India Navy Nuclear Submarines (SSBN & SSN)

Nilgiri

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@Zapper @SHOX @Nilgiri is there any clue on how much Indian Navy SSN 75I noise generation? Consider that India is relatively new in the SSN building game.

It involves speculation and guesswork right now for those outside the loop or close to it.

Given India is familiarizing itself with Akula-improved w.r.t chakra lease (and can compare to earlier charlie lease), I would assume this (both level and ramp) would be the reference point they are working with and trying to improve upon.

Akula-improved are supposedly quieter than LA-class SSN (but noisier than the 2 most recent SSN classes from US). The original akula's were noisier than LA class...but were of the same overall level and a big improvement from what the soviets had achieved till then .

This surprised the west in the 80s...and had the concurrent penalties on Toshiba/Japan from US regarding the now infamous latest-gen tooling export to USSR by them.

W.r.t the source-system acoustics (beyond the dampening RnD) exclusive to nuclear ...i.e reactor and pump noises etc...I dont think anyone (outside the direct project) has any good idea because BARC etc have kept this on the down low w.r.t papers and such.

Past steady Russian influence/cooperation/consultancy w.r.t this, I remember there was some French assistance during the 80s but it would only be semi-related/useful given that was more reactor minitiaurisation/operation data based (and for more general high MW reactor) . Somewhat predictable given the French had (and still have) most extensive + experienced deployment (w.r.t population and economy) of nuclear reactors in the world that was also geopolitically friendly (to level needed for this kind of thing) to India at the time during latter cold war.

Though I am unsure what the scale of relevance would be in the downstream now and what the details of this cooperation even were (it just mentioned in passing in a few papers I read a long while back) i.e I remember thinking it would have some overlap with acoustic benefits...but lot of it (acoustics) would need first principles research from scratch as well.

Dampening/mitigation in this field w.r.t acoustic tiles and other active/passive measures etc... I have no idea what India's status is (past whatever was/is gained in ToT from HDW and DCN for SSK)....as even the SSBN program is kept very secret w.r.t this to afford maximum "grey-black" buffer w.r.t interested opponents...especially when we have just a couple SSBNs launched.

Overall compared to the acoustic, performance, weapons etc weaning issues, I would guess the readiness rate is even larger factor at this stage (and next few stages) in programs (both SSBN and SSN)...as Soviets/Russians never got theirs relevantly close to NATO level and made up for it by more hulls (this likely is an issue with PLAN too as it matures till 2050).

India may cooperate further with France (arguably only P5 country with relations of this level with India and growing more with time) in some regard here....to make up for production rate it just wont have this decade...i.e to achieve closer to maximum deployment potential with what it does have.

This is all mostly my educated guess and opinion on the matter though....all way above my pay grade.

2017 article of some interest: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/r...-russian-akula-class-stealth-submarine-167323

@anmdt @Vergennes
 

Zapper

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@Zapper @SHOX @Nilgiri is there any clue on how much Indian Navy SSN 75I noise generation? Consider that India is relatively new in the SSN building game.
Agree with everything that @Nilgiri mentioned in his post. IN's indigenous developments were relatively off the radar and they don't generate much buzz like their army or airforce counterparts. There hasn't been much info revealed about the Arihant SSBN either and I expect the same regarding the upcoming SSNs since they'd also carry our strategic SLBMs like K-15, K4, K5 and K6 which complete our nuclear triad

P75I is not the SSN program but is a follow on program for the Scorpenes which we've built in-house. There are rumors that DCNS is pitching a hybrid of the Scorpene and Short fin Barracuda for the P75I program

Regarding the SSN program which is named P75 Alpha, it is being designed by Navy's in-house Directorate of Naval Design and indigenously built in the Shipbuilding Centre at Visakhapatnam, the same shipyard where Arihant SSBN was built.
 

