'India's secret N-submarine project nearing completion'

[sudhir007]

This is the big news which we all indian are waiting for it

Exclusive: PM’s wife to launch INS Arihant, India’s first nuclear submarine

Exclusive: PM?s wife to launch INS Arihant, India?s first nuclear submarine: India Today - Latest Breaking News from India, World, Business, Cricket, Sports, Bollywood.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur is to crack the auspicious coconut marking the historic launch of India’s first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine at the naval dockyard, Visakhapatnam on July 26. The launch, which naval tradition demands always be performed by a lady, is also the tenth anniversary of the conclusion of the Kargil War.

The Arihant is a copy of the Charlie class nuclear submarine leased from the Soviet Union in 1987. Photo: India TodayAfter spending over a decade cloaked under an obscure project name, the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) India’s first nuclear submarine finally gets a name: Arihant (destroyer of enemies), pulled out of a list with options like Astra. But more importantly, the Arihant propels India into an exclusive league of only five other nations who have designed and built their own nuclear-powered submarines. It also marks the first step towards the acquisition of the third leg of the nuclear triad— a secure underwater platform for launching nuclear weapons.

Based on the design of a Charlie-1 submarine which India leased from the former Soviet Union between 1987-’91, the submarine is currently housed in a completely-enclosed dry-dock called the Shipbuilding Centre (SBC) in Visakhapatnam. The launch, where the long, narrow dry dock is to be flooded with water from the harbor and the submarine floated out, is only the first step.

The Arihant is to be towed out of the SBC into an enclosed pier for its harbor trials. The trials will prove its nuclear powerplant and auxiliary systems before it heads out into the Bay of Bengal for sea trials and weapon trials of the 12 K-15 ballistic missiles it is armed with. It will take the submarine etween two and three years before commissioning.

In the meantime, the navy will get its first nuclear submarine, the Chakra, an Akula-2 class nuclear powered attack submarine currently undergoing sea trials in the Pacific Ocean off Vladivostok. The Chakra is to be commissioned later this year before sailing to Visakhapatnam. The submarine (known s the Nerpa in Russian service) is being acquired on a ten-year lease from Russia under a secret agreement signed in January 2004. India paid $ 650 million for the completion and lease of the submarine which is being acquired to rapidly train crews to man the fleet of three nuclear submarines which are to be inducted by 2015. Hull sections of two more ATVs have been completed by L&T at its Hazira facility and are to be transported to the SBC for assembling soon after the Arihant vacates dock space.

 

[Peshwa]

This is great news!!! India has finally delivered on its promises....

Hoping that now we can soon induct our fighter jets as well and usher in a new era!!!!

Congrats to the scientists, armed forces and my countrymen!!

JAI HIND!!

PM to launch indigenous nuke submarine by month-end - India - NEWS - The Times of India

 

[IBM]

Indeed a great news. This will increase Indian navy capabilty and reach.

 

[Gabbar]

There is a sticky thread for this issue. Please look for related thread before opening new threads

http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-...-nuclear-submarine-atv-news-discussion-6.html

 

[Peshwa]

There is a sticky thread for this issue. Please look for related thread before opening new threads

http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-...-nuclear-submarine-atv-news-discussion-6.html

Thanks...Will keep in mind!!

 

[Hyde]

congrats India........... we Pakistani should also work for Indegenious submarines now

 

[destiny]

Indigenous nuke submarine by month-end


Indigenous nuke submarine by month-end

NEW DELHI: In what will mark a quantum leap for India's shipbuilding capabilities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will launch the country's first indigenously designed and built nuclear-powered attack submarine at a quiet function at Visakhapatnam by the month-end but it could be a while before the vessel is commissioned, an official said.

"The construction work is complete and the submarine will be formally launched into the water by the Prime minister," the official said, adding the function will be attended by Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

The likely launch date is July 26, which is annually commemorated as Kargil Victory Day to mark the Indian Army's success against Pakistani intruders who had occupied the area in Jammu and Kashmir in 1999.

The submarine will be commissioned in the Indian Navy as INS Arihant, which translates as "destroyer of enemies", after extensive outfitting and sea trial. It is the first of three such vessels to be constructed in the country. Hitherto, submarines have been constructed here under licence from their foreign designers.

