India's Aging Sub Fleet

[herrmill]

An interesting read at Times of India following the aftermath of the explosion onboard INS Sindhurakshak yesterday in Mumbai. Perhaps they should consider asking HDW to bid on their proposed fleet instead of relying on domestic &/or Russian yards to do their work.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/At-156m-refit-expenses-on-INS-Sindhurakshak-exceeded-original-cost/articleshow/21829702.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Are-Indias-aging-submarines-going-the-MiG-way/articleshow/21836998.cms

[Subculture]

I think the cook overdid it with the vindaloo!

[Kazzer]

Perhaps they should stop wasting money on this stuff and start feeding the millions of starving people they have in that country.

[greenman407]

Absolutely! But, they are afraid of Pakistan, and Pakistan is afraid of India. So they both continue to brandish swords that they cannot afford while their people suffer want and deprivation. Too bad that they both refuse to kiss and make up and slowly disarm for the benefit of all of their peoples. The fact that they have to pay other Nations for these weapons and that they cannot make their own shows that they are aspiring to have things that are over their heads and out of reach.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Yet India has a viable, indigenous space program. Don't undersell those people. But, man! they gotta start using the rubbers!

M

[herrmill]

From Russia With Love

Call this their "Big Lacuna" moment.

India may explore the possibility of leasing a few kilo-class submarines from Russia, government sources said.

With the INS Sindhurakshak likely to be written off, the navy’s submarine arm will be left with just 13 conventional submarines — two of which are under repair.

And most of them have lived 75% of their operational life.

A navy official said scaling up the capabilities of the submarine fleet was a priority and “all available options” would be explored.

And now to the crux of the matter...

“The last of the submarines of the Sindhugosh-class was inducted in 1999-2000. This shows a big lacuna on part of the government in assessing the situation,” said Commodore (retired) C Uday Bhaskar, one of the country’s leading defence and strategic experts.

Strategic experts claimed that the government was obsessed with designing landbased plans to counter India’s neighbours instead of focusing on the navy.

This despite the fact that the Indian Navy is required to undertake the task of not only protecting the 7,500km-long coastline, but also more than 1,200 islands, and 2.2 million square kilometres of exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

“The Indian Navy is more like a Cinderella Service. It paid a heavy price, because of the inability of bureaucrats and politicians to arrive at the right strategic assessment,” said Bhaskar.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Navy-may-lease-Kilo-class-subs-from-Russia/Article1-1108478.aspx