Indian Military

Images of China's new Jin-class SSBN. The Pentagon says there are significant problems with its Julang-2 missiles






(This is the concluding article of a four-part series on India's critical, yet significantly delayed, submarine programme)
by Ajai ShuklaBusiness Standard, 2nd Sept 10
An increasingly apparent reason for the Ministry of Defence’s slow decision-making on a second submarine production line for the Indian Navy is: the deep divisions within the navy over India’s submarine force. A debate rages between the submarine arm and the surface navy — particularly the dominant aviation wing — on whether the future lies in submarines or aircraft carriers.

New Delhi – While the Indian Defence Minister A K Antony has assured that the indigenous ‘Tejas’ light combat aircraft (LCA) will get its “initial operational clearance” in December, the ‘Tejas’ LCA project has seen an astronomical rise in its price tag and the development cost.

According to sources, the first 40 ‘Tejas’ LCA to be inducted in the Indian Armed Forces will cost roughly $33.3 million excluding its development cost. As for the development cost of the ‘Tejas’ LCA, the overall figure is to the tune of $3.8 billion which is a 3000 per cent hike from the cost during the conception of the project over two decades ago. The sanctioned cost includes the fighter’s naval variant, which will run till December 2018.

The ‘Tejas’ has carried out around 1,420 flights with 10 prototypes till date. The full-scale engineering development (FSED) Phase-I till March 2004 cost Rs 2,188 crore. The Phase-II, to be completed by December 2012, will cost another $1.

LONDON: British Navy is all set to launch its biggest ever nuclear submarine that can fire guided-missiles to pulverise an enemy more than 1,600km away.

The 'super-sub, called HMS Ambush, has a huge nuclear reactor that can power a city the size of Southampton and it will never need refuelling.

The killer submarine, which is more complex than the US space shuttles and able to circumnavigate the globe without surfacing, is also able to make oxygen and fresh water from seawater to keep the 98 crew alive in time of crisis.

The awesome 7,400-tonne sub is 291 foot long, the same length as a football pitch, as wide as four double-decker buses and 12 storeys high.

A true titan of the deep, the 1.2-billion-pound warship will be launched at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria on Thursday, the Daily Mail reported.

According to the report, its nuclear-powered engine can propel her at more than 20 knots, allowing her to travel 500 miles a day.

And, despite being 50 per cent bigger than the Swiftsure and Trafalgar subs she will replace, Ambush is quieter.

SEOUL: South Korea on Wednesday prepared for a major show of military strength involving fighter jets and tanks near the tense North Korean border as Washington ruled out "feel-good" talks with Pyongyang.
The live-fire exercise, planned for Thursday with self-propelled guns and 800 soldiers, follows signs of an easing of tensions on the peninsula after the North backed down from a threat to retaliate against an earlier drill.
Although similar exercises have been held at the same firing range 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of the mainland border many times before, the latest comes with Seoul on high alert for a possible attack from the North.
South Korea's navy meanwhile began a four-day firing drill Wednesday off the east coast, a relatively distant 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the border with the North, mobilising six warships plus helicopters.
Observers said South Korea's conservative government sees flexing its military muscles as a necessary deterrent against a fresh strike by the North.

New Delhi — VARUNA 10, the bilateral naval exercise between the Indian Navy and the French Navy is scheduled to commence from 07 Jan 11 with aircraft carriers, destroyers/frigates, tankers and submarines from both sides participating.

A press release issued by the Indian Navy said for VARUNA 10, the French Navy will be represented by ships from the French Carrier Strike Group, designated Task Force 473 and mainly based at Toulon, France. The Task Force includes the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle, destroyers FNS Forbin and FNS Tourville, supply ship FNS Meuse and nuclear powered submarine FNS Amethyste. Aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle will be carrying its complement of fighter aircraft, Rafale and Super Etendard, airborne early warning aircraft E2C Hawkeye and integral helicopters.

The release further stated that the Indian Navy will be represented by aircraft carrier INS Viraat, two indigenous frigates INS Godavari and INS Ganga and one Shishumar class submarine, INS Shalki.