Gary

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Agree with everything that @Nilgiri mentioned in his post. IN's indigenous developments were relatively off the radar and they don't generate much buzz like their army or airforce counterparts. There hasn't been much info revealed about the Arihant SSBN either and I expect the same regarding the upcoming SSNs since they'd also carry our strategic SLBMs like K-15, K4, K5 and K6 which complete our nuclear triad

P75I is not the SSN program but is a follow on program for the Scorpenes which we've built in-house. There are rumors that DCNS is pitching a hybrid of the Scorpene and Short fin Barracuda for the P75I program

Regarding the SSN program which is named P75 Alpha, it is being designed by Navy's in-house Directorate of Naval Design and indigenously built in the Shipbuilding Centre at Visakhapatnam, the same shipyard where Arihant SSBN was built.
Ah yes, I mistook the 75i with 75 Alpha. My bad.
 

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INDIA NEWS

For Navy, 6 nuclear-powered submarines take priority over 3rd aircraft carrier​

India’s emphasis on submarines to counter China comes against the backdrop of Beijing raising its capacity to build a destroyer in just 5 years.

The Indian Navy has informed the Narendra Modi government that the induction of six nuclear-powered submarines would take priority over a third heavy aircraft carrier discussed earlier to counter the rapid expansion of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and dominate the Indian Ocean, people familiar with the matter said.

According to South Block officials, the Indian Navy told the country’s national security planners at the Combined Commanders Conference this month that the plan to build the nuclear-powered attack submarines or SSNs should take priority over the project to build a third aircraft carrier (also called indigenous aircraft carrier 2). It is understood that the Navy will seek “acceptance of necessity” or AON approval from the government on the submarine project soon as China has developed the capacity to produce 12,000-tonne Renhai class destroyers in just five years.

While even Pakistan’s Agosta 90B submarine, the only one of the five that are operational, can make its way to the Bay of Bengal with an intrepid crew, the SSN class of submarines, carrying a conventional missile and weapon systems, is only limited in range by food supplies.

The nuclear-powered submarines can patrol the entire Indo-Pacific without even surfacing once and remain detected on high seas and equatorial waters. China has nearly a dozen such submarines in operation. Its latest, the Type 095 attack submarine has a reduced acoustic signature as compared to the Han class of submarines.

While India has a number of options to jointly design and develop the submarines with countries such as Russia, France and the US under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat rubric, India’s preferred partner appears to be Paris as it is already designed Kalvari class of diesel attack submarines for Indian Navy and is currently jointly developing a nuclear attack submarine (named Alvaro Alberto) for Brazil under a strategic partnership.

Apart from being India’s closest allies in defence technology, joint development of submarines with France is free from any regulatory regimes such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) with the US or any future sanctions in case of Russia. India already operates one Akula class SSN from Russia on lease with an agreement to get another one when the lease on the first expires.


The government’s emphasis on upgrading naval assets is an attempt to counter China’s navy in the Indian Ocean and beyond. The PLA’s navy is larger than the US navy in terms of the number of ships, although the US is still ahead in terms of tonnage and capability.

It is in this context that the Navy is also seriously thinking of reviving its heavy-destroyer project to counter the 12,000-tonne cruisers being built by China. The first of India’s 7,500 tonne INS Visakhapatnam class of guided-missile destroyers is expected to be commissioned within a year.

Indian national security planners believe that the next threat from China will come on Indo-Pacific, particularly in the Indian Ocean with the US Navy continuously deployed in the South China Sea and ensuring that the PLAN ballistic missile submarines do not cross the first island chain. This means that PLAN will have to take a circuitous route to deploy its nuclear submarines in the Indian Ocean as it is mandatory for sub-surface vessels to surface when they cross Malacca Straits, Sunda or Lombok straits.

As part of India’s effort to match China, India will commission its second aircraft carrier INS Vikrant - it is New Delhi’s first indigenously-built aircraft carrier - later this year. It will be home-based on the eastern seaboard while INS Vikramaditya, the other carrier built by Russia, will be on the western seaboard of India. INS Arighat, the second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) will also be commissioned this year.
 