The submarine is currently housed in a dry dock, which will be flooded with sea water to mark the launching ceremony.

Earlier this year, Antony had lifted the cloak from India's secret submarine project, saying: "Things (the project) are in the final stage. Some years back, there were some bottlenecks in terms of supply of parts. It is over now. We will announce it (the vessel's launch) whenever it is ready.

The construction of the advanced technology vessel (ATV), as the project is designated, is in line with India's nuclear doctrine enunciated in 1999 that calls for its nuclear forces to be effective, enduring, diverse, flexible, and responsive to the requirements in accordance with the concept of credible minimum deterrence. The doctrine calls for high survivability against surprise attacks and for rapid punitive response.

A nuclear submarine, which can remain submerged for prolonged periods of time and is virtually undetectable underwater, therefore, meets all these criteria and offers an invaluable launch platform for nuclear weapons, the doctrine says.

It is the world's most powerful deterrent force - a stealthy undersea platform with enormous nuclear firepower. For a country like India with a no-first use policy, it is vital because it prevents a potential adversary from launching a crippling first-strike to knock out all nuclear weapons, the doctrine says.

 

[Mig-29]

LiveFist: INS Arihant graphic rip in TOI

 

[garibnawaz]

Look at the irnoy.

Nuke tests were labelled as Smiling Buddha where as the first nuke sub is named as 'Arihant'.

May be India is trying to tell the world that its nuke program is meant for peace.

 

[Maritimer]

Proud moment for Indian navy and the nation.

India set to launch nuclear-powered submarine
Fifty-four years after the world's first nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus took to the ocean depths, smashing all submerged speed
and distance records thereafter, India's long hunt for its own N-sub has finally entered the last lap.

Sources say India's first nuclear-powered submarine, built under the top-secret ATV (advanced technology vessel) project, will be 'launched' for 'preliminary trials' at the shipbuilding centre at Visakhapatnam naval dockyard around 10 days from now.

In fact, if things go as planned, it will be PM Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur who will break the 'auspicious' coconut against the ATV hull on July 26 to mark India's entry into the exclusive club of US, Russia, China, France and UK, which design and operate nuclear submarines.

Extensive sea trials will, of course, have to follow after the first of the three approved ATVs, designed to carry a miniature 80MW pressurized water reactor (PWR) and its containment vessel in the hull, is put in the water by flooding the dry dock at the naval dockyard.

India does have fighters like Mirage-2000 jury-rigged to deliver tactical nukes as well as nuclear-capable Agni ballistic missiles. But airbases and missile launch infrastructure can conceivably be taken out with a crippling first-strike by an enemy. This is where the triad's third leg comes in, especially for a country like India which has a declared no-first-use nuclear doctrine. A nuclear submarine, whose reactor usually needs to be refueled only after a decade or more, provides a difficult-to-detect-and-target platform for launching punishing retaliatory nuclear strikes.

With a massive Rs 30,000-crore funding, it still remains largely a 'black' project even 11 years after India came out of the nuclear closet with the Pokhran-II tests in 1998.....................Now, with the ATV launch finally happening, the defence establishment is keeping its fingers crossed. The eventual aim is to field three SSBNs well before the next decade ends.

 

[notsuperstitious]

Look at the irnoy.

Nuke tests were labelled as Smiling Buddha where as the first nuke sub is named as 'Arihant'.

May be India is trying to tell the world that its nuke program is meant for peace.

Arihant means 'destroyer of enemies' literally in Sanskrit. However in Jain context it means destroyer of inner enemies (or one who has destroyed inner enemies).

Anyways, weapons should only be for peace.

 

[INDIARULES]

Proud to be BORN in INDIA. Comeon INDIA, come joint hands and win the world with peace and smile. all weapons are for defence only not 2 use it as offence.

India

CONGRATS TO ALL SCIENTIST/WORKERS to make this Achivment To Victory(ATV)

 

[Pin123]

Great News ! Looking forward for the timely launch of our first indigenously built Nuclear Submarine. Congratulation to our scientists.

 

[Screaming Skull]

This graphic illustration by India Today artist Prashant Chaudhary, is the closest depiction what INS Arihant looks like.

