Nod for stealth destroyers to boost Indian Navy strength

[RPK]

Nod for stealth destroyers to boost Indian Navy strength - Express India

New Delhi The government has given its nod for the acquisition of a new class of stealth destroyers for the Indian Navy that will augment its force levels and replace ageing warships. The nod for four of the new Project 15 B stealth destroyers was given by the Cabinet Committee on Security meeting on Thursday that also discussed projects for fencing along the International Border.
The four Project 15 B destroyers, which will be fully designed and manufactured indigenously, are estimated to be valued at over Rs 20,000 crore and will be another feather in the cap for Indian shipyards, which have over the past few years reduced dependence on foreign yards to a minimum.

The warships will most likely be built by the Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL), which is currently rolling out the Shivalik Project 15 A stealth destroyers and has achieved expertise in modular construction. The new warships, with an expected displacement of 6,800 tons will be an improvement over the Shivalik class, the first class of stealth warships to be built in India. The navy is on a modernisation drive with several new warships, including two aircraft carriers, to be added to its fleet over the next five years

 

[sudhir007]

The warships will most likely be built by the Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL), which is currently rolling out the Shivalik Project 15 A stealth destroyers and has achieved expertise in modular construction. The new warships, with an expected displacement of 6,800 tons will be an improvement over the Shivalik class, the first class of stealth warships to be built in India. The navy is on a modernisation drive with several new warships, including two aircraft carriers, to be added to its fleet over the next five years

I think he is talking about Delhi class destroyer. Shivalik is Frigate and it project 17.

 

[satishkumarcsc]

He must have confused it with Kolkata class destroyers.

 

[Laughing Buddha]

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 (DAC) — the top procurement body in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) — has cleared Project 15-B, the construction of four 6800-tonne destroyers by Mazagon Dock Ltd, Mumbai (MDL).

There was no competitive bidding for Project 15-B, since MDL is the only Indian shipyard large enough to build destroyers, which are significantly larger than frigates. MDL is currently completing Project 15-A, the construction of three destroyers of the Kolkata Class; Project 15-B (the class has not been named yet) is a “follow-on project”, i.e. it is only incrementally different from Project 15-A.

Asked when manufacture will begin, Admiral Badhwar said, “The Indian Navy has asked MDL for a quotation. Once that is received, an MoD Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) will negotiate a price with MDL for the four destroyers. After the price is agreed upon, the MoD will accord final sanction for the project.”

The navy intends to drive a hard bargain with MDL. Admiral Badhwar explains, “The three Kolkata class destroyers built under Project 15-A cost about Rs 3800 crore each, i.e. about Rs 11,000 crore. Project 15-B should logically be cheaper.”

At that price, Project 15-B will save more than a billion dollars per warship. Australia bought its F100 frigates (at 3,000 tonne, significantly smaller and more lightly armed than the destroyers that will be built under Project 15-B) from Spanish shipyard, Navantia, for the equivalent of Rs 9,000 crore per frigate.

Crucial to how cheaply, and how fast, Project 15-B can be built is the issue of how different these warships will be from their predecessors in the Kolkata Class Project 15-A. Project 15-A has taken longer than anticipated because it incorporated significant changes and upgrades from its predecessor, Project 15 (three Delhi Class destroyers). But Project 15-B, MDL hopes, will have fewer design challenges; it will differ from its predecessor only in weaponry and sensors.

Vice Admiral HS Malhi, chairman and managing director (CMD) of MDL explains, “If there are no major changes in Project 15-B, we can definitely cut down the build time. If the vendors can use the same manufacturing equipment, if the same drawings can be used, it makes a big difference. Standardisation is the key.”

Admiral Malhi points, as an example, to the US Navy’s DDG-51 programme, in which 62 destroyers have already been churned out with standardised hulls and propulsion systems.

MDL’s CMD points out, “If you have that kind of production line, the speed of building and the cost of building comes down dramatically.”

This is the Catch-22 situation facing Indian warship-building. The shipyards want larger orders of warships with standardised designs. But the Indian Navy has tended to place smaller orders of 3-4 ships; the navy says construction delays by the shipyards mean that designs get outdated by the time the ships are rolled out.

This impasse, however, appears to be dissolving. The design similarities between Projects 15-A (three destroyers) and 15-B (four destroyers) could effectively combine those into a combined seven-destroyer order. Similarly, Project 17-A is being planned as an order for seven stealth frigates.

MDL believes that, since Project 15-B is a follow on of the 15-A, the design and planning period will be less than 1½ years. Once the design is finalised, the navy wants the first destroyer to roll out within four years, with the others completed at one-year intervals. By that ambitious timeline.

 

[angeldemon_007]

Is India going for some international design just like in project 17A.
Under Project 15-A cost of each destroyer was about Rs 3800 crore each (total Rs 11,000 crore). Under project 15B total amount sanctioned is each Rs. 30000 crore (Rs. 7500 crore each). With almost the double amount, I hope we produce really good stealth destroyers.

 

[angeldemon_007]

I think govt. sanctioned 20000 cr. Check out this discussion
http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-...th-destroyers-boost-indian-navy-strength.html