By Colonel Awadhesh Kumar , Veteran Special Forces
Indian Navy is slowly and steadily making its presence felt not only close to the Indian peninsula and not only in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone but in the entire Indian Ocean. From a buyers Navy we have steadily turned into a builders Navy with ever increasing indigenous content both component wise and cost wise. This move forward over the years has taken place incrementally , as a sudden big bite may have choked us . The Nuclear Submarine programme was one of those “ big bites” initially.
One good thing is that our Naval Planners wisely took a decision that once the basic design and plans for a Ship was finalized then work would start in parallel on various aspects . Therefore hull construction would progress and other equipment fitted once available. Similarly sensors and weapons came later . The basic weapon and sensors are always fitted by the time a ship is handed over to the Navy for trials and Commissioning. Additional weapons and Sensors are fitted later .
Now some “ Smart Know All Admiral of Fleet “ at times have been criticizing the Indian Navy that it is unnecessarily Commissioning Ships without having fitted them with all and sundry advance sensors and weapons . Therefore as per them , such ships are toothless and sitting ducks. So these armchair Admirals were simply aghast when earlier this week, INS Kiltan-Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes was Commissioned and joined the Eastern Naval Command without any Active Towed Array Sonar (ACTAS) system . Such people think that enemy submarines just cannot be detected without ACTAS !!. So they would have been much happier if the Navy had waited till fitment of this Force Multiplier , even if valuable time would have been lost for putting the ship through its paces and the most vital training of the entire crew as one fighting machine.
The stealth Corvettes are slowly building up in numbers and soon we are going to have even INS KAVARATTI joining KADMAT , KAMORTA and KILTAN. Thus along with 8x Kora class Corvettes, we will have 12 of them and may be 8 more under the same PROJECT 28 with a total of 20. Though at least 4 more would be really welcomed to ensure a squadron (6 corvettes per squadron) in each Naval Command including Andmands. Instead of appreciating the fact that Project 28 Corvettes at 3000 tons are of nearly the same size or rather a bit bigger than our first frigate NILGIRI , these naysayers are calling it a “sitting duck”. They forget the inherent on board Sensors and the basic weapons capability itself. The fact that now our Navy is quite Net Centric and therefore there are many other aerial / space/ sea based platforms which are there to detect hostile presence and relay the information to all, enabling nearest/ most suitable Platform to carry out strike . Meanwhile when the towed ACTS are available from the German Firm then they will be fitted or the Navy will wait fir the DRDO to field NAGIN Sonar. However “ Dear Armchair Admirals or Row Boat Variety ?” IN should not be advised to stop commissioning new ships.
Further ,in conjunction with these P28 Anti Submarine Corvettes for the blue water, order has already been placed for 16 shallow water Corvettes of 700 tons , as the Indian Continental Shelf is quite peculiar for Submarine hunting. Though this will cover only the Western and Southern Seaboard . So there will arise need for 16 more of such platforms for Eastern Sea board and the Andmands. Meanwhile the Indian Navy will continue to detect and when required hunt down each and every hostile submarine entering the Indian Ocean. Detection and observation at ranges considerably above the range of lurking hostile submarine , depending on the propagation conditions of the water, can still be carried out by other means. In fact just last month I requested a survivor of INS KHUKRI to narrate every thing on that fateful day , evening and night . He sat in my office and in presence of his wife , he was kind enough to tell me all he remembered. I could only salute him for his courage. No Indian should doubt the Indian Navy in this regard and the present day KHUKHRI is much better equipped.
The Navy’s submarine fleet is now finally looking up , though the pace needs to be speeded further. Kalvari the first of the Scorpene submarines is going to be commissioned shortly followed by KHANDERI , KARANJ and KARSURA , and two more must have similar names may be KALUGA and KATSURA. Though again doubt is being raised because Black Shark heavy torpedoes from Italy is not being bought. It was desirable but surely not as essential as our National Pride . What is required is to place a follow on order on Mazagaon for 3 more Scorpenes and another 3 to France with make in India condition . This way by 2025 we will have 12 Scorpenes Submarines deployed in the new submarine base at INS KADAMBA.
Meanwhile , the Project 75 should without batting an eyelid select the follow on to Kilo Class that is Lada Class and commence production work to complete 6 of them the earliest . Russian can also be asked to produce 6 for us out of which minimum 4 must be make in India. Thus by 2025 we will have 12 submarines on the East Coast too , at least 6 brand new and 6 out old Kilos. The 2 still remaining HDW then may be deployed at Cochin or Port Blair base to be subsequently replaced by purely Indian designed and produced submarines, 12 of them at each base.
On the nuclear front , the three SSBNs of ARIHANT Series should hopefully be augmented with another 3 by 2025. Also by that time we should be having the first , if not two, of our own designed 6 SSGNs under construction . These hopefully will have company of at least 4 Akulas on lease from the Russians. Talks are already on for leasing the 3rd one , so can the 4th be far behind ?
Another happy news is the coming of 2x DSRV to look after the Submariners in case of any mishap on the high seas. There will be a need to build adequate number of Submarine Tenders and even a few more Torpedo Recovery Vessels.
So Indian Navy should continue to build and go on a Commissioning spree. We will proudly wait for the day when there are Four Flag Officers Submarines : West, East, South and A&N.
