India on a nuclear super-highway
India is set to launch its first nuclear submarine later this year which if successful will put the country in an extremely exclusive club of hi-tech defense powered nation.
Currently Indian defense system only has few battery operated submarines, that are way back in technology as compared to the nuclear once. The last time the Indian Navy operated a nuclear submarine was in the late 1980s, when it leased a Russian Charlie class vessel.
- Vessel Type: Submarine
- Country: India
- Program Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV)
- Total Number 4-6 Unit Cost (US$) 1B (Est.)
- Builder Vishakapatnam Naval Dockyard (VND) with assistance from Mazagon Dock Ltd. (MDL).
- Displ. Tons 5,500 – 6,500
- Length 100m (328ft)
- Beam 15m (49.2ft)
- Draft 9m (29.5ft)
- Machinery Nuclear: one pressurized water reactor (PWR) using 20% enriched uranium fuel (160-190MW); one turbine (47,000hp/70MW); one shaft; one 7-bladed, high-skew propeller.
- Speed (Knots) 12-15 (surfaced) 30-34 (submerged).
- Range Unlimited. Diving Depth 300 m (984.2ft).
- Complement Undetermined.
- Weapons Torpedoes: Six 21 inch (533mm) torpedo tubes. Mines. A total capacity (mines, torpedoes, and missiles) of 30 weapons.
- Missiles Submarine launched cruise missiles (SLCM) using either a vertical launch system or a torpedo tube launch, surface-to-surface missiles (SSMs), and a submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
Note: All the above data is estimated and not exact.
If this is successfully achieved, then it would be valid to assume that the Indian Fleet will count on four to six of these submarines until the year of 2020.
COMMENTS
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sudhakar
my country is best but due to some or other reasons it lag behind it ll be no 1 one day
samayaraj
Go head INDIA....Proud to be an INDIAN
johnrush
What have we got now then? A bollywoodbaboon nuclear submarine, a monkey rocket circling the moon. All courtesy of Russia, Israel and Germany.
manish kr ranjan
if this projectis successfully achieved then india is truely a superpower of the world.every indian also feels proud as an indian.this achievement also make a success path for india towards a technological country&international stage
Sanoop
If India dream's of becoming a global power,then it must have these N-subs...its not the question of whether India can afford these but it is the question of our National security and international influence.Remember..nothing comes above India's national security.A strong and robust nuclear triad assures our national security for a long time to come.moreover we are not talking bout building 100's of these subs but 5-6 units and i personaly believe tat India should have atleast 10 N-Subs..a combination of 3 SSBN's and 7 SSN's.A nuclear sub is the ultimate weapon of great destruction as well as peace...just think why all the major powers of the world are maintaining them...why russia built 100' of these subs,why US spents billions of dollors for years for its development,why china,France,Uk are building and developing newer classes of nuclear subs....its the best symbols of a country's self reliance, military power,technological prowess and global power status.
Amit
Good one.can anyone tell about the actual date when the inefficient indian government roll out the ATV?
C.S.Vedant
It is not a question of whether India needs a nuclear triad or not. It is a question of whether India can afford one or not. A Trident class boomer costs about $ 20 billion or Rs. 8 lakh crores. It is not just the cost of the metal or the nuclear reactor or the missiles in it but the cost of the peripheral systems, factories to produce and maintain the systems, the spares required, reprocessing facilities for the nuclear material, docking facilities for the boomer, storage, reprocessing and the displosal facilities for nuclear wastes that will be produced. Remember Russia has 1 million cubic meters of hazardous wastes from the 257 nuclear submarines they built out of which 177 are scrapped. Russia does not even have the facilities and the finances to safely decommission, dismantle and dispose of the extremely hazardous wastes that are generated from nuclear subs. Remember also that US has been consistently investing 3% of its defence budgets to research, development and manufacture of nuclear submarines for nearly 80 years now. Such technology neither comes cheap nor is it just given out of love. Either you steal it if you can or develop it if you cant steal. But then you must also be able to afford the costs and consequences.
debarshi malakar
Interesting....India needs super stealth submarine as well as long range missiles to hit enemies ,otherwise our nuclear doctrine will be total failure,which envisages 2nd strike capability.
Neeraj
I would agree with Gus's comment. India needs a nuclear triad as China could take out India's land based deterrent (including parked aircraft as in the Six-Day War, 1967).
