LONG ROAD TO THE INS ARIHANT AND BEYOND - MILESTONES REACHED AND THE ROAD AHEAD.
Mr Soumik Pyne
WHY NUCLEAR SUBMARINES
The Recent tensions with China have once again brought into focus the need for India to maintain its primacy in the Indian Ocean while also improving & expanding the underwater arm of its naval fleet as an unassailable hedge against any naval adventurism by Beijing. The Indian Strategic Nuclear Submarine program is key to Indian deterrence and to the maintenance of Indian naval primacy as a guarantor of peace in the Indian Ocean Region. In recent years the development of nuclear weapons & the requirement of a triad of delivery systems has naturally given renewed impetus and additional responsibility to the Indian Navy as stewards & guides of the creation of a capable nuclear missile submarine force that will serve as an assured 2nd strike deterrent while sailing undetected in the deep waters that surround India. A nuclear submarine force also gives India the opportunity to conduct long range submarine expeditions into the Champa Sagar Area( South China Sea) in essence letting the Chinese know that their naval forays into the IOR can be matched by the Indian Navy .
The requirement of a nuclear submarine fleet is increased manifold by the fact that the Chinese Navy has a declared intention to challenge the primacy of the Indian Navy in the IOR, the reason for this challenge lies in the fact that the Indian Ocean carries the bulk of trade between East Asia & the Middle East, Europe ,Africa & It is worth noting that 95% of India’s own trade by volume is carried by vessels crisscrossing this ocean as well. The geography of the Indian Ocean forces the incredible volume of ships using this route to travel through “choke points” that force vessels into well defined maritime highways while entering or leaving this great body of water. This in turn creates risk as well as opportunity for any nation that can control aforementioned passages .The Indian Navy acts as a guarantor of trade in this Ocean & of the greater security of India by the ability to close off trade to China If asked to do so in an India China conflict. Beijing has long planned to overcome this geographical impediment to it’s hegemony by establishing a series of naval outposts in the indian Ocean to forward place naval assets that will act to stop the Indian Navy from impeding any flow of maritime shipping to & from China in Conflict. To further these plans China has built naval outposts in Djibouti & Gwadar & is in the process of building a deep economic military relationship with Iran with some reports indicating China has secured a 25year lease on the Iranian Island of Kish with the view of building a major naval outpost at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which India gets almost all her Oil Supplies.
A Indian nuclear Submarine fleet is essential to undertake sustained undersea operations designed to frustrate & foil these plans. The development of this capability is now at a seminal stage with the first indigenous SSBN INS ARIHANT completing a decade of sailing with the Navy . A 2nd SSBN titled INS ARIGHAT should be commissioned later in 2020, this year should also see the first Submarine of an enlarged design carrying 8 launch tubes called the S4 class take to the water . This article is designed to look into the past at the nascent steps that made this possible as India moves into a larger nuclear submarine capability .
THE EARLY YEARS
It’s interesting to note that even as the first nuclear submarines were just setting sail in the USA & USSR the planners in India were already worrying about the impact such a system could have on American Naval Dominance in the Indian Ocean. That said nothing much came of this due to financial & technological constraints until 1971 when the role of Soviet nuclear Submarines in deterring a USN CBG from interference in the liberation of Bangladesh added new fuel on a nuclear fire long put away.
The first approval for a naval nuclear reactor was actually granted in 1971 soon after the “Enterprise Incident” & development of an indigenous nuclear submarine was well underway before India had even tested its first nuclear device at Pokhran in 1974. In fact as far back as in 1968 Admiral A.K. Chaterji had laid out plans that if put into motion smoothly could have seen the first Indian SSN sail out in the late 80’s to early 90’s if support could be garnered .That said no nation was ready to help India develop nuclear submarines during that time and up to 1983 the soviets themselves offered India nothing more than foxtrot class SSKs whenever the topic of support with submarine development came up. That rapidly changed as economic constraints forced the Soviet Union onto the table and India signed deals to acquire ten modern KILO class SSKs also there were reports by 1987 indicating that India would acquire on lease five Soviet nuclear submarines for a total cost of Rs3000cr . In early January 1988, All-India Radio announced that the Soviet Union had 'leased' a nuclear-powered submarine to India with India taking delivery in the Soviet port of Vladivostok." These moves would be still born though , the collapse of the Soviet Union & near financial collapse of India itself in the late 80’s to early 90’s ending all hopes of an Indian Navy Nuclear flotilla sailing by the mid-nineties.
However all was not lost and many key learnings had been imbibed in the few short years the Chakra-1 served with the Indian Navy .Even as the plan to develop an SSN force for the Indian navy had not run smoothly, this had highlighted the enormous technological & financial barriers for a developing country in acquiring & operating nuclear submarines. To begin with, the shore-based facilities needed for nuclear submarines are significantly more complex than those for conventional submarines because of the need for reactor maintenance. There was then no harbor facility in India capable of handling radioactive materials, and the submarine reactor for the INS Chakra had to be shut down when the vessel was in port. This caused India to build a Soviet-designed facility called the Special Safety Service at Visakhapatnam, designed to monitor the health of people working on the INS Chakra and detect any radiation leak emanating from the submarine."
