There is a silent acceptance worldwide and in maritime circles that the Indian Navy has got ‘the best bang for the buck’ on a meagre 13 to 16% of the Defence budget, ever since it proved its worth in 1971 war to cripple the Pakistan Navy with Osa missiles boats off Karachi.
INS Vikrant based off East Pakistan with Seahawk and Alize planes contributed to liberate Bangladesh. The other lesser-known Operations are Lal Dora in Mauritius in March 1983, Flowers are Blooming in Seychelles in June 1986, both to avert coups against Prime minister Jagnauth and President Rene respectively, and the 2004 Tsunami, as the Navy operated away from the shores of India.
In foreign naval exercises like Malabar with the US and Quad Navies, Konkan with the Royal Navy, Garuda with the French Navy, Indira with the Russian Navy and with other regional navies, there is a reputation for the Indian Navy’s capabilities.
Mostly, all Indian ships are made in Indian shipyards, the frontline ships have the latest 750 km Brahmos surface attack and 60 km Barak anti-missile missiles made in India, installed. The Navy’s Ship Design Team and the Weapons Electrical and Engineering Systems Establishment (WEESE), which hosts 20 DRDO scientists work on future projects and ship upgrades.
The Indian Navy celebrates Navy Day on December 4, every year, commemorating the night the Indian Navy’s three Osa Class missile boats sank three ships off Karachi in Op Trident, after the four Indian Air Force Hunters from Jamnagar, set Kemari oil tanks on fire earlier that morning
Much of their work is classified, but the Navy has disclosed it is working to induct quantum communications and artificial intelligence in its future systems. The Navy was the first service to realise that it had to work with India’s advanced civilian firms for advanced solutions, which has paid rich dividends. From its inception, the Navy attempted to Make in India, or become Aatamnirbhar.
The Navy was founded in 1934 by a Royal Charter with a few sloops and minesweepers as the Royal Indian Navy (RIN). Lord Louis Admiral Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander in Southeast Asia, lauded the RIN’s role in World War II, and it celebrated its first-ever Navy Day at Bombay on 21 October 1944, coinciding with the Commonwealth’s Trafalgar Day commemorating the British victory in 1805 led by Lord Nelson against the French Navy. The British established naval supremacy and defeated Napoleon’s invasion plans in that war.
Rightfully, the Indian Navy celebrates Navy Day on 4 December every year, commemorating the night the Indian Navy’s three Osa Class missile boats sank three ships off Karachi in Op Trident, after the four Indian Air Force Hunters from Jamnagar, set Kemari oil tanks on fire earlier that morning.
Every year the spotlight shines on the Navy Day on 4 December, when ships are sailed to Indian ports and are open to the Public. This year, India’s 53rd Navy Day will be celebrated at Puri in Orissa with ships anchored off the coast supported from the Sailor’s Training establishment INS Chilka next door.
This comes soon after the Navy commissioned its second upgraded nuclear submarine, INS Arighat, with K-15/4 nuclear missiles, and in a milestone will commission the first of seven, Type 17A Shivalik class 6,000-ton Nilgiri fully designed in India with around 90% Indian content.
In 1972 Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi commissioned the earlier 3,000-ton INS Nilgiri built at Mazagon Docks and Shipbuilders Ltd (MDSL) in Mumbai and that set the bar for ship-building, operations, and weapon firing systems for the Navy.
In 1973 the INS Nilgiri set a record by shooting down three Royal Navy provided Chukar air targets from Nilgiri’s Seacat missile system’s off Singapore. The Navy has progressed as a builder’s navy with a robust operational profile but its submarine plans deserve discussion, as a nation’s submarine strength is the most effective insurance for its maritime security.
Submarines are lethal weapons that can be stealthily positioned and unleashed like wolves in war. In peacetime, submarines practice war patrols, train surface forces in anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and gather intelligence. Submarines are known to win battles, and nuclear submarines can deter a nuclear attack through deterrence
Submarines are lethal weapons that can be stealthily positioned and unleashed like wolves in war. In peacetime, submarines practice war patrols, train surface forces in anti-submarine warfare (ASW), and gather intelligence. Submarines are known to win battles, and nuclear submarines can deter a nuclear attack through deterrence.
In the Second World War, conventional diesel-electric submarines came to be called the ‘Queens of the Naval Chess Board’ as they tipped the balance for the Allied forces to win the war by sinking 132 enemy ships totalling 469,872 tons, cutting off oil supplies to Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Nearer home Pakistan’s Daphne submarine PNS Hangor torpedoed INS Khukri off Diu during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war on 9 December 1971. Eighteen officers, including Captain MN Mulla MVrC, and 176 sailors perished with the ship. Only six officers and 61 sailors survived.
The era of nuclear-propelled submarines dawned in the 1950s when the USS Nautilus was commissioned into the US Navy. Nautilus also known as a Ship Submerged Nuclear – SSN, could stay underwater for months, and in August 1958, it became the first nuclear-powered submarine to sail under the North Pole.