 

[Screaming Skull]

Main article from 'India Today'

Deep impact​

Sandeep Unnithan

July 23, 2009

At around noon on July 20, history was created at a brightly-lit, completely enclosed dry dock called the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam. As the waters from the harbour cascaded into the 15-metre deep dry dock, a long black shape sitting on a series of wooden blocks, stirred. With a lurch, it slowly rose, just like a sea monster.

After 11 years of construction, the Arihant (meaning destroyer of enemies), India’s first indigenous nuclearpowered submarine, was finally in the water. The three-hour ‘test undocking’ was only the dress rehearsal. The actual July 26 event will see Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur breaking the auspicious coconut on the hull of the 5,000-tonne submarine, following the naval tradition where a lady launches a warship.

The momentous launch would complete a cycle which began in 1974 with the then prime minister Indira Gandhi authorising the building of a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) under the classified Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project. For over three decades, the highly classified programme has been propelled by political vigour.

Carried out under the direct supervision of successive prime ministers, it formed part of the national secrets, including the nuclear weapons programme, which each incumbent bequeathed to his successor. “The launch of the submarine puts us in an exclusive league of five other nations capable of designing and building their own nuclear submarines,” says Vice-Admiral (retired) M.K. Roy, the ATV’s first project director.

A nuclear submarine is powered by a nuclear reactor which generates tremendous heat that drives a steam turbine. It is, however, one of the most complex machines on earth, the reason why only five countries have the capability. The last country to join was China, way back in August 1971.

Unlike the conventional diesel-electric submarines which have to surface to charge their batteries, nuclear submarines have unlimited underwater endurance and their speed is twice that of their conventional counterparts.

Armed with nuclear tipped ballistic missiles (SLBMs), they form the third leg of a nation’s nuclear ‘triad’ comprising air and surface-launched nuclear weapons. Over the next five years, the troika of Arihant class SSBNs, each costing Rs 3,200 crore, will make the third leg of India’s nuclear triad—a strategic underwater platform for launching nuclear weapons.

The Arihant is, for all practical purposes, a functional, fully-fitted out submarine. After this brief ceremony, the submarine is to be towed out for the first time across the naval dockyard and moored in an enclosed pier called Site Bravo—“from the maternity ward to the nursery”, as one official puts it.

Over the next few months, it will commence a series of full system harbour trials. The primary system, a nuclear reactor, generates the heat which drives the secondary system, a steam turbine which spins the submarine’s propeller, are to be tested separately.

First, the steam turbine is to be jump-started with shore-based supply. The next significant step will be starting up the submarine’s nuclear reactor where the zirconium rods in the core of the submarine’s 80 MW pressurised water reactor will be slowly raised, allowing the reactor to become critical in slow degrees. It will take around three weeks to go fully critical.

Only after all systems are tested, will the primary and secondary systems be mated. If all goes well, the submarine will be allowed to sail out to begin sea trials next year. Weapon trials, including the firing of its arsenal of 12 K-15 short range ballistic missiles, are the last stage of the trials before the submarine is finally commissioned to the navy by 2011.

The submarine will carry four of an under-development submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) ‘K-X’ with 3,500-km range, each with several warheads called multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs). These missiles will enable the submarine to conduct deterrent patrols in proximity to Indian waters.

The Indian Navy is only responsible for running and maintaining the nuclear submarines. All its tasking and patrols are to be controlled by the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) headed by the prime minister. Orders will be passed to the submarine through a secure communication network. The launch of the Arihant is a major step forward in India’s quest for a minimal but credible nuclear deterrent. Its Asian rival China has 10 nuclear-powered submarines and is building an equal number, giving the Chinese navy tremendous reach into the Indian Ocean. But India has still a long way to go, says strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney.

“It will still be some years before an N-sub with SLBMs is deployed. In fact, the gaps in India’s nuclear deterrent vis-à-vis China remain glaring. If India’s nuclear deterrent was credible, Beijing wouldn’t mess with India. But the rising Chinese bellicosity suggests otherwise,” he says.

The Arihant has taken 11 years to complete. It is the first in a series of nuclear-powered submarines to be built over the next two decades. The long arduous road began in 1967 with a Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) feasibility report on nuclear propulsion. A more detailed report was presented in 1971. And after the Pokhran nuclear test of 1974, Indira Gandhi authorised a project to build a nuclear submarine which would carry a robust, survivable nuclear deterrent. It was always called a naval reactor project.