THERAN: Atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi declared in a report on Saturday that Iran is now capable of making its own nuclear fuel plates and rods, technology the West says the Islamic republic does not possess.
Salehi, the driving force behind Iran's contentious atomic programme, said the country has completed the construction of a facility in the central city of Isfahan to the fuel plates and rods which power nuclear reactors.
"We have built an advanced manufacturing unit in the Isfahan site for the fuel plates," Salehi, who is also acting foreign minister, told Fars news agency in what was said to be an exclusive interview.
"A grand transformation has taken place in the production of (nuclear) plates and rods. With the completion of the unit in Isfahan, we are one of the few countries which can produce fuel rods and fuel plates."
Salehi said it was the Western policies towards the Islamic republic which had propelled its nuclear achievements, including the making of nuclear plates and rods.

TEHRAN: Iran's state TV says the country welcomes foreign experts to accompany the international envoys invited to visit its nuclear facilities.
The early Thursday report quotes Ramin Mehmanparast spokesman of the Iranian foreign ministry as saying an invitation by Iran to representatives of Russia, China, EU, developing and Arab countries to visit the country's nuclear facilities would be extended to experts accompanying the envoys.
The state news agency also reported Thursday that Ali Asghar Soltanieh Iran's envoy to the UN atomic agency says that representatives from Egypt and Algeria as well as Venezuela and Syria would visit Iran's nuclear sites on Saturday and Sunday.
The European Union has said it will not attend the tour.

MUMBAI: The fourth unit of 220 MW Kaiga Generating Station (KGS-4) located in Uttar Kanada district of Karnataka was connected to the southern power grid in the early hours today, after the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) granted clearance to it.
KGS-4, which achieved first criticality on November 27 last year, was "synchronised with the southern grid at 01:56 hours", general manager (corporate communication) R R Kakde of Nuclear Power Corporation of India said here in a release.
With the synchronisation of KGS-4 with the grid, India's nuclear power capacity has gone up to 4780 MW, with 20 reactors in operation. The installed capacity of Kaiga station is now 880 MW, making it the third largest after Tarapur (1400 MW) and Rawatbhata (1180 MW), he said.
The unit, fuelled by indigenous uranium, will supply electricity to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
NPCIL has also achieved new landmarks of generating over 4000 MW and over 95 million units of power a day.

NEW DELHI: A high level delegation from the US energy department is on a 10-day visit to India to discuss ways of cooperation and partnership in the nuclear energy sector, the US embassy said on Monday.
Representatives from the US department of energy are visiting India to learn more about the country's nuclear energy community and identify nuclear development opportunities and partnerships that will benefit both countries, according to a US embassy statement here.
During the visit, representatives from Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the US government's lead nuclear engineering and science laboratory, will interact with leaders and researchers in the government, industry and academia.
"All advanced nuclear energy nations benefit by understanding each other's nuclear enterprises and collaborating where appropriate," said Idaho National Laboratory director and delegation head John Grossenbacher.
Top US nuclear energy companies are eying to expand their business in India capitalising on the civil nuclear agreement signed between the two countries in 2008.

WASHINGTON: Two Indian-Americans - Ganpat Mani and Vijay Sazawal - were appointed on Monday by US secretary of commerce Gary Locke to serve on the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee for two years.
Mani and Sazawal along with 28 others will make recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce concerning trade policy development, improving the competitiveness of US industry and its ability to compete for international contracts for civil nuclear products and services.
The 30-member committee will also identify priority markets for US civil nuclear products and services in the short- and long-terms.
"Civil nuclear energy has a crucial role to play in powering the global economy while addressing concerns over energy security and climate change," said Locke.
"US civil nuclear technology and services are world-class, and our industry is well-placed to work with countries around the globe interested in developing peaceful nuclear power programs," he said.
Mani, originally from Tamil Nadu, is president of the Denver, Colarado-based ConverDyn, which us a joint venture between affiliates of Honeywell International, and General Atomics.