary permits for the export of new types of automated and robotic systems being

developed in Russia, as well as intensify marketing activities for promoting such systems on foreign markets. “Automatic and remote control systems that have become available

on the world arms market suggest a new stage of the evolution of the means of warfare. They offer great opportunities for development of advanced weapon systems and military equipment. We are actively working to meet demand in this area. As of today, Rosoboronexport ‘s portfolio of orders for land forces weapons and military equipment, which includes also such systems, exceeds $7 billion,” said Rosoboronexport Deputy CEO Igor Sevastyanov. According to Rosoboronexport, Russian manufacturers can successfully compete with their foreign counterparts on the markets of small and medium UAVs and smart robotic security systems. In particular, development work in this area is underway at Rostec’s Kalashnikov Concern and United instrument Corporation.

Insitu ScanEagle Completes Successful Maritime Surface Search at Royal Navy’s Unmanned Warrior

ith its number of flight hours quickly approaching one million, Insitu’s ScanEagle platform continues to pioneer through iterative innovation. This held true at the Royal Navy’s Unmanned Warrior demonstration, where Insitu showcased its newest wide-area maritime surface search and identification technology for representatives from the Royal Navy as well as military and industry officials from across the globe. During the event, held in Benbecula, Scotland, the Insitu team was tasked to perform a range of maritime missions using ScanEagle equipped with the ViDAR payload. Developed in collaboration with Australia-based Sentient Vision Systems, ViDAR is the only maritime surface search with automatic target finding capability on a group two unmanned platform. Key accomplishments at Unmanned Warrior 2016 include:

•

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December 2016

ScanEagle flew more than 55 hours, covering an area more than twice the size of Wales (41,500 km²) and using fewer than eight gallons of fuel. Despite sometimes challenging weather, ScanEagle with ViDAR autonomously detected hundreds of large and small objects in sea state six conditions. These included spotting and positively identifying two mine sweepers by number, spotting smaller objects such as stationary jet skis and buoys at 5 nm and locating 28 contacts from one sortie in fewer than two hours. ViDAR successfully and reliably detected objects through changing environmental conditions ranging from clear sun to wind, rain, haze and fog. ScanEagle flew more hours than any other participating platform.

DEFBIZ

AXISCADES & QuEST win engineering services contract from Airbus A

irbus has signed a strategic agreement with QuEST Global and AXISCADES to provide a range of critical engineering services for all Airbus aircraft programmes as tier-1 suppliers. QuEST will provide services for the Wing and AXISCADES for the Fuselage. This is the second time that AXISCADES and QuEST have won an order for these engineering services through a competitive bidding process after the previous contract successfully completed its term. Both companies operate dedicated development centres in Bengaluru and over 500 engineers will be working across these centres to deliver the services. QuEST and AXISCADES emerged as top choices from among seven contenders because of the unique value – cost and competency combination – they were able to demonstrate for

Airbus. “Through ‘Make in India’ partnerships like these, we have

Indian engineering expertise flying on Airbus planes,” said Srinivasan Dwarakanath, President, Airbus Division in India. “Outside Europe, India provides the maximum volume of engineering services to Airbus com-

pared to any other country.” “We are delighted to extend our collaboration with different divisions of Airbus at a time when the industry is looking at digital designs services to cut production cost and time,” said Sudhakar Gande, Vice-Chairman, AXISCADES. “Winning the contract again marks another milestone in our strategic partnership with Airbus. It reflects our commitment to supporting transformation through engineering solutions for our customers,” said Ajay A. Prabhu, COO, QuEST Global. India will need over 1,600 new passenger and freighter aircraft in the next 20 years according to Airbus Global Market Forecast. This growth is expected to drive demand for skills in the fields of Engineering, Manufacturing, and Services including maintenance & pilot training and MRO.

