Australia on Tuesday signed a $50 billion (Rs 3.3 lakh crore) deal with France for 12 sophisticated submarines to be built by French defence major DCNS that was at the centre of a controversy this year surrounding the leak of documents relating to India's Scorpene submarines.
"Leak of information related to Scorpene submarine is a matter of serious concern," Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said on Monday in his first comment after over 22,000 pages of data detailing the vessel's capabilities became public.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar immediately ordered the navy chief to personally inquire into what this meant for India's maritime security.
The leaked documents include details of submarine's underwater sensors, above-water sensors, combat management system, torpedo launch system and specifications, communications system and navigation systems.
"There is a high-level committee which is inquiring into the Scorpene leak on our side," Admiral Lanba said.
The MiG29K and MiG29KUB, the aircraft carrier's primary fighters, spent more time in the hangar than in the air, with fleet serviceability remaining below 50 per cent, reports Ajai Shukla.
It said that the identity of the unnamed whistleblower is already known to The Australian newspaper.
Khanderi is the second of the Navy's six Kalvari-class submarines built in India. It is a diesel-electric attack submarine which is designed by French naval defence and energy company DCNS which is being manufactured at Mazagon Dock in Mumbai.
The MH-60R helicopter is an all-weather maritime helicopter designed to support multiple missions with state-of-the-art avionics.
Like in the previous case, the newspaper has blacked out all details which it felt would compromise India's security interests.
The 66-metre-long INS Kalvari is part of an over $3.5 billion contract signed by the defence ministry with French firm DCNS in October 2005 to jointly develop six submarines.
It will undergo a number of tests by the Indian Navy before it gets commissioned in the defence fleet.
An official said that there were stringent norms at MDL on data security.
Here are the glimpses of the submarine.
AIP or Air Independent Propulsion system allows the vessel to stay underwater for a longer duration.
Vagir is part of the six Kalvari-class submarines being built in India.
All the six diesel-electric attack submarines will be equipped with the anti-ship missile, which has a proven record in combat, the defence ministry said.
'The F-21's capabilities far exceed all other torpedoes currently in service.'
The development marks a major milestone in Indian Navy's submarine programme as the vessel is expected to bolster India's maritime prowess
Rahul Bedi explains how 'miscellaneous' factors have posed a major hurdle in negotiating the Rafale deal.
As a debate raged over sensitivity of leaked Scorpene data, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday played down the leak, saying it is "not a big worry" as weapon system details were not included, a remark challenged by the publisher who asserted these will be made public on Monday.
'Pakistan needs to understand that the Indian Navy has become much stronger with the commissioning of the Khanderi
INS Khanderi, the second Scorpene-class submarine that can attack with torpedoes as well as tube-launched anti-ship missiles whilst underwater or on surface, was launched at the Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai in January 2017.
Mere shuffling of resources or cosmetic changes to prove a point would be counterproductive in the long run, observes Commodore Venugoptal Menon (retd).
Kalvari is expected to enter service by September end.
For the navy, which is making do with just 14 conventional submarines against a requirement of 24, the INS Khanderi delay extends a dangerous operational void.
The government has withdrawn the tender for purchase of 98 torpedos for Scorpene submarines which a subsidiary of chopper scam tainted Italian defence conglomerate Finmeccanica had won during the UNited Progressive Alliance regime.
There were 35 defects that still remained to be resolved. Of these, 29 could not have been resolved during the monsoon since they required testing in absolutely calm seas. Nor is the Khanderi being commissioned with a full complement of its primary weapon, the torpedo.
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday reviewed the progress of 'Project 75' (indigenous submarine construction project) along with other ongoing warship projects, including P-15 B class stealth destroyers in Mumbai.
Japan could soon be the second country after the US with which India has a logistics support agreement. Besides the LSA, India and Japan may also sign a maritime domain awareness agreement which would enable the two navies to share information. For example, if a Japanese P-1 maritime patrol aircraft detects a Chinese submarine in the Indian Ocean, it would pass on the information to the Indian Navy, reveals Ajai Shukla.
The defence ministry has lost sight of what it intended to achieve -- which was to nurture private defence firms that would compete on equal terms with the 9 defence PSUs and the 41 Ordnance Factory Board factories.
Kalvari underwent around 120 days of extensive sea trials and tests for various equipment and is expected to bolster India's maritime prowess.
The state-of-the-art features of this Scorpene class submarine include superior stealth and the ability to launch a crippling attack on the enemy using precision guided weapon.
or the first time, the size and specifications of the Indian Navy's future aircraft carrier have been officially acknowledged.
Anil Ambani will take over as the chairman of Pipavav Defence
Irked by India's status as the world's biggest arms importer, Modi wants to build an advanced defence industry
Jaitley can make his innings -- notwithstanding its likely length -- to be a watershed tenure, or just add to the image of the MoD drifting rudderless, says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'The defence minister needs to focus on human resources-related issues at the same pace in 2017 as he did on acquisitions in 2016,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'Despite frequent high-level interactions there has been little traction on substantive issues between India and France,' says Mohan Guruswamy.
As football fans arrive to watch Euro 2016, France's trade unions have undertaken a series of strikes to provoke a make-or-break situation. Claude Arpi encounters both Gallic beauty and ugliness in the country of his birth.
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