We need a sumbmarine deterrent as well as a surface deterrent to counter China's Submarine launched ballistic missiles. The IN needs those nuclear subs, and fast. They are our most credible deterrent, as China's Navy has little or no advantage navy wise, as opposed to China's huge edge in terms of of active-duty troops and aircraft.
Gus
India with one fifth of humanity definitely needs Nuclear traid to protect it's population. Esp. after china having achieved the same.
Nikhil
Missleading headline... article adds no "new" news on the progress of this project.
Additionally the weapons platforms noted in the article reads like a list of all possible platforms out there and doesn't take into analysis from truely RELIABLE sources.
V. Poorly researched article
Neeraj
Why a "nuclear super-highway?"
I thought we had grown out of the brave-new-world hyperboles back in the ninties.
I am not particularly sure how this is 'news.' The project has been in the pipeline for more than 20 years, and the above information has been shoved down readers' throats, with minor changes, for a good while.
The ATV and LCA programs have become like Air India: a white elephant. They are not necessities for defence or research&learning. The LCA does not fit into IAF doctrine, and India still plans to aquire Russian subs. India is no more self-sufficent in the field of reactor miniaturisation than it was ten years ago, and needed major help from the russkies for the ATV.
For the billions of dollars taxpayers' money spent on completing the ATV, India could have aquired a time-tested credible defence with full technology transfer from the Russians, or the ever-opportunistic French. As for the LCA, if all goes well, India will have one operational squadron in 2010--by which time the LCA will be outdated, and will probably be replaced by more capable aircraft from the MRCA competition within half a decade. It has recently been realised that "going it alone" does not work, hence the joint projects with Russia. However, it is too late for those "indigenous" projects that have cost billions already--projects stand to become the next LCA or ATV. It's time for India to cut her losses and move on.
Neeraj
No, Devarshi, we will not upgrade our equipment to today's standards. This will be quite impossible. For example, the ATV will have a certain acoustic signature-- we can pad it with tiles, cushion the propulsion systems etc. but the design in it's entirety will still remain outdated. This goes double for aircraft programs, as recent (and not-so-recent) breakthroughs have been made in basic structural design that would render the LCA, despite large percentages of composites, incomparable, and definitely unupgradable to current standards. Firing missiles, or going supersonic were things that were first accomplished more than fifty years ago--that the LCA should be able to do these shouldn't be a matter of celebration. I detect a whole lot of denial when it comes to the ATV and LCA projects. The government and press field-day with an ignorant and wide-eyed public is coming to an end. We do tend to be grandiose in our aspirations, and even more so in our prose, don't you think?
Neeraj
No, Devarshi, we will not upgrade our equipment to today's standards. This will be quite impossible. For example, the ATV will have a certain acoustic signature-- we can pad it with tiles, cushion the propulsion systems etc. but the design in it's entirety will still remain outdated. This goes double for aircraft programs, as recent (and not-so-recent) breakthroughs have been made in basic structural design that would render the LCA, despite large percentages of composites, incomparable, and definitely unupgradable to current standards. Firing missiles, or going supersonic were things that were first accomplished more than fifty years ago--that the LCA should be able to do these shouldn't be a matter of celebration. I detect a whole lot of denial when it comes to the ATV and LCA projects. The government and press field-day with an ignorant and wide-eyed public is coming to an end. We do tend to be grandiose in our aspirations, and even more so in our prose, don't you think?
Neeraj
Neeraj
I hope Sagarika does not employ the same systems as Lakshya--the latter resembles a V-1 missile from World War II, and was rejected by the Israelis in a target drone role. But then a system's integrity should be evaluated by on its merit rather tha nit's appearance. Still, Sagarika is slated to be a ballistic missile, NOT a cruise missile. Let me clear up the confusion.
Ballistic missiles are, well, ballistic. They go high into the atmosphere using rockets and use the altitude gained to fall on their targets. Cruise missiles use sustained power (ramjet or turbofan/jet) to track targets at a stable altitude. Because of the above differences, there is no chance that Lakshya's systems would provide any help to a ballistic missile system.
I also hope that the ATV program is not 'elongated'[sic]--that would require some very strange engineering. I also hope the navy is not running 'off course.' [sic]
Nirmal S. MIRPURI
Excellent article well caliberated and presented. Well reaserchered background information which has been fairly elusive from public domain in view of the secret nature of the project.
sarab
everthing start from first step than why down playing with tech.
everything we learn from will help India in long term.
Kumar
Lakshya is not a Cruise missile as stated in the above article. Its a Pilotless Target Aircraft used for target practise by the IAF and the Air Defence establishment.
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