For a good reason though. Compacting a nuclear reactor to fit snugly within the submarine’s 10-metre diameter steel cylinder was going to be the greatest challenge. The reactor also had to go from full ahead to full astern and also from high speed to low speed. The BARC derivatives of its civilian power reactors were too large and incapable of meeting the required performance parameters. Work on the ATV began only in the 1980s with Soviet assistance.

In 1981, Indira Gandhi sent a joint navy and BARC team to visit the USSR to study an offer from the Soviet Union to design and build nuclear submarine. “She was enthused by the fact that we were getting access to so much hightechnology,” says a former project head. Months before her assassination in 1984, Indira Gandhi supervised a secret intergovernmental agreement with the Soviet Union under which India would receive training on handling a nuclear submarine and design assistance to build one.

A three-year lease was signed for acquiring an elderly Charlie-I class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine (SSGN). And the ATV project team was set up, headed by a retired vice-admiral, who was given the rank of secretary to the Government of India who and reported to the chief of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The first group from the navy’s nascent Submarine Design Group (SDG) which actually designed the ATV trained with Russia’s Rubin design bureau. Funds for the Rs 2,800-crore project were never a problem and were sanctioned from the cabinet secretariat, and the joint DRDO-Navy project was always a closed loop within the Prime Minister’s Office.

After Indira’s assassination, the ATV baton passed on to Rajiv Gandhi who was also the defence minister. “Rajiv understood both technology and strategy and was in favour of the project. He would keenly participate in our discussions on whether our N-submarine needed one reactor or two and the availability of enriched uranium for the reactors,” says a former project official.

In January 1988, Rajiv donned work overalls and boarded the INS Chakra as she steamed into Visakhapatnam to join the navy. He became the only Indian prime minister to board a nuclear-powered submarine. The return of the Chakra at the expiry of its lease in 1991 coincided with the implosion of the former Soviet Union, the tectonic event that nearly killed the project. Officials say there was a perceptible lack of political interest in the project on both sides: President Boris Yeltsin in Russia and prime minister Narasimha Rao. The SDG, meanwhile, began converting the Charlie-1 designs for industrial manufacture.

The Indian private sector was chosen to build the 104-metre-long prototype, dubbed S2. Larsen&Toubro (L&T) built the hull, Tata Power made the control systems and Walchandnagar Industries made the complex high pressure pumps and valves which carried saturated steam. The BARC had still not succeeded in perfecting the reactor so the Government decided to continue reactor development parallel to the construction of the first submarine.

On January 5, 1998, in a quiet ceremony at the L&T’s Hazira facility, the then DRDO chief APJ Abdul Kalam symbolically cut the first steel plate of the ATV. The project picked up speed under the NDA and during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the prime minister who stunned the world by bringing India out of the nuclear closet. Vajpayee, who also headed the newly-established NCA, chaired the apex committee of the ATV.

The project also had two other authorities—the political and the executive council. The project remained under the direct control of Vajpayee through his national security adviser, Brajesh Mishra. Talks for the lease of another nuclear submarine with Russia were revived.

In January 2004, India and Russia signed a secret $650-million intergovernmental agreement (IGA) for the completion and lease of one unfinished Akula class nuclear-powered attack submarine and training crews to man them. (The submarine, also called the Chakra, is undergoing trials in Russia and is expected to join the navy later this year). The crucial part of the IGAwas the assistance to build the reactor, which had delayed the project by years.

The project entered its last mile during Manmohan Singh’s first tenure in 2004. He attended several meetings and would often ask project officials, “Everything alright?” The query was a mere formality because the project received unstinted support. In 2005, the UPA Government gave an in-principle clearance for building a follow-on series of larger ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), costing nearly Rs 8,000 crore a piece or nearly twice that of the current series of ATVs and another line of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines (SSNs) to escort them.

“If you need money, you’ll get it,” the then finance minister P. Chidambaram had assured the project team. The last and most important milestone was reached in 2006 when an indigenously-built version of the Russian VM-4 PWR, which propelled the Charlie-1, was successfully landtested and sealed into the hull of the ATV the following year.

As Singh walks towards the Arihanton July 26, he can have the satisfaction of having supervised the final chapter in India’s nuclear destiny.

Deep impact: India Today - Latest Breaking News from India, World, Business, Cricket, Sports, Bollywood.