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India’s preferred partner appears to be Paris as it is already designed Kalvari class of diesel attack submarines for Indian Navy and is currently jointly developing a nuclear attack submarine (named Alvaro Alberto) for Brazil under a strategic partnership.

Apart from being India’s closest allies in defence technology, joint development of submarines with France is free from any regulatory regimes such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) with the US or any future sanctions in case of Russia.

@Vergennes

Also for reference an earlier archived convo that may be of interest to readers by hitting quote arrow:

All that said I think 2 carriers are more than sufficient, we don't need a 3rd....we sorely need SSNs and more submarines in general.

@Paro @anmdt @Zapper @AlphaMike et al.
 

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@Vergennes

Also for reference an earlier archived convo that may be of interest to readers by hitting quote arrow:



@Paro @anmdt @Zapper @AlphaMike et al.
Subs should always be prioritized over ACs since ACs are still vulnerable to missile salvos and drone swarms despite having the entire CBGs along with potent ADs and countermeasures. pakistan is actively procuring subs since they can't afford ACs while China is building both subs and ACs like there's no tomorrow

But ACs are major tools for power projection and taking the fight to enemy shores. The reason IN was looking at a 3rd AC is two would always be available guarding the eastern and western coasts at all times while the 3rd would be under maintenance/repairs/upgrades. We should still go for a 3rd nuclear powered 65k tons super-carrier equipped with EMALS, 5th gen N-AMCA and CATS Warrior Loyal Wingmans when we could afford it
 
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crixus

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Subs should always be prioritized over ACs since ACs are still vulnerable to missile salvos and drone swarms despite having the entire CBGs along with potent ADs and countermeasures. pakistan is actively procuring subs since they can't afford ACs while China is building both subs and ACs like there's no tomorrow

But ACs are major tools for power projection and taking the fight to enemy shores. The reason IN was looking at a 3rd AC is two would always be available guarding the eastern and western coasts at all times while the 3rd would be under maintenance/repairs/upgrades. We should still go for a 3rd nuclear powered 65k tons super-carrier equipped with EMALS, 5th gen N-AMCA and CATS Warrior Loyal Wingmans when we could afford it
I really think French collaboration in the reactor for subs will be the icing on the cake ,
 

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@Vergennes

Also for reference an earlier archived convo that may be of interest to readers by hitting quote arrow:



@Paro @anmdt @Zapper @AlphaMike et al.
I agree on this, India needs more assets such as surface combatants and submarines.

The likelihood that China will deploy it's limited numbers of Carriers on the Indian ocean is likely minimal. However the gap of submarines and surface combatants between that of PLAN and Indian Navy is steadily growing.
 

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NEW DELHI: India is set to clear a mega indigenous project to build three nuclear-powered attack submarines, which will be followed by approval for another three at a later stage, as part of the long-term plan to counter China’s expanding naval footprint in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and beyond.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) is likely to give the final nod “within a month or two” to the submarine project, which has been hanging fire for over a year now, say top government sources.

The overall project is for the construction of six nuclear-powered attack submarines (called SSNs in naval parlance), each weighing over 6,000-tonne, at the ship-building center (SBC) at Vizag.

But only three will be approved by the CCS in the first go, with the first indigenous SSN slated to roll out by around 2032 or so. Though each will cost around Rs 15,000 crore, the funding will not be a major problem because it will be spread over several years, said the sources.

India will also commission its second nuclear-powered submarine armed with nuclear ballistic missiles (called SSBN), INS Arighat, this year. The first, INS Arihant, became fully operational with “a successful deterrence patrol” in late-2018. This somewhat completed India’s long-awaited “nuclear triad” after the land-based Agni missiles and fighter jets like Mirage-2000s jury-rigged to deliver nuclear bombs.

A SSN does not have “a strategic role” like a SSBN. Instead, it’s a deadly “hunter-killer” of enemy warships and submarines, while also being equipped with long-range cruise missiles to hit land targets. It can quietly track an enemy target for extended ranges, and take it out as and when when required.

