Unlike conventional subs that must surface every 48 to 72 hours, these subs can stay submerged for up to 14 days.
INS Vindhyagiri (F-42), the sixth and the last of the Nilgiri class of frigates which was damaged in an accident last year, has been decommissioned.
'The Raksha Mantri's day at sea'/
India's largest warship builders -- Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai; and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Kolkata - have prevailed over the Indian Navy's objections. MDL and GRSE will divide between them the entire order for seven improved stealth frigates, code-named Project 17A.The Navy was insisting that the first two frigates of Project 17A be built abroad, so that MDL and GRSE could learn how to build ships using new modular methods that are preferred by European shipyard
The Indian Navy's firepower is going to be significantly boosted with the addition of four heavy warships. The navy's design chief, Rear Admiral MK Badhwar, has confirmed for the first time, to Business Standard, that the Defence Acquisition Council --the top procurement body in the Ministry of Defence --has cleared Project 15-B, the construction of four 6800-tonne destroyers by Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai.
An official said that there were stringent norms at MDL on data security.
INS Vishakapatnam's ground attack and anti-ship capabilities are achieved through a bank of BrahMos cruise missiles that can be fired at targets up to 295 km away.
The government has withdrawn the tender for purchase of 98 torpedos for Scorpene submarines which a subsidiary of chopper scam tainted Italian defence conglomerate Finmeccanica had won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.
Though the government says public and private shipyards compete on equal terms, public shipyards feast at the high table with the defence ministry, with only scraps being tossed to private shipbuilders.
The status of the current submarine force level is alarming and we need to address the threat perceptions expeditiously. Critical decisions pertaining to national security cannot be delayed any further due to the rapidly changing maritime threat perceptions and growing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region, asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
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.
Like in the previous case, the newspaper has blacked out all details which it felt would compromise India's security interests.
The warships will be armed with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles which can reach targets 295 km away.
'The F-21's capabilities far exceed all other torpedoes currently in service.'
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.
INS Sindhukirti's refit took so long that many defence experts believed the vessel would never return to operational service.
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.
Still, there remains a worrying shortfall of frigates, which are the navy's workhorses. 'We need to have at least 24 frigates,' says a senior admiral. 'Currently we are 10 short.'
The Indian Navy is constrained by its lowest budgetary allocation since 2011-2012, reveals Ajai Shukla.
Govt wants domestic production so as to save foreign currency.
The Scorpene submarine does not have enough firepower; it will share 64 obsolescent SUT torpedoes till the Indian Navy is supplied with 100 heavyweight torpedoes -- a process that could take more than two years to complete
The authoritative Congressional Research Service, which provides data and analysis to the US Congress, finds that India no longer features in the world's three biggest arms importers.
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.
The aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, formerly the Admiral Gorshkov, expected to join the Indian Navy later this year, is already late by five years and its price has risen three-fold, from $947 million (about Rs 5,735 crore) in 2004 to $2.3 billion (Rs 13,928.8 crore) today.
An ill-informed public narrative centres on expensive weapons platforms instead of the little things that would improve capability.
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