India’s nuclear submarine

It may seem somewhat strange for India to lease a Russian nuclear submarine, and at a heavy cost, when an earlier similar venture didn’t turn out to be smooth and when it is itself building nuclear submarines. The 10-year lease is costing India a billion dollars. In real terms the cost will be much more. Is it India’s need? India, no doubt, gains by inducting it in its navy. But this time, it is equally, may be more, the need of the supplier. And it also meets the strategic interests of another backer.

The leased submarine, the 8,140-tonne SSN Nerpa, was commissioned in the Russian Navy in December 2000 and belongs to the Soviet-era nuclear-powered submarines of (Nato-named) Akula II Class. The Akula Class submarine was deployed for the first time in 1986 by the Soviet Navy. The project to lease two Akula-II nuclear submarines was initiated by India in 2002. The deal for the first submarine was signed in New Delhi in January 2004 and for the second in December 2007.

The Nerpa was to be delivered to India in August 2007. However, the programme was struck with several delays and at least one mishap. A fatal gas leak killing 20 crew members occurred during the submarine’s sea trials in November 2008. Transfer was then set to take place in 2009 but didn’t materialise. A fresh date in October 2010 was also not met.

While equipment installation and technical reasons were cited for the delays, Russian policymakers had their own plans and ploys in setting the timing for the submarine’s delivery to India. An operational nuclear submarine with a regional navy is a game-changer in strategic terms. Finally, the K-152 Nerpa was handed over to India on January 24, 2012, in a ceremony at Bolshoi Kamen ship-building facility in Russia’s eastern region of Primorye. It was renamed by India as INS Chakra II and will operate from the Visakhapatnam base in the Bay of Bengal.

The Akula II submarine, with strengthened and modernised hull, machinery and equipment, is capable of maximum submerged speed of 33 knots and diving depth of 600m. Its array of weapons and sensors includes anti-submarine and anti-ship torpedoes, ten torpedo launch tubes, four 650mm and six 533mm tubes, which can be used to launch mines and to fire Granit submarine-launched cruise missiles, of which it can carry up to twelve. Granit, named SS-N-21 Sampson by Nato, has a range of about 3,000km and delivers a 200kt warhead. The submarine carries two types of anti-ship missiles: the Novator SS-N-15 Starfish having a target range of 45km and the Novator SS-N-16 Stallion with a range of 100km. Air defence capability is provided by a Strela SA-N-5/8 portable missile launcher with 18 missiles.

The Akula has a surface search radar of Snoop Pair type. Its MGK 540 sonar system provides automatic target detection and classification in broad and narrow-band modes. The sonar system can also be used in a passive, listening mode to detect hostile sonars. A reserve propulsion system, powered by two motors, provides a speed of 3 to 4 knots.

It is difficult to detect a nuclear submarine at sea by conventional means. However, satellite sensors that can locate what lies below the earth’s surface can also look below the sea surface. The best way to neutralise the submarine is when it is in harbour, and there are half a dozen methods to achieve this.

Indian Navy’s programme to construct a nuclear submarine, designated as advanced technology vessel (ATV) project, that took shape in the 1990s is slowly progressing, though facing many obstacles. The lead unit, Arihant, meaning “slayer of enemies”, that is also the class name, was first floated from its dry dock at a symbolic launch ceremony on 26 July 2009. It was to undergo its harbour acceptance trials in February 2012. The project was expanded to undertake production of four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, with an overly ambitious time frame of their commissioning by 2015. The Arihant submarines are powered by an 83 MW pressurised water reactor (PWR) with highly enriched uranium fuel. The miniaturised naval-version of the reactor was designed and built by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Kalpakkam.

Pakistan has to come up with an adequate response, and, in this respect, it is for the naval high command to alert and advise the decision makers on defence, including the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and the Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence. They ought to realise that in conditions of serious hostilities that India can create on any pretext, employment of naval power whether in a role of deterrence and suasion or armed engagement will be a key factor in facing the overall threat.

Pakistan Navy acquired a submarine in 1964 taking a four year lead over the Indian Navy which received its first submarine, INS Kalvari, from the Soviet Union in July 1968. A former chief of naval staff, himself a submariner, once said that Pakistan Navy could have gone into submarine construction in 1969/70. It is also said that in the latter years of Ziaul Haq’s reign plans for getting a nuclear submarine from a friendly country were afoot, but after Zia’s elimination in the August 1988 C-130 crash, the Benazir regime terminated the plans. Why can’t these be revived? Our nuclear experts also have the capability to develop the required power plant.

The writer is a retired Commodore, Pakistan Navy.