India currently operates a solitary SSN, INS Chakra, the Akula-class submarine taken on an initial 10-year lease from Russia in April 2012. In March 2019, an over $3 billion (Rs 21,000 crore) deal was inked with Russia to lease a more advanced SSN to eventually replace INS Chakra.

India, of course, needs to build its own SSNs because they will not only prove cheaper but also give a major boost to the local economy. Nuclear submarines can operate at high speeds for long distances as well as remain submerged for months at end, without having to surface or “snorkel” every few days to get oxygen to recharge their batteries like conventional diesel-electric submarines.

TOI was the first to report that the Modi government had rejigged the 30-year submarine building plan, which was first approved by the CCS in 1999, to include construction of 18 diesel-electric boats and six SSNs.

The construction of SSBNs is a separate project under the PMO. The 6,000-tonne INS Arihant and INS Arighat, currently armed with 750-km range K-15 nuclear missiles, will be followed by two 7,000-tonne SSBNs.
Moreover, an even bigger 13,500-tonne SSBN is also being planned, while the new K-4 missiles, with a strike range of 3,500-km, are now virtually ready, as was earlier reported by TOI.
Apart from two nuclear submarines, India currently has only 12 ageing diesel-electric boats and three new Scorpenes. China already has the world’s largest Navy with 350 warships, including 50 conventional and 10 nuclear submarines.
 

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India will also commission its second nuclear-powered submarine armed with nuclear ballistic missiles (SSBN), INS Arighat, this year. The first, INS Arihant, became fully operational with “a successful deterrence patrol” in late-2018

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The PowerPoint presentation by navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh at the combined commanders’ conference in Kevadia, Gujarat, on March 6 this year had been some months in the making. For nearly 18 months now, the proposal to indigenously build six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) for Rs 96,000 crore had been stuck with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) as senior government officials questioned the need for the platforms during an economic crisis. The navy chief pressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the urgency of the programme to build the SSNs, each displacing around 6,000 tonnes and costing around Rs 16,000 crore, as key to solving the crisis in India’s underseas combatant arm. The bulk of India’s conventional submarine fleet, acquired in the 1980s, are approaching the end of their 30-year service lives. Bureaucratic delays have hit their replacements.

Submarine-Apr26-1-k-x832.jpg


The underseas arm is shrinking at a time when India’s principal adversary, China, has initiated the largest post-Cold War naval expansion. The PLA (People’s Liberation Army) navy is now the world’s largest in number of warships, and will continue to grow over the next decade, not only adding new aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and surface ships but also expanding its reach through distant deployments in the Indian Ocean region.

Admiral Singh’s pitch seems to have worked. The CCS is now set to fire the starter’s pistol on a project that has been on the blocks for two decades. The CCS nod will release government funds so that the geographically scattered, technologically challenging project can finally get under way. The project involves a final design clearance in Gurugram, nuclear reactor construction in Kalpakkam, hull fabrication in Hazira and assembly and sea trials at the ship-building centre (SBC) in Visakhapatnam. It will take over a decade for the first 6,000-tonne submarine to enter the waters. It is believed that an ambitious naval project to build a second indigenous aircraft carrier, the 65,000-tonne IAC-2, has now been shelved in favour of the SSN project.

The SSN project has remained in the shadows of India’s Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), a top secret effort to build four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). The INS Arihant was commissioned in 2016 and the second unit, the S3, will be commissioned this year. Two more units, the S4 and the S4*, will be inducted by 2025.

Both SSBNs and SSNs use nuclear fission reactors to generate enormous heat generating steam to drive a propeller shaft. But that’s where their similarity ends. SSBNs are like strategic bombers, tools of deterrence stealthily lurking under the ocean with their ready-to-fire nuclear-tipped missiles. SSNs are the underwater equivalent of fighter jets. Conventional diesel-electric submarines are in reality submersibles, they have to ‘snorkel’ close to the surface of the water, to suck in air to run their diesel engines and recharge their batteries, when they are most vulnerable to detection. They can sustain submerged speeds of 20 knots in only short bursts of around half an hour. SSNs are true submarines in that they can stay and operate underwater almost indefinitely, their endurance is limited only by food supplies for the crew. They are also equipped with a range of tactical weapons like torpedoes, anti-ship cruise missiles and land-attack cruise missiles.

