Brig Arvind Dhananjayan

India’s Submarine Development Plan (SDP)-2030 is quantitatively focused on development of Diesel-Electric Attack (DEA) submarines (SSKs) and Nuclear Attack Submarines (SSNs). It is complimented with the development and induction of SSBNs (nuclear-powered submarines capable of firing ballistic missiles), which is imperative for nuclear deterrence on a regional and global scale to counterbalance the threat of China’s fast-paced naval modernization.

The Indian Navy currently operates two nuclear-powered attack submarines – INS Arihant and INS Arighat. INS Arihant was commissioned in 2016, and INS Arighat in 2022. The Indian Navy plans to build six SSNs of the Arihant class. The third and fourth submarines in the class, INS Aridhaman and INS Arighot, are under construction. The fifth and sixth submarines are still in the design stage.

The Indian Navy’s future plans for its SSN fleet include the construction of the Scorpene-class SSNs as explained in this article.

Acquisition of DEA Submarines/SSNs

Being largely oriented towards regional operations, the Indian Navy is predominantly focused on efforts towards safeguarding India’s territorial waters and deterring any inimical act of aggression by a potential adversary, either off the Eastern/Western Seaboards and the avenues of ingress into these waters or in the Northern Indian Ocean, which is traversed by favourable Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC). Concomitantly, China and Pakistan would have to set aside substantial naval resources to offset a surface and sub-surface threat from the Indian Navy to its naval patrols and mercantile shipping in these waters. The Indian Navy would also be tasked to effectively blockade Pakistan Navy’s attempts at any maritime misadventure off the peninsula. These tasks make it essential to have capabilities, among others, for maritime deterrence and sea denial.  While the former is a fallout of the combined operational capability of the Indian Navy, the latter would largely constitute the responsibility of the submarine arm.

Such an argument, among other financial and temporal considerations, would have influenced the decision to persevere with acquisition of modern SSKs and SSNs as part of the SDP.

Apart from the SSBNs mentioned, the acquisition of SSNs would significantly enhance the reach and stealth quotient of India’s sub-surface fleet, as SSNs have the capability to carry out fleeting attacks on an adversary’s static and sea-based assets, while staying submerged for protracted periods.

Growing Submarine Arm

Following the decision to introduce submarines into the Indian Navy six decades ago, imports and collaborative submarine-building ventures with foreign firms have effectively maintained a credible sub-surface fleet. In the aftermath of the Kargil War, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved a 30-year SDP to enable acquisition of 24 conventional submarines. Thus came into being a two-phase plan, with Project-75 and Project-75 (I) [75 (India)] constituting the initial phase, each envisaging development of six SSKs. The subsequent phase of 12 SSKs was envisaged to be undertaken indigenously. However, in keeping with the rapidly expanding maritime threat from China, the Indian Navy approached the CCS in early 2021, with a proposal to replace six of the balance 12 SSKs with SSNs, under the moniker of Project-75A/76.

Project-75, in collaboration with the French Naval Group (formerly DCNS), has now fructified, with five Kalvari Class (Scorpene) submarines having been commissioned and the sixth undergoing sea-trials.

Project 75A/76 

Project 75A/76 envisages the indigenous development of six SSNs over the present and next decade, with 6000-ton displacements and an overall projected cost of Rs. 96,000 crores. These vessels will be designed by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND) and manufactured at Vishakhapatnam.

Advanced Technology Vessel

In order to enhance the Indian Navy’s strategic reach, the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) programme was commissioned, envisaging development of four SSBNs (INS Arihant, commissioned in August 2016 and INS Arighat undergoing sea-trials, with two more larger vessels under development). These submarines would provide practically unlimited range, with intercontinental strike capability, as a component of India’s nuclear triad. These developments were spurred on by the void created due to termination of a brief three-year lease of INS Chakra-I, a Soviet SSN, which ended in 1991; and the subsequent expiry last year of a 10-year lease of INS-Chakra-II, an Akula-II Class SSN from Russia. A further addition to these ranks will come in the form of another Akula Class Russian submarine, INS Chakra-III, slated to be leased in 2025 for 10 years.