From the 1970s onwards, the Soviet Union, France, the UK and China built SSN nuclear submarines. In the Falklands War, on 2 May 1982, HMS Conqueror, a British nuclear-powered Churchill class SSN torpedoed the 7,000 Argentinian cruiser ARA General Belgrano, 230 nautical miles from the Falkland Islands and 7,000 miles from London. The Belgrano sank, taking 323 souls with her. This contributed to the British victory in the Falklands War. That is the power of submarines, and no significant navy can do without them.
SSNs are pear-shaped, agile, move fast underwater, and are armed with torpedoes and medium-range conventional missiles that can be fired from underwater to sink ships and submarines. So far, the Indian Navy has successfully operated two Soviet SSNs on lease. Both were christened INS Chakra.
The first Chakra 1 served between 1987-91, and Chakra 2 served nine years from 2012 onwards. The Chakras could fire multiple 60 km Amethyst missiles and 21-inch torpedoes from underwater. This is what gave the Navy confidence to operate and build nuclear submarines.
The larger class of submarines that followed are the Submerged Ship Ballistic Nuclear, called SSBNs, for nuclear deterrence. They are armed with long-range vertically launched nuclear ballistic missiles and can accurately hit targets far inland.
India commissioned two 6,400-ton SSBNs, the INS Arihant in 2014 and INS Arighat this year, armed with long-range K-15/K-4 missiles in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) by DRDO with Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) at the Ship Building Centre (SBC) at Vishakhapatnam, carved out of the Naval Dockyard.
The era of nuclear-propelled submarines dawned in the 1950s when the USS Nautilus was commissioned into the US Navy. Nautilus also known as a Ship Submerged Nuclear – SSN, could stay underwater for months
Two more SSBNs, Aridhaman and another yet to be named, are in the pipeline and it is reported that another SSN is expected shortly on lease from Russia. The US, UK and French navies have no conventional submarines, only SSNs and SSBNs. The US Navy has 22 Virginia class SSNs, the Royal Navy has seven Astute class SSNs, the French Navy has six Rubis and Amethyste and two Barracuda class SSNS (offered to the Indian Navy), and China has six Shang class Type 093s SSNs.
Navies cannot do without a strategy to plan for the types of platforms it needs, bearing threats in mind. In 1998, the government gave its nod for a long-term 30-year submarine plan to have two lines of submarine construction in India from East and the West, but the black listing of HDW of Germany for submarines and related court cases derailed the plan.
In 2015, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the proposal to build six SSNs in India based on the success of DRDO’s Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) project that commissioned the 6,000-ton INS Arihant with a 93MW reactor supplied by Bharat Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
SSNs are pear-shaped, agile, move fast under water, and are armed with torpedoes and medium-range conventional missiles that can be fired from underwater to sink ships and submarines. So far, the Indian Navy has successfully operated two Soviet SSNs on lease
The proposal for SSNs did not progress, as the hard-fought contract for six French-Spanish Scorpene conventional submarines moved ahead. The Indian Navy built the six conventional Scorpene submarines at MDSL in Mumbai. The Navy plans to fit Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems with fuel cells that provide air to run the diesel engines underwater to charge the submarine’s electric motor’s batteries. They are called the poor Navy’s SSNs and can stay underwater for a few weeks.
Welcome news came on 9 October 2024. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by the Prime Minister, including the Defence, Finance, Home, and External Affairs ministers, cleared project 77 to build two large Nuclear Attack Submarines (SSN) at the SBC for around Rs 35,000 crores.
The boats will have around 85% indigenous content with some inputs from abroad. The CCS also cleared 31 MQ-9B drones manufactured and maintained by General Atomics USA, under the Aatmanirbharta mission. The Navy will get fifteen of these unmanned air vehicles that have 35 hours of endurance, a 40,000-foot ceiling, Electro-Optical (EO), Infrared (IR) and Electronic Warfare (EW) systems with internet connectivity.
By 2035 or earlier, the Indian Navy looks to these additions; ten more large warships, three survey vessels and four Fleet Support Ships and hopes a third aircraft carrier is sanctioned for it to become a formidable Blue Water Navy
The Air Force and Army will get six each. The Navy has operated two MQ-9B Sea Guardians since 2019 on lease from the US Navy. These drones can be fitted with weapons and sonar buoys and can return home with a pre-determined computer program, in case of difficulty or loss of contact.
By 2035 or earlier, the Indian Navy looks to these additions; ten more large warships, three survey vessels and four Fleet Support Ships and hopes a third aircraft carrier is sanctioned for it to become a formidable Blue Water Navy. Shan Na Varuna.
The writer is a naval author and curates a Maritime Museum at C 443 Defence Colony, New Delhi and writes and lectures on maritime issues.