Elbits’ revolutionary Ground Surveillance System

lbit Systems presents GroundEye, an innovative line of systems for

ground-based wide-area, focused and persistent surveillance at the Israel HLS & Cyber Conference, in Tel Aviv. The GroundEye line comprises advanced systems and capabilities in the

field of imagery intelligence gathering, which together provide a complete picture and large Field of View (FOV), to a large number of users, in both real time and back-in-time, for forensic debriefing and in high-resolution. GroundEye was developed specifically to address requirements raised by security and law enforcement agencies to improve operational responses against terrorism and homeland security threats such as border protection, facility security-

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related events, sporting events and mass public shootings. GroundEye changes the common paradigm of surveillance. It has already been successfully evaluated and tested by security teams in Israel and internationally, proving the benefits it offers in enabling decision makers to have a clearer picture in less time.

DEFBIZ

C-17 landing at Mechuka ALG

he ALG (Advanced Landing Ground) at Mechuka in Yargyap River valley of West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh has been upgraded recently. The road connectivity to the nearest air/rail head at Dibrugarh, about 500 km away, is hampered frequently by landslides; stretching the travel time to two days. At an elevation of 6200 ft Above Mean Sea Level, the 4200 ft long runway is located just 29 km from the Sino-Indian border. Conventional military cargo aircraft operate from 9000 ft long runways even at sea level airfields. The trial landing by C-17 aircraft on November 2, 2016 validated its short field landing performance even at high altitude and demonstrated IAF capability to reach out to this remote ALG. The aircraft during the subject trial landing used much lesser then the full runway length to stop. This is a quantum jump from the existing capability of An-32 and C-130J aircraft. Such airlift capability facilitates critical requirement of

transfer of men and material in this rugged terrain of several adjacent river valleys, interspersed by high mountain ranges that inhibit road connectivity. In the event of a disaster in the region, C-17 operations to the remote ALG can enhance the speed and quantum of national relief effort. IAF will continue to validate Airlift operations to the remaining ALG’s being renovated in Arunachal Pradesh. This would usher in a new dimension in enhanced disaster response. The aircraft was received by the Detachment Commander Flt Lt S Dixit on its maiden landing in Mechuka. The aircrew who were part of this historic landing were Gp

Capt TR Ravi, Wg Cdr P Sisodia, Wg Cdr AK Patnaik, MWO Tripathi and WO Nirana Ram. This would also pave the way for operation of civil

flights operating to and from these newly upgraded ALGs that would give a huge fillip to tourism as well as improve the connectivity to these remote locations in the North East.

HAL-IISc to set-up Skill Development Centre at Chitradurga (Karnataka)

AL-IISc is coming up with a Skill Development Centre at Challakere in Chitradurga district around 230 km from Bengaluru. “This will go a long way in recognising and honing skills and providing opportunities for youth at various levels in line with the Government’s Skill India initiative,” said T Suvarna Raju. According to Prof Anurag Kumar, Director, IISc, “the goal is to create a model facility that would provide skill development programmes for various beneficiaries from local community to highend engineering professionals.” Construction of the HAL-IISc Skill

Development Centre is expected to be completed in 24 months. Training activities are expected to begin by March 2019. The concept of a Skill Development Centre (SDC) has been in the pipeline for nearly eight years at IISc. The realisation of this vision warranted working with active partners having common goals. HAL came forward to support the infrastructure for this Centre under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. HAL shouldering the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through various community development activities over the years. Major areas of CSR are In-

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December 2016

frastructure Development, Health, Rural Sports, Women empowerment, Education, Skill Development, Drinking Water, Enriching the environment by Rejuvenation of River Kumudvathi, Establishment of Wind Power Project & Solar Power Projects in Schools etc. Already many activities have been initiated at the new IISc Campus in Challakere taluk, Chitradurga district, on 1500 acres of land. This includes the construction of the boundary wall, peripheral road, the establishment of a climate research laboratory, solar power research field, and a Centre for bio-energybased low-carbon technologies.