Project-75 (I)

Project-75 (I) could not be progressed concurrently as envisaged under the 30-year plan due to various reasons. Hence, the Naval Staff Qualitative Requirements for the project were modified to include procurement of SSKs with state-of-the-art Air-Independent-Propulsion (AIP) systems, enabling them to stay submerged for longer durations and substantially increasing their operational range and lethality. 

In October 2014, India’s Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) decided that all six submarines would be constructed in India, and in June 2017, it was reported that the contract for construction would be awarded under the “Strategic Partnership” Model (SPM). This referred to participation of Indian firms along with foreign manufacturers under the ‘Make in India’ paradigm of Defence Acquisition Procedure-2020. The DAC subsequently approved an enhanced budget in January 2019.

Concurrently, an Empowered Project Committee (EPC) was constituted to steer the project till contract conclusion and Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the project was accorded.  In January 2020, the EPC shortlisted Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and MDL as the two Indian firms that would collaborate with one of five shortlisted foreign manufacturers for the project. On 20 July 2021, the CCS allowed issuance of Request for Proposal (RFP) under the SPM to both Indian firms for a total amount of ?43,000 Crores, making this the first project under the SPM and India’s largest defence acquisition project!

The SPM envisages the setting up of manufacturing lines in India along with Transfer-of-Technology. Consequently, three of the five shortlisted foreign vendors exited, citing unfavourable contract clauses. Acceptance of the RFP by the balance two foreign firms saw MDL signing a pre-emptive agreement with German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) in June 2023, while L&T had signed a Teaming Agreement with Spanish shipbuilding company Navantia on 11 April 2023 – both for the purpose of submitting a techno-commercial bid for the project. As per these pre-emptive agreements, Navantia would, if shortlisted, design and develop these submarines based on its Isaac Peral S-80 Submarine (due to be delivered to the Spanish Navy by end 2023), which boasts the most advanced AIP system in the world today. TKMS is, meanwhile, reported to be offering its Type 214/218 DEA submarines with AIP. Induction of Project-75 (I) submarines is expected to commence by the end of this decade.

Recent Developments

As part of the SDP, the DND, assisted by the DRDO, is reportedly working on the design of an indigenous DEA with AIP, soon envisioned to become the mainstay of India’s future SSK fleet. The DAC, in its meeting on 13 July, discussed the acquisition of three more Kalveri Class (Scorpene) submarines with AIP, as outlined in Project 75 (I), to be built at MDL and validated by France’s Naval Group, likely via a Government-to-Government contract. The Naval Group had earlier set up a 100% owned subsidiary, Naval Group India, with presence in New Delhi and Mumbai, to oversee the ‘Make in India’ commitment of Project-75, with an investment of over Rs 100 crores for establishment of three workshops for maintenance, spares and future refit of the Project-75 submarines. These workshops are also involved in validating the DRDO-developed AIP system for installation on existing submarines and those proposed for acquisition. An MoU between Naval Group and MDL was also reportedly signed, on 6 July 2023, for collaboration on the proposed acquisition of the additional submarines, which would include fitting of indigenous AIP and other onboard systems, resulting in a significantly higher indigenous content than before. Naval Group India would also oversee the fitting of indigenous AIP on existing Project-75 submarines as they commence their refit, beginning with INS Kalvari in 2024. The fitting of the indigenous AIP plug would require certain modifications to the hull of the submarines, including extension in length and subsequent integration, which would also be overseen by the Naval Group.

The revised Indo-French Joint Statement, issued on 14 July at the end of prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France to mark the 25th anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership, omits specific mention of these submarines but reiterates the joint readiness of both nations to explore development projects for expansion of India’s submarine fleet. This may be construed as a positive indicator for fruition of such acquisition by India.