Since the 1990s, the Indian Navy has projected a requirement of at least six SSNs to patrol its sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean. It presently has only one, the Chakra-2 taken on a 10-year lease from Russia in 2012. The Chakra-2 is only months away from being returned after the expiry of its agreement. It will be at least six years before its successor, the Chakra-3, joins the navy. This former Russian navy nuclear-powered submarine is being refitted in a Russian shipyard to Indian specifications in a $3 billion (Rs 21,000 crore) agreement inked in March 2019.

There will be a four-year gap in the navy’s underwater capabilities before Chakra-3 arrives. But it won’t be the most egregious void. The navy is already staring at a ‘lost decade’ where it will acquire just three conventional submarines through the 2020s as against a requirement of at least a dozen such vessels. Only six of the projected 24 submarines under the navy’s 30-year submarine building plan proposed in 1997 will join as per plan. The Rs 45,000 crore Project 75I to indigenously build six large conventional submarines which can operate near the maritime chokepoints of the Indonesian islands, has been held up for 15 years. A bulk of the navy’s fleet of 15 conventional submarines are over 30 years old. A handful have been given deep refits in Russian shipyards to extend their service lives. A fleet of indigenous SSNs, which will begin to arrive in the next decade, will do little to resolve the current crisis.

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India’s stop-start SSN quest

The Modi government’s thinking for submarines over aircraft carriers was shaped to a large extent by the committee of experts headed by Lt Gen. D.B. Shekatkar. The committee, which submitted its report to defence minister Manohar Parrikar in December 2016, explicitly struck down the proposal for a third aircraft carrier and pitched for more submarines. Parrikar shared this view as well. The late defence minister frequently argued that the only way India could counter a growing Chinese surface fleet was by fielding submarines that could hunt them.

Perhaps Parrikar knew what the American intelligence assessments had repeatedly flagged. The PLA navy was growing fast, but so was its Achilles’ heel, the lack of anti-submarine warfare capabilities. This vulnerability is best exploited by nuclear-powered attack submarines, what nuclear strategist Rear Admiral Raja Menon (retired) calls “the ultimate arbiter of sea power”. An SSN moves at speeds of over 30 nautical miles per hour underwater (55 kmph), the top speed of the navy’s most powerful surface combatant, a Delhi-class destroyer. Swiftly moving under the ocean, it can stalk and strike at enemy warships and shore targets with its arsenal of deadly heavyweight torpedoes and long-range cruise missiles. They are the only platform that can operate independently and discreetly in enemy waters, thus posing an asymmetrical threat. Their lethality and near-invulnerability has even inspired a popular meme, ‘There are only two types of vessels at sea, submarines and targets.’ The technological complexity of fitting in a compact high-performance reactor inside a submarine hull has restricted this capability to only the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Unsurprisingly, their game-changing utility has been grasped by politicians with great power dreams. Even those with a perceived landward bias. Mao Zedong, who had once operated out of mountain caves as a guerrilla, said in 1959 that China would produce nuclear submarines even if it took “10,000 years”. The first Chinese SSN entered service in 1974 and was named ‘Long March-1’ after the definitive event in the chairman’s life. It was noisy and leached radioactivity but propelled China as the last entrant into an elite club.

The event did not go unnoticed by Indian planners, nervous at the prospect of nuclear weapons wielded by its unpredictable northern neighbour with whom it had already fought a border war in 1962. The government’s Apex Committee-1, headed by career diplomat D.P. Dhar, which drafted the Indian Defence Plan between 1974 and 1979 noted that “the only arm of China’s navy that can be used against us is her submarine arm”. Yet, by then, the Indian state had already set its sights on SSBNs. In 1968, then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s principal secretary P.N. Haksar had already outlined the need for “submarines driven by nuclear power fitted out to carry nuclear missiles” as a deterrent against China. The ATV project yielded a modest seaborne nuclear deterrent only a half-century later, in 2018, when the INS Arihant sailed out on its first deterrent patrol.