OPTIQUE

POETIC JUSTICE I

ndia was once again struck by terrorists, this time at the 16 Corps Headquarters based at Nagrota, 20 km from Jammu on November 29. What came as a welcome relief was the way the Indian television news channels and news agencies covered the terror attacks. Almost all channels were reporting that the visuals being shown by them were ‘deferred’ relays and that none of what they showed or reported “would in any way compromise the security” of the nation or the current anti-terror operations. Only when the anti-terror operations were over and the security agencies began a combing operation of the military campus, did the news agencies and the television channels gave full details of the attacks, and a sense of the full import of the terror strike. The terror attack was as major as either the Pathankot attacks on the air base there or the Uri terror strike on the headquarters of another Army formation there. But during the attack itself, the events were downplayed by the media. One of the reasons this time for such a discipline on the part of the media is that information was not that forthcoming from the defence spokespersons on the attacks. Even the ‘sources’ were relaying information that were not current, but ‘deferred’, which seems to be the buzzword for news coverage of terror operations from now. This sort of ‘awakening’ among the news media on national security concerns of their coverage of terror strikes is surprising. Of course, if this awareness on the adverse impact of unbridled news coverage of terror strike had come on its own without this punitive action from the government, it would have been better. It is but poetic justice that such a change in the news coverage of terror attacks came about soon after the eighth anniversary of the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai megapolis. Continuing with its reforms for the defence sector in India, the central government has recently notified its new policy that has been bizarrely named as ‘Guidelines of the Ministry of Defence for Penalties in Business Dealings with Entities’ instead of directly calling it a ‘Blacklisting’ policy or ‘Debarring’ of arms firms violating the rules for defence contracts. Interestingly, the policy has eased the penalties to be imposed on defence companies indulging in wrongful acts under the Defence Procurement Policy and violate norms. In one such reduction in penalty, the government has decided to bring down the period of ban on doing business with Indian defence ministry for serious violators of rules and laws to five years from the existing 10 years. The policy is good enough to ensure that these act as deterrents to wrongdoings by companies to bag orders from the Indian armed forces. The competition in Indian defence sector is intense, and the general tendency of competing companies is to bag the orders by hook or crook. The contest is so cut-throat that even after a decision is taken on a tender, companies that have lost the tender do not give up hope and continue to try and scuttle the order going their competitors’ way till the end.

Indian armed forces have suffered because of this dogeat-dog world race in the defence sector, with several of its procurement programmes being cancelled at the last moment, after all contract negotiations are over, due to some minor issue over the procedure or technicality, mostly due to complaints that land the ministry’s way. The new policy aims to rationalise the process of blacklisting of companies and at the same time ensuring that the procurement programmes do not get derailed. In another interesting development on the defence diplomacy front, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited Bangladesh on the last day of November in a bid to cajole Dhaka into not getting into a military embrace with Beijing. This came about after China delivered in mid November the first of the two submarines Bangladesh bought from it in 2013. New Delhi is keen to boost its defence ties with Bangladesh, considering that there is a favourable government in Dhaka under Sheikh Hasina. Till now, India’s defence diplomacy with Bangladesh has been limited to some training and exchange programmes. However, with the Narendra Modi government’s ‘Act East’ policy and efforts to boost ties with neighbours and isolate Pakistan in the South Asian region, the visit assumes greater significance. Bangladesh is one nation that enjoys a land and sea border with India and this give enough reasons for their bilateral defence ties to grow. However, it is time for reaping the benefits of the Hasina government showing signs of its closeness with India and the positive impact of the 1971 liberation war assistance. We have to wait and watch for the outcomes though in the short and long term. Talking of the South Asian region, we cannot avoid talking about the recent land border skirmishes that India and Pakistan have had over the last two months now since New Delhi declared carrying out a surgical strike on a few terrorists camps on the side of Kashmir that is in Islamabad’s control. The ceasefire agreement since in November 2003 doesn’t seem to hold good anymore and it is like the preagreement days along the 740-km Line of Control and the 185-km International Border in Jammu and Kashmir, when cross border firing by either side used to claim lives on a daily basis. This situation has been compounded by the terror infiltration attempts and terror strikes on key military installations in the last two months. This does not augur well for the two nations, even as a new chief in General Qamar Javed Bajwa taking over as the new Chief of Pakistan Army on the last day of November. Unless Bajwa pursues peace with India, it is going to be a harrowing time for the citizens living on either side of the border and Line of Control in the state. All one hopes is for peace and progress in the South Asian region, one that helps all the nations to prosper.

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