Presently, design work for the SSNs is underway at the Submarine Design Group (SDG) under the DND, with the preliminary design phase having been completed in early 2020. The SDG, assisted by DRDO, is presently involved in the detailed design phase of the project. Construction of SSNs is expected to commence in 2023-24. with the first submarine expected to enter service in 2032.

Comments

Surveillance over India’s vast 7,500 km coastline, a 2 mn square Exclusive Economic Zone, and island territories off the eastern/ western coasts is a colossal mandate. Add to this the onerous responsibility of being a ‘net security provider’ in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), and India’s Navy and Coast Guard are landed with the unenviable charge of protecting India’s waters/seaboards from all forms of economic/military intrusion. Both China and Pakistan have viable navies capable of choking India’s maritime trade and denying operational sea-space for military or mercantile movement. Apropos, the Indian Navy on the cusp of metamorphosing into a genuine blue-water force, needs to be able to project maritime power, control sea-space for furtherance of own operations and deny the same to India’s potential adversaries. It is therefore imperative that India looks at self-reliance and indigenization to consolidate and enhance the effectiveness of its surface and sub-surface arsenal.

With 18 operational submarines at present, the Indian Navy’s Submarine Development Plan constitutes a much-needed fillip, in addition to the existing sub-surface fleet undergoing regular planned refit, refurbishment and modernization, to maintain its submarine arm as a potent and lethal sub-surface force.

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A brief statement by the defence ministry did not identify the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) tested from the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant, which became fully operational in 2018, in the Bay of Bengal.

Sources, however, said that the SLBM tested was the B-O5 or K-15 missile with a strike range of 750-km. “INS Arihant is armed with the short-range K-15 missiles. Developmental trials of the K-4 SLBM (with a 3,500-km range) have been completed but it is yet to be fully inducted,” a source said.

This is the first time the launch of an SLBM from INS Arihant has been announced by the government. It comes at a time when India and China continue to have over 50,000 soldiers each, backed by heavy-duty weapon systems, ranged against each other along the frontier in eastern Ladakh, with the military confrontation there now into its 30th month.

The world is also currently watching with bated breath the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, where the threat of use of nuclear weapons is being considered the most serious since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

The MoD, on its part, said, “The SLBM was tested to a predetermined range and impacted the target area in the Bay of Bengal with very high accuracy. All operational and technological parameters of the weapon system have been validated.”

“The successful user training launch of the SLBM by INS Arihant is significant to prove crew competency and validate the SSBN (naval parlance for nuclear-propelled submarines armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles) programme, a key element of India’s nuclear deterrence capability. A robust, survivable and assured retaliatory capability is in keeping with India’s policy to have ‘credible minimum deterrence’ that underpins its ‘no-first use’ commitment,” the statement added.

INS Arihant does give some teeth to the weakest leg of India’s existing nuclear triad – the capability to fire nukes from land, air and sea – but much larger SSBNs that can carry longer range missiles are required to make it more credible.

The other two legs of the triad are, of course, much more robust with the induction of the land-based Agni series of ballistic missiles as well as fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s and Rafales that are capable of dropping nuclear gravity bombs.

Under the Rs 90,000 crore top-secret advanced technology vessel (ATV) project, India is currently building three more SSBNs to follow INS Arihant, which is propelled by an 83 MW pressurized light-water reactor at its core.

The second such submarine, INS Arighat, is slated to become fully operational next year after some delay. The vessel will be followed by two 7,000-tonne SSBNs, currently called S-4 and S-4*, under the ATV project. There is also the plan to build 13,500-tonne SSBNs with much more powerful 190 MW reactors.

Concurrently, the K-4 SLBM is to be followed by the K-5 and K-6 missiles in the 5,000 to 6,000-km class. All this will decidedly narrow the gap with countries like the US, Russia and China, which have much larger SSBNs with over 5,000-km range missiles.

Much more capable SSBNs will give India’s deterrence posture greater credibility because they are considered the most secure, survivable and potent platforms for retaliatory strikes after a surprise first-strike by an adversary.

