Submarine Arm – Achilles Heel for the Indian Navy

Submarine arm is for the Indian Navy, what MiGs have been for the Indian Air Force (IAF) off late – the Achilles Heel – the chink in its armoury. Talking about sheer statistics, the Indian Navy last inducted a conventional submarine 19 years ago and its current fleet is down to 13 in number.

 

The resignation of the Indian Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi and the government’s blatant eagerness to accept it following the spate of accidents faced by the Indian Navy’s submarine fleet point to a chronic problem in the Indian defence establishment – Armed Forces propose, MoD disposes. Despite the alarming situation of the Indian submarine fleet getting archaic and the Indian Navy seeking to maintain its edge in the Indian Ocean Region (in the face of the expanding submarine fleet of China and a strong submarine arm of Pakistan) proposing new acquisition, MoD kept dragging its feet.

In 2010 the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) sounded the red herring saying that the navy’s submarine fleet was ageing and by 2012 63 percent of its vessels would have completed their operational life. The report underlined the “serious slippages” in the induction plan as the genesis of the problem. "In what could seriously impact on the operational preparedness of the Indian Navy, more than 50 per cent of its submarines have completed 75 per cent of their operational life and some have already outlived their maximum service life."

With a number of platforms due for retirement, by 2015, the Indian submarine fleet is projected to be down to 10 underwater platforms. In contrast have the biggest navy in Asia China is known to have 8-10 nuclear powered submarines and 50-60 diesel submarines. Beijing is also actively aiding Islamabad in augmenting its fleet by constructing submarines for them.

The prophecy of the CAG seems to be eerily close as the Indian Navy submarines suffered three accidents – causing loss of lives and machines, as well.

The indigenous construction of the Scorpene submarines is already way behind the schedule, marred by constant allegations about corruption in the deal. The government is yet to sanction the construction of submarines under the Project P-75 I.

Existing fleet idling, MHA goes for more choppers

New Delhi, Feb 5: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is purchasing more helicopters from Russia to support its anti-naxal operations even as its existing fleet is found to be gravely underutilized owing to lack of expertise to operate and maintain the machines.

The Ministry has fleets of six Mi-17 helicopters and six indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruvs. To add to this it has asked the Indian Air Force (IAF) to buy an additional six Mi-17 V5 helicopters from Russia, with which the latter is negotiating a follow on order of 59 helicopters.

Officials at the Home Ministry said the procurement was necessitated as the indigenous helicopters have become old and have a poor serviceability record. “The 2001-vintage home built Dhruvshave been grounded for checks following a crash in January. Owing to their low serviceability we have decided to purchase an additional Mi-17 V5 helicopters from Russia,” sources added.

“We will also be suggesting to HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) to replace the helicopters with the new variants,” the sources added.

With the government yet to decide on launching an air offensive against the naxals, the ministry intends to use these machines primarily for ferrying troops and material. Presently, the IAF has deployed four Mi-17 helicopters for this purpose.

The Dhruv helicopters maintained by the Border Security Force (BSF) have been grounded for checks after one of them crashed in January. The BSF is also maintaining the Mi-17 fleet of the Ministry procured in 2003.

In a scathing Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in September 2011, it was revealed that the MHA purchased six Russian Mi-17 helicopters at a cost of Rs. 129.29 in 2003. However, as it lacked expertise to operate these machines, the Home Ministry requested the IAF to take custody of these helicopters in March 2004. Between July 2004 and March 2005, the helicopters were returned to the BSF and since then were positioned at Safdarjung Airport, instead of being optimally utilized for meeting its operational requirement in North-East and Jammu and Kashmir areas.

Moreover, the air wing of BSF for which the choppers were brought continued to hire helicopters for airlifting and dropping rations to its troops in Jammu and Kashmir and north-east area. Also it had to cough up a sum of Rs. 9.32 crore as license fee and conservancy charges for parking of the helicopters to Safdarjung Airport. Despite government’s sanction of funds for construction of hangars and infrastructure at five places - Srinagar, Jammu, Bhuj, Assam and Tripura - the construction of hangars had not even commenced as of December 2010.

CAG fears for Navy’s old INS Jalashwa come true?

Mumbai, December 21, 2011: The apprehensions of the Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) over the Indian Navy going for the “ageing ship” USS Trenton (rechristened as INS Jalashwa) in a “hasty manner” seem to have come true. Within few years of induction the warship is undergoing heavy refurbishment for the past over 6 months because of which it even missed the Presidential Fleet Review (PFR) held here on Tuesday.

CAG had rapped the Indian Navy for acquiring the nearly 37-year-old amphibious warship without proper “physical assessment” for USD 50.63 million in 2006-07. The Indian Navy had bought the ship at 10 percent of the original cost when the US Navy had decided to phase it out. The navy had paid an additional USD 36.94 million, more than half of the price of the platform, for getting it retrofitted. 

“The warship had gone for repairs in July this year to Visakhapatnam and the work is still on. These are routine repairs,” said a senior Indian Navy official. Because of the ongoing repair activity, the second largest warship of the navy could not participate in 2011 PFR, the scintillating display of 81 warships and submarines and; 44 aircrafts.

Just before the CAG report punched holes through the acquisition, one officer and five sailors were killed due to leakage of toxic hydrogen sulphide from sewage pipes. The US Navy had also suffered a similar accident few years earlier.  

Following the incident the CAG report said that the ship had already outlived a major part of service life, envisaged to be 40 years and so the decision of its procurement “does not appear to be prudent”. 

However, the Indian Navy defended its decision to buy the platform as it was cheaper and will increase the force’s capability to deploy large number of troops and assets over large distances. With view of the capacity of the ship, the navy deployed it for evacuation of Indians from Libya.

The navy had contended that the ship would run for another 12 to 15 years. The claim was dismissed by CAG as baseless.

The navy had also purchased six helicopters at an additional USD 39 million to operate from the ship. At 16,900 tonne INS Jalashwa is the second largest warship in the fleet after the 28,000 tonne aircraft carrier INS Viraat.