STARTING TO GROW
Even as the Chakra returned to the USSR in 1991 western reports suggested that India had managed to induct a number of Russian specialists into its own indigenous nuclear submarine program. The then editor of Jane’s fighting ships Richard Sharpe in 1995 noted that “The initial design strategy was to copy a leased Russian nuclear submarine (Charlie II) using an Indian built nuclear reactor for propulsion. The Russians are said to have provided detailed drawings of the leased submarine minus the reactor design (providing reactor design details would have been a violation of the NPT)”
By 1996 parliamentary records indicate that India had already spent $285.7 million to develop a nuclear submarine. DRDO officials then estimated that the submarine would be completed in five years and would require an additional $714.3 million in financing to complete the project. Even as success seemed near, official reports in early 1996 indicated the ATV project was reported to be frozen. That said it is worth noting In July of 1996 it was reported by Delhi All India Radio that India had successfully developed a nuclear-powered submarine for the navy. The report went on to say that the submarine named the Advanced Technology Vehicle had been tested successfully somewhere along the East coast in that same timeframe, however this was soon denied by the defense ministry at Delhi .Pressure from the United States & ASEAN alongside financial problems facing the Indian navy were reported as the main reason for the freeze in 1996. It must be noted here that India had four different Prime ministers from three different political parties ruling the roost from January 1996 to March 1998 which derailed military development during this time.
In the midst of all this lower cost developmental work was carried out by the Indian Navy using existing assets, for example the acoustic tiles being developed for the ATV were trialled on existing Type 209 & KILO hulls. The USHUS Sonar was similarly refined by having it installed into & used operationally on KILO submarines, reactor development work continued in parallel & by 1997 the first hull fabrication work had officially begun. It is worth noting that the initial metal cutting and designs were for a SSN & not a SSBN, this in turn necessitated a complete redesign as the requirement changed to that of a SSBN to support the nuclear triad following the tests of 1998. The Arihant class was subsequently designed & a first boat was laid down at the SBC Visakhapatnam in 2004, this initial design with four launch tubes was launched in 2009 & after seven years of rigorous trials finally joined the Indian Navy fleet in 2016, a 2nd submarine of the same design will be commissioned later in 2020 while the third boat of the modified Arihant class (S4) which has an extended design to incorporate 8 launch tubes should be launched later in 2020 as well. A fourth vessel of this S4 type is expected to be launched in 2021.
UPCOMING MILESTONES
The Arihant & S4 classes are stepping stones to a larger and far more capable class of SSBN called the S5 currently under development. These submarines are expected to displace nearly 13500tonnes while carrying 16 intercontinental range SLBMs with MIRV warheads. Up to four of the S5 class have been approved for construction and the first vessel should begin construction soon after the final S4 class SSBN has been commissioned by 2024. It is worth noting that a 1992 study authored by Brigadier Vijai K. Nair, VSM (Retired) called for the production of Five SSBNs as a minimum deterrence capability against both China & Pakistan with three SSBNs on patrol at all times & two on reserve. Brigadier Nair called for each SSBN to be armed with a minimum of 16 SLBMs, a capability the IN should finally have with the S5 class.
A SSBN is only as useful as it’s missile component & India has at least three different Submarine launched Ballistic missiles in service & development. The K15 SLBM which currently serves as the primary armament for the INS ARIHANT is a short legged missile with a 750-1000km range depending on the payload carried, that said the INS ARIHANT carries upto 12 K-15 in its four launch tubes with each tube holding three missiles as these tubes are already configured for larger SLBMs which remain in development. The INS ARIGHAT on being commissioned later in 2020 is likely to be the first SSBN to field the K4 missile , this missile has reportedly cleared all it’s trials in January 2020 & been cleared for induction. The K4 is a much heavier weapon than its predecessor and is reported to have the ability to carry a 2Ton payload for upto 3500km, with lighter nuclear payloads that range is likely to be much greater. An even larger heavier Submarine launched missile called the K5 with 5000km range remains in development & should come into service as the SSBN fleet grows.
The Government of India in February 2015 approved the design & subsequent production of a class of six indigenous SSNs, a report in the Economic times dated February 2020 indicated that the preliminary design of this SSN class has been completed and detailed design studies are currently in progress. Apart from this India has already operationalized an ELF communications facility at INS Kattabomman Tamil Nadu. It is interesting to note this same facility housed a VLF facility set up using US support in the early 1980’s. An additional ELF facility has been approved & is expected to come up at Donakonda in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. In June 2020 India also operationalized a deep submergence rescue vehicle complex at Vizag . This is the only such facility in the Indian Ocean Region ,this complex is equipped with two James Fisher Deep Submergence rescue vehicles & is a key component in creating the infrastructure for sustained deep ocean Nuclear Submarine operations.
India is also ramping up on nuclear submarine base infrastructure in parallel with the first dedicated nuclear submarine base called INS Varsha coming up at Rambilli near Visakhapatnam. This base once complete by 2024 is likely to incorporate degaussing facilities while also having underground submarine pens cut into a mountain with direct access into the deep waters of the Bay of Bengal. This feature is likely designed with a Bastion model of SSBN deployment in mind with the Bay of Bengal serving as a deep water bastion for the Indian Navy SSBN fleet . INS Varsha is likely to help decongest the Visakhapatnam naval base & could be used as a dedicated submarine base with Eastern command SSK assets also being based in the facility. Some reports in 2017 also indicated the construction of a new nuclear submarine production facility adjacent to the Rambilli base however nothing much has been heard on that front post the initial reports. A similar massive Naval Base called INS Vajrakosh with upto 20 underground submarine pens has already been partially operationalized & commissioned at Karwar in Karnataka, this base once complete will spread across 1000acres & is slated to become the premier naval Facility for the western fleet of the Indian Navy.
In conclusion we can say that the Indian nuclear Submarine program is now one of the four largest & fastest growing nuclear submarine fleet construction programs in progress globally now. Once complete the already approved strength of 14 Indian nuclear submarines will be the fourth largest in the world after the USA,Russia & China . The Arihant is but the first of many , the harbinger of a nuclear age in the Indian Navy !
