MASSIVE: Navy tells Parliamentary panel of plan to build 6 new nuclear attack submarines

The Indian Navy is planning to build a fleet of 18 conventional and six nuclear attack submarines as part of its plans for its underwater fleet. "Eighteen (Conventional) plus six SSN (nuclear-powered attack) submarines are planned but the existing strength is 15 and 1 SSN is available on lease," the Standing Committee on Defence said in its report tabled in the winter session of Parliament.

Navy planning to built indigenous submarines

Along with the Arihant Class SSBNs which are nuclear-powered submarines equipped with nuclear missiles, the Indian Navy had planned to build six nuclear attack submarines. They are also planned to be built indigenously in partnership with the private sector industries. At present, the Navy is operating Russian-origin Kilo Class, German-origin HDW class and the latest French Scorpene-class submarines in the conventional domain while in the nuclear section, it has leased one INS Chakra (Akula class) from Russia.

'Existing 13 conventional submarines are between 17 to 31 yrs old'

The Navy also informed the committee that in the last 15 years, only two new conventional submarines have been inducted including the Scorpene-class vessels INS Kalvari and the INS Khanderi. "It was further informed that the existing 13 conventional submarines are between 17 to 31 years old," the standing committee report said. The Navy is also working on a plan to build six new submarines under its Project 75 India in which six more conventional submarines would be built by the Navy in partnership with Indian companies and foreign origin equipment manufacturers. The project would be undertaken under the strategic partnership policy.

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The Indian Navy is also working towards upgrading the security infrastructure of its naval airfields by planning to install systems providing continuous surveillance, real-time alerting and immediate response to a threat. The matter came to light in a report of the Standing Committee on Defence which was presented to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Friday. The Navy is progressing a comprehensive case for upgrading the security infrastructure of its airfields. 

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Six naval air stations are being addressed at a projected cost of Rs 500 crore. “This project will leverage technology to provide seamless 24x7 surveillance, physical barriers, real-time incident alerting and swift response through a robust and secure command and control system,” the Committee noted.

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(With ANI inputs)