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After induction into Strategic Forces Command arsenal, the missile will become the prime deterrent in the 1000-2000 km range with Agni-5 providing the full cover to India against regional adversaries. The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) can produce a longer-range missile than Agni-5 provided the Modi government revises its nuclear options and gives approval to a longer-range delivery platform.

According to missile experts, the development trials of Agni-P are complete with three tests, the first one of which was conducted off Balasore on June 28, 2021, and second on December 18, 2021. The 10-meter-long missile with flexi nozzles and composite motor can be fired from mobile launchers and thus has a higher rate of survivability in the event of worst-case scenario.

While for India the winter months are normally used for test-firing and trials, the Agni-P trial came a day after US surprisingly announced the surfacing of top-of-the-line nuclear ballistic missile submarine USS Virginia at an undisclosed location in Arabian Sea. This was preceded by India announcing the user firing of submarine launched ballistic missile from its own ballistic missile submarine INS Arihant this month. This accompanied by deepening of Japan-Australia defence cooperation as well as public statement by US Pacific Commander that India was indispensable ally to Washington in the Indo-Pacific bodes well for the future of the QUAD grouping.

The strategic messaging both by the US and India in the Indo-Pacific came at the time when President Xi Jinping was on his way to get reelected the third time and become China’s new Chairman Mao and rival Washington as the numero uno military power in the world. That President Xi is totally in command of Chinese Communist Party was evident from the unceremonious exit of his predecessor Hu Jintao from the Saturday’s closing session of the party’s twice a decade orchestrated Congress. The consolidation of power by dictators President Xi and his “no limits” ally Russian President Vladimir Putin increases uncertainty in the world with Taiwan on Beijing’s and Ukraine on Moscow’s cross-sights.

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A brief statement by the defence ministry did not identify the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) tested from the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant, which became fully operational in 2018, in the Bay of Bengal.

Sources, however, said that the SLBM tested was the B-O5 or K-15 missile with a strike range of 750-km. “INS Arihant is armed with the short-range K-15 missiles. Developmental trials of the K-4 SLBM (with a 3,500-km range) have been completed but it is yet to be fully inducted,” a source said.

This is the first time the launch of an SLBM from INS Arihant has been announced by the government. It comes at a time when India and China continue to have over 50,000 soldiers each, backed by heavy-duty weapon systems, ranged against each other along the frontier in eastern Ladakh, with the military confrontation there now into its 30th month.

The world is also currently watching with bated breath the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, where the threat of use of nuclear weapons is being considered the most serious since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

The MoD, on its part, said, “The SLBM was tested to a predetermined range and impacted the target area in the Bay of Bengal with very high accuracy. All operational and technological parameters of the weapon system have been validated.”

“The successful user training launch of the SLBM by INS Arihant is significant to prove crew competency and validate the SSBN (naval parlance for nuclear-propelled submarines armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles) programme, a key element of India’s nuclear deterrence capability. A robust, survivable and assured retaliatory capability is in keeping with India’s policy to have ‘credible minimum deterrence‘ that underpins its ‘no-first use’ commitment,” the statement added.

INS Arihant does give some teeth to the weakest leg of India’s existing nuclear triad – the capability to fire nukes from land, air and sea – but much larger SSBNs that can carry longer range missiles are required to make it more credible.

The other two legs of the triad are, of course, much more robust with the induction of the land-based Agni series of ballistic missiles as well as fighters like Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s and Rafales that are capable of dropping nuclear gravity bombs.

Under the Rs 90,000 crore top-secret advanced technology vessel (ATV) project, India is currently building three more SSBNs to follow INS Arihant, which is propelled by an 83 MW pressurized light-water reactor at its core.

The second such submarine, INS Arighat, is slated to become fully operational next year after some delay. The vessel will be followed by two 7,000-tonne SSBNs, currently called S-4 and S-4*, under the ATV project. There is also the plan to build 13,500-tonne SSBNs with much more powerful 190 MW reactors.

