In a major boost to Indian navy's offensive capability, the second Scorpene submarine Khanderi joined Navy fleet along with the launching of Niligiri into the water, the first of the seven frigates of Project 17A. Navy also inaugurated the largest aircraft carrier dry dock, capable of servicing the 44,500-tonne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
All three events happened in the Naval Western Command based in Mumbai in the presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh.
INS Khanderi is the second of Kalvari Class diesel-electric attack submarines of the Indian Navy. It has been built in India to the French Scorpene design and is the second submarine of the Project-75. In 2006, an agreement was signed to build six Scorpene-class submarines in India between the French firm Naval Group, formerly known as DCNS, and Mazgaon Dock Limited under Indian Navy’s $3.75 billion Project-75. The first submarine was scheduled to be delivered by 2012, but the project witnessed repeated delays. Originally, the entire project is expected to be completed by 2020.
However, the first Scorpene (Kalveri) was commissioned in December 2017 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“You cannot buy a confident Navy. A confident Navy is always built by a confident Government”, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said, adding that the Indian Navy has the confidence which no other country in the Indian Ocean possesses.
Recalling Indian Navy’s deadly missile attacks on Karachi port under Operation Trident and Op Python in December 1971 that broke the backbone of Pakistani navy, Rajanth Singh said that today the Indian Navy is capable of delivering a “much bigger blow” if need be.
“Pakistan should understand that today with the strong resolve of our government and advancement in naval capacity with additions like INS Khanderi, we are capable of giving a much bigger blow to it if need be," Rajnath Singh said on the occasion.
Singh also said due impetus has been given for the timely acquisition of state-of-the-art weapons, sensors and platforms, adding that the government has given more freedom and support to armed forces to make decisions in the nation’s interest. “We are committed to far-reaching changes in our defence preparedness”, he said.
Defence minister urged not just the security forces, but every citizen of the country to stay alert and united to meet any future challenges. “We have to be on the guard against state and non-state actors from across the border”, he said.
Underlining the importance of Oceans in the development trajectory of a nation, Singh said, oceans are a gateway of opportunities as well as grave threats if the maritime forces are not alert. He said the Indian Navy should be the last men standing in the Indian Ocean Region.
“We need to safeguard the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean to maintain and promote peace and trade in the region. We care about the Indian Ocean & we will take strong action if anyone tries to disturb the peace”, he added.
In another event, the Indian navy also launches its frigate under Project 17A. With a launch weight of 2738 Tonnes, the completed warship will be 149 meters in length, 17.8 meters wide and have a tonnage of 6670 tonnes. In keeping with maritime traditions, Savitri Singh, spouse of Rajnath Singh, broke a coconut on the ship’s bow and launched the ship to the rendition of an invocation from the Atharva Veda.
Navy said that the Project 17-A is the follow-up of the Project 17 which comprise the three Shivalik Class of Stealth Frigates. The ships being built under Project 17-A will incorporate advanced design features and fittings to improve stealth such as radar suppression screens and radar transparent deck fittings. They will also be equipped with state of the art sensors, weapons and have high levels of automation. The ships will be propelled by two Diesel and two Gas Turbine power plants in a CODAG configuration and will be able to achieve sustained speeds above 28 Knots.
Navy officials added that the ships will be named after the erstwhile Leander Class Frigates, which were also the first indigenously constructed warships and served the Indian Navy with distinction.
During the event, defence minister as well as Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh stressed that shipbuilding is a labour-intensive industry and apart from employment generation has significant plough back into the economy.
"The construction of one frigate itself provides direct employment to 4,800 personnel and indirect employment to around 27,000 personnel for eight years," Rajnath said while adding, “Almost 87 % of the total warship cost is invested in the Indian economy which is a significant contribution.”
The Aircraft Carrier Dock (ACD) is the largest dock of the Indian Navy measuring a mammoth 281 m in length, 45 m in breadth and 17 m in depth. This dock can accommodate aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and in near future the first indigenous carrier Vikrant which is in an advanced stage of construction at Kochi.
Navy officials claim that the ACD is also the first Indian dry dock built into the sea, unlike the conventional docks, which are built on the land, thereby conserving premium land space and providing the Navy with 0.5 km of crucial berthing space.
While mentioning some interesting facts about the dry dock, navy sources claim that the dry dock can hold 200 million litres of water, more than 80 Olympic size swimming pools. 8,000 metric tonnes of steel forms were used, equivalent in weight to that used for the Eiffel Tower and use of over 5 lakh tonnes of concrete in construction; equivalent to one and half times that used in the Bandra Worli Sea Link. Navy officials also maintained that the dewatering pumps used are so massive in its capacity that they can each empty or fill a water tanker of 12,000 litres within four seconds and the electric cables used can stretch over a length of 90 km, and the piping used over 13 km.
The dock floor can carry a load of 700 tonnes per square meters, the navy official added.