Defence analysts say India’s future SSN fleet would provide several operational advantages that submarines in general, and SSNs in particular, bring to seapower. “Submarines missing from home harbours, whether SSK, SSN or SSBN, leverage what I call oxymoronic ‘covert presence’ worries as did happen to Pakistan during the Kargil conflict,” says naval analyst Rear Admiral Sudarshan Shrikhande (retired). “They may operate at slower speeds in patrol areas, but deployment and relocation speeds create more options. Armed with land attack and long-range anti-ship missiles and near-constant communication linkages, they are important parts of sea control, power projection and, of course, even more lethal sea denial, depending on strategic and operational contexts.”

Former project officials say the SSN plan has been on the slow burner for over two decades, mainly over its prohibitive cost. Unlike the strategic ATV SSBNs paid for by the central government through separate budgetary heads, SSNs will be paid for by the navy. The navy accounts for the smallest share of the defence budget, just 14 per cent, so will have to rationalise its spend in buying new warships, aircraft and submarines.

Budgetary worries and the naval brass’s bias for aircraft carriers probably explains why Project 76 has struggled to take off since it was given an in-principle approval by the government in 1998. In 2006, when a committee headed by then principal scientific advisor to the PM, R. Chidambaram, identified the technology that would be needed to develop a new generation of nuclear submarines, three new ‘S-5’ SSBNs displacing around 13,500 tonnes. Both designs would be powered by a new indigenously designed nuclear reactor designed by BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre). This high performance reactor, believed to have an output of around 190 MW, would be a vast improvement over the Arihant class’ modest 83-MW reactor. In 2007, a naval HQ paper projected a formal need for six SSNs with the first unit to be fielded in 15 years (by 2022). The project, however, lay in cold storage with the navy prioritising aircraft carriers and surface ships over submarines.



Meanwhile, the PLA navy’s submarine threat had already become a reality. The first distant ocean patrol by a Chinese Shang-class SSN in December 2013 woke up naval planners to the PLA Navy operating in its backyard. This was one factor that spurred an in-principle government approval for an SSN design study in February 2015. In December 2016, then navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, the first government official to acknowledge the project, parsed his words. “It has kicked off. It is a classified project. The process has started.” Five years later, Project 76 is still in its design stage. The navy’s Submarine Design Group (SDG), it is understood, is yet to finalise the design. It will take at least two more years for this to happen before work can begin on fabricating the hull for the submarine.

By 2030, China’s overall submarine force would have grown to 76 boats (8 SSBNs, 13 SSNs and 55 SSKs), as per a 2020 US Office of Naval Intelligence assessment project India’s delays have been budgetary and bureaucratic. The navy has tried to match a brown water budget with its blue water aspirations. More recently, it clashed with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. Bipin Rawat who indicated the government’s preference for submarines over aircraft carriers.

In a December 2020 interview to india today, Gen. Rawat said that “anything which moves on the surface, even on land, and at sea will get picked up”. “Today, you’ve got fairly accurate systems to bring down anything on land or at sea. So aircraft carriers are going to be vulnerable. One might say they keep moving, but so does the (enemy)it has the capability to keep you under observation and target you based on where you are next,” he said. The government’s view seems to have now prevailed. The indigenous SSN will now have to overcome technological challenges; the nuclear scientists have to design a powerful new pressurised water reactor before the submarine design can be frozen and work begins on cutting its specially developed indigenous steel. It’s a long and painful process but the first steps have hopefully been taken.
 

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5 Years Of Submarine Secrecy: India’s Unique Arihant Class Is Still In Hiding​

5 years after she was commissioned in 2016, the Indian Navy’s INS Arihant remains something of an enigma. Her existence is no secret, in fact it is a proud achievement of Indian industry. But photographs are very few. And nearly all those you will find on the internet are many years old. It is a very secretive submarine program.​

H I Sutton 05 May 2021
Few submarines are less photographed than India’s two Arihant Class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). The lead boat, INS Arihant (S2), was commissioned in 2016 and a second boat, INS Arighat (S3) is expected to join her in service this year.