Concurrently, the K-4 SLBM is to be followed by the K-5 and K-6 missiles in the 5,000 to 6,000-km class. All this will decidedly narrow the gap with countries like the US, Russia and China, which have much larger SSBNs with over 5,000-km range missiles.

Much more capable SSBNs will give India’s deterrence posture greater credibility because they are considered the most secure, survivable and potent platforms for retaliatory strikes after a surprise first-strike by an adversary.

The post India tests N-missile from submarine appeared first on IMR.

In its December 29 report, the magazine declared that the submersible ballistic nuclear submarine (SSBN), known simply as S4, was launched on November 23 and had been ‘relocated’ to near the ‘fitting-out wharf’ that was presently occupied by INS Arighat, the second such nuclear-armed missile submarine. Arighat was launched in November 2014, and currently awaits commissioning that has reportedly been delayed possibly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Janes said. Consequently, the Indian press had not reported the S4 SSBN’s launch.

The British publication further reported that satellite imagery had confirmed that at 7,000-tonnes, the S4 SSBN was ‘slightly larger’, with a load water line measurement of 125.4m compared with 111.6m of the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant, the lead boat in this class. It categorised the S4 – and successive boats – as ‘Arihant-stretch’ variants.

The magazine went on to infer that the satellite imagery indicated that the newly launched boats’ additional length ‘accommodates expansion of the submarine’s vertical launch system which has doubled to support eight (missile) launch tubes’. This, it said, would enable the SSBN to carry eight K-4 submarine launched ballistic missile missiles (SLBM), or alternately 24 K-15 SLBMs with respective strike ranges of 3,500 km and 750 km, respectively. The K-4 SLBM, however, remains under development and its pontoon launch is anticipated.

Developed jointly by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), select Indian Navy (IN) personnel and Russian scientists and technicians, the S4 boat and the follow-on, under-fabrication S4* like the previous two SSBNs, comprise a critical part of India’s three-tier credible nuclear deterrent. India plans on eventually fielding at least four such SSBNs, with an option to build two more, to add maritime strike capability to its existing land and aerial-based capacity in delivering strategic weapons.

Russia’s involvement in the programme in designing the SSBNs and miniaturising their reactors have long been an open, though downplayed secret amongst naval, atomic and strategic community personnel. But Arihant’s launch ceremony in July 2009 was the first time it was publicly acknowledged through the presence of the Russian naval design team and their country’s then ambassador V.I. Trubnikov. Such sensitive cooperation is also one of the underpinnings of the enduring strategic and military cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi.

Meanwhile, Arihant, which was also constructed at the SCB, was quietly commissioned into the Indian Navy in August 2016 and completed its 20-day maiden deterrence patrol over two years in November 2018. Delayed by some 15-18 years, the SSBN was scheduled to conduct its first deterrence patrol in 2017, but was reportedly damaged early that year after its propulsion compartment was flooded while in Visakhapatnam harbour. The Hindu had reported in January 2018 that water had rushed into the boat ten months ago, after a hatch at the rear of the platform was left open, a claim that was never officially confirmed nor denied.

Industry and naval sources said Arihant’s on-board systems had ‘broadly’ been duplicated in the two follow-on boats, including Arighat and the S4, which awaits formal naming.

Exact details of Arihant’s powerplant are unclear, but it is understood to be propelled by an 82.5 MW pressurised light water reactor (LWR), turning a single seven-bladed screw to achieve submerged sprint speeds of 24 kt, or about 10 kt on the surface. Its principal strategic weapon load comprises 12 K-15/B-05 indigenously developed SLBMs fired from four vertical-launch tubes and each carrying a 5-tonne nuclear payload out to a range of 750 km. The S4, on the other hand, will potentially be better armed eventually as development of the DRDO-designed K-4 SLBM would have been completed by the time the SSBN is ready for commissioning.