The Arihant is a unique design which can be characterized as a ‘pocket boomer’. It is much smaller than other ballistic missile submarines (North Koreas’ conventionally powered boats excepted). Its hull is shorter and thinner than its contemporaries and it only carries four missile silos.

But this does not take away from the industrial achievement of an indigenous nuclear-powered submarine. And in many respects its modest size seems pragmatic. Other countries now taking the nuclear submarine path, such as Brazil, are also going for smaller types.

The Kilo Connection​

Analysis of the few photograph available confirm that some aspects of Arihant bear a strong resemblance to the Kilo Class. The upper sonar dome on top of the bow and many aspects of the sail are visually identical. And the hull diameter appears to match. In essence, the forward hull and sail are essentially similar to the Kilo Class. This makes some sense as India purchased 10 Kilos which are known as the Sindhughosh Class in service.

Several of India’s Kilos have been refitted with DRDO developed ‘USHUS’ sonar suites. It seems probable that the Arihant’s forward hull is so similar in order to leverage the USHUS sonar. This system, now improved to USHUS-2. was under development at the right time to be fitted to her.
USHS includes a cylindrical passive sonar in the chin, several intercept sonars, an obstacle avoidance sonar and an active sonar.

Overall the arrangement of the system is the same as the Russian systems originally fitted to the Kilo. However the intercept sonars in the trailing edge of the sail are arranged one above the other. This may explain the different shape of the sonar window seen there on the Arihant.

One visible difference between the bow on Arihant and the Kilo Class is the torpedo tube arrangement. Arihant’s are set lower. This indicates some internal differences and confirms that it is not literally a Kilo hull.

The design also has the forward hydroplanes moved to the sail, a position known as fairwater planes. The upper part of the casing has been raised to fair over the missile silos which are in the usual place behind the sail.

Indigenous Missiles​

Behind the sail the missile compartment initiates the part of the submarine which is unlike anything on a Kilo. Four large-diameter missile silos are arranged in a single line. Initially these are fitted with triple tubes for the K-15 ‘Sagarika’ missile. This weapon is about 10 It can deliver a 1,000 kg warhead about 400 nautical miles.

K-15 is seen as an interim solution however. Each missile tube should be able to fit a single K-4 missile. The newer K-4 is a full-size SLBM (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile). This is expected to have a range of around 1,900 nautical miles, almost 4 times that of the K-15. While shorter ranged than the SLBMs in service with more mature nuclear navies, it will move India’s at-sea deterrent up a notch.

It seems unlikely that a second Arihant class boat will change the Indian Navy’s attitude to submarine secrecy. But its commissioning may provide new clues to the classes’ capabilities. And any differences between the two boats. Also, the third of the class my emerge from its construction hall soon. The defense world is patiently waiting.
 

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The Indian Navy has informed the government of its requirement to build six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) to counter challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, the new strategic frontier, which has received recognition by the Quad, European Union and the United Kingdom.

Following the Combined Commanders Conference on March 4 in Kevadia, Gujarat, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh had stated the need for SSNs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 3 during a discussion about the Indian Navy’s operation Samudra Setu II, which is aimed at obtaining much-needed oxygen from India’s near allies in West Asia.


Naval warships also assist island territories of Lakshwadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar with medical assistance. The nuclear-powered attack submarines would provide the Indian Navy with the long legs it needs for deterrence patrols and access denial in the Indo-Pacific without giving away its position. “The future not only lies in the Indo-Pacific but also the arctic route that will open up due to receding snow fields," the Hindustan Times quoted a serving admiral.


The SSNs only need to surface for food and other logistics, and they can conduct long-range patrols while carrying conventional weapons and missiles. India currently has one Russian-leased Akula class SSN and one indigenously built ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), with another joining the strategic forces command next year.