Also involved in the SSBN programme are private defence contractor Larsen & Toubro (L&T), tasked with constructing their hulls at its Hazira facility in Gujarat and building the vertical launcher to test the K-15 SLBM. L&T also installed Arihant’s three 533 mm torpedo tubes believed to fire Russian TEST-71ME-NK variants.

Other private companies, such as Walchandnagar Industries, provided Arihant’s gearbox and shafting, while Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division in collaboration with UK’s BAE Systems designed a platform management system and electronic warfare consoles for the combat management system (CMS). The state-owned Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) supplied Arihant’ s two sonar systems – USHUS and Panchendriya – designed by the DRDO’s Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory. Panchendriya is a weapons control system that contains surveillance, passive, intercept and active features, in addition to doubling as an underwater communication system.

BEL also developed Arihant’s CMS, while a handful of Israeli and French companies provided an assortment of radar, sensors, communication equipment, and anti-torpedo countermeasures among other systems and sub-assemblies. Numerous domestic micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) too were part of the SSBNs supply chain, acquiring in the process expertise in welding submarine hull sections capable of withstanding immense pressure at significant depths. They also supplied a host of pipes, pumps, cables, compressors, air-conditioning equipment and generators, in support of the navy’s wider indigenisation endeavours.

Built with Russian steel, broadly equivalent to the US HY-80 grade, Arihant is divided into seven compartments, with main divisions for the propulsion system – acoustically damped and sealed into a 600-tonne titanium shell circa 10 m in diameter – the CMS, platform management centre, and torpedo room. It also features a double hull, sandwiching ballast tanks. Two stand-by auxiliary engines and a retractable thruster provide the SSBN with emergency power and mobility to meet operational eventualities.

The SSBN programme will eventually be supplemented by the separate indigenous production – also at the SCB – of six nuclear-powered attack submarines (that come under the SSN category) for the Indian Navy, which were first approved by the Union government in early 2015. Janes had earlier reported in late November that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was expected to imminently sanction around Rs 50,000 crore to build three of these 6,000-tonne SSNs, with the first boat scheduled for completion by 2032-33.

Financial sanction for the remaining three SSNs that were expected to incorporate over 95% of locally sourced content would ‘follow subsequently’ once the programme progressed, the magazine said. The entire SSN programme would span a 25-year period from when the boat’s construction first started, it added.

The Indian Navy’s 1999 submarine building programme – delayed by almost a decade – had envisaged a force of 24 ‘hunter-killer’ diesel-electric conventional submarines (that comes under the SSK category) with air independent propulsion (AIP) and land-attack capability, which were scheduled to have joined service by 2029-30. But delays in inducting the SSKs, and an emerging unstable regional maritime security environment, had prompted the Indian Navy to recently opt for six SSNs instead to provide it greater operational flexibility.

“In its quest to become a Blue Water force, it’s imperative for the Indian Navy to acquire SSN capability if it wants to shape the maritime battlespace in the increasingly restive Indian Ocean Region,” said Indian Navy Commodore Anil Jai Singh (retired). It’s only an SSN that can constitute the cutting edge of the Indian Navy’s offensive capability, either by themselves or as part of an aircraft carrier battle group, the former submariner added.

Other navy officers said the SSN programme would ‘harness’ the know-how and technologies gained from the SSBN project, but questioned the inexplicable lack of expertise in domestically building conventional submarines, for which foreign original equipment manufacturer (OEM) assistance remained imperative.

The Indian Navy is presently evaluating responses to the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) July 2021 tender to two domestic shipyards to construct six SSKs with AIP and land-attack capability in collaboration with one of the five overseas OEMs under the P75(I)-India project worth over Rs 43,000 crore.

“All these variegated achievements (in designing and building SSBNs) are spread thinly across the technological spectrum without any coordination to secure success in key thrust areas, especially with regard to enhancing the country’s overall military capability,” said Amit Cowshish, former MoD financial advisor on acquisitions. Unfortunately, these successes are isolated, he lamented, adding that India also ironically qualifies for yet another major global distinction: as the world’s second largest arms importer between 2016 and 2020.

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