Although the Navy is still seeking acceptance for necessity from the Union Ministry of Defence, national security planners are concerned about China adding 12 SSNs to its fleet in and seven ballistic missile submarines to its strike force.

The French SSNs base at Toulon and the French SSBN base at Brest were on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda during his now-cancelled visit to France around the May 8 India-EU summit in Lisbon. The physical bilateral visit to France has been postponed while the India-EU summit has been reduced to a virtual summit.

The national security planners have been considering France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia as potential partners for joint development of SSNs in India. The French Naval Group is one of the leading contenders for the SSN initiative, as France has been one of India’s most reliable allies since the nuclear test sanctions in 1998. It does not have any regulatory regime, like the United States, that could halt the ongoing programme by enforcing international traffic in arms regulations (ITAR).


France has also offered to develop the SSN jointly with India, along with complete technology transfer. Currently, it is building six diesel attack submarines for India (the Kalvari class), which will be retrofitted with air independent propulsion technology developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

@Nilgiri @Vergennes @FalconSlayersDFI @Jackdaws
 
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FalconSlayersDFI

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The Indian Navy has informed the government of its requirement to build six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) to counter challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, the new strategic frontier, which has received recognition by the Quad, European Union and the United Kingdom.

Following the Combined Commanders Conference on March 4 in Kevadia, Gujarat, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh had stated the need for SSNs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 3 during a discussion about the Indian Navy’s operation Samudra Setu II, which is aimed at obtaining much-needed oxygen from India’s near allies in West Asia.


Naval warships also assist island territories of Lakshwadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar with medical assistance. The nuclear-powered attack submarines would provide the Indian Navy with the long legs it needs for deterrence patrols and access denial in the Indo-Pacific without giving away its position. “The future not only lies in the Indo-Pacific but also the arctic route that will open up due to receding snow fields," the Hindustan Times quoted a serving admiral.


The SSNs only need to surface for food and other logistics, and they can conduct long-range patrols while carrying conventional weapons and missiles. India currently has one Russian-leased Akula class SSN and one indigenously built ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), with another joining the strategic forces command next year.

Although the Navy is still seeking acceptance for necessity from the Union Ministry of Defence, national security planners are concerned about China adding 12 SSNs to its fleet in and seven ballistic missile submarines to its strike force.

The French SSNs base at Toulon and the French SSBN base at Brest were on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda during his now-cancelled visit to France around the May 8 India-EU summit in Lisbon. The physical bilateral visit to France has been postponed while the India-EU summit has been reduced to a virtual summit.

The national security planners have been considering France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia as potential partners for joint development of SSNs in India. The French Naval Group is one of the leading contenders for the SSN initiative, as France has been one of India’s most reliable allies since the nuclear test sanctions in 1998. It does not have any regulatory regime, like the United States, that could halt the ongoing programme by enforcing international traffic in arms regulations (ITAR).


France has also offered to develop the SSN jointly with India, along with complete technology transfer. Currently, it is building six diesel attack submarines for India (the Kalvari class), which will be retrofitted with air independent propulsion technology developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

@Nilgiri @Vergennes @FalconSlayersDFI @Jackdaws
I don’t think it will eat up our 3rd carrier. Indian Navy chief has said 3 Aircraft carriers are an operational necessity this year. Plus the nuclear attack submarines ( SSN’s ) will not be made using defence budget but will be directly funded by the Government’s funds.
 

crixus

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I don’t think it will eat up our 3rd carrier. Indian Navy chief has said 3 Aircraft carriers are an operational necessity this year. Plus the nuclear attack submarines ( SSN’s ) will not be made using defence budget but will be directly funded by the Government’s funds.
It's difficult to balance between, offensive and defensive weapons . Personally I feel defensive weapons are priority for Navy
 
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FalconSlayersDFI

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It's difficult to balance between, offensive and defensive weapons . Personally I feel defensive weapons are priority for Navy
It should be offensive weapon. We should focus on area denial than area dominance.
 

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