|
New
Delhi, 03 August 2002
India
's DRDO has been
struggling with three multi billion dollar large projects for the
Army, Navy and the Air Force. These are the Light Combat Aircraft,
Main Battle tank Arjun and the Advanced Technology Vehicle a
euphemism for a Nuclear Propelled Submarine.
Asian
Military Review had published the article below on
India
's Nuclear
Subamrine some time ago. The subject has been kept under wraps in
India
but from time to
time the Indian media refers to this project. Recently Huma Siddique
in Finanacial Express had written a path breaking story of contracts
of ATV having been bagged by Larsen and Tubro, the same engineering
firm that made the stabilisation platform for the Indian Navy's
DHANUSH missile which DRDO was unable to accomplish.
India
’s
Nuclear Submarine Project
--- The ATV Must Succeed
(Courtesy:
Asian Military Review)
One
of
India
’s most ambitious
scientific programmes kept “Close to the Chest” although pursued
since the mid 1970’s, has been its Nuclear Submarine Programme
(ATV) - the Advanced Technology Vehicle. As of now, the project has
progressed haltingly, but the Navy is determined to make it succeed.
Ashley Tellis of
Rand
was given access to all those involved in
India
’s nuclear quest
and he summarises, “Over the years, the objective of developing a
nuclear submarine appears to have changed as well. Although
originally intended as an attack boat capable of stalking superpower
fleets operating in the Indian Ocean, the vessel now appears more
likely to serve as a cruise or ballistic missile carrier that could
one day be armed with small nuclear payloads.”
A
large planning and design office at the Central Government Office
Complex in the heart of
New Delhi
, directs the
programme under Director General Vice Admiral R Ganesh recently
retired and reemployed at a Secretary level. He was the first
Commanding Officer of INS Chakra and took over from VADM B Bhushan.
Electrical Engineer Vice Admiral P Jaitly is the Project Director.
He recently took over from VADM P C Bhasin who gave the project a
boost and is now the Chief of Material at NHQ. There are six Rear
Admiral rank officers who direct the programme, while two technical
Rear Admirals head the two large manufacturing complexes. One is at
Hyderabad
to collaborate
with DRDO labs - BHEL for the heat exchanger propulsion system, and
MIDHANI for special steel requirements. The second is the large Ship
Building Facility tucked behind high walls and barbed wires, with a
dry dock and boilers , at Vishakapatnam, where the hull is being
constructed. The Soviet assistance has been substantial by way of
parts and inputs, but the critical nuclear reactor design has been
steered since 1975 by Bharat Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at
Mumbai, which manufactures and stores
India
’s Atomic and
Hydrogen bombs. The ATV has a small complex at Indira Gandhi Centre
for Atomic Research Kalpakkam near Chennai. It is here that the
(approximately) 100-MW pressure water reactor has been tested. This
will eventually be sealed into a 600-ton titanium shell of about 10
metres in diameter that will be lowered into the 6000-ton boat in
what will be a critical operation. As an Indian nuclear boat Captain
says, the submarine operation is an operation like on any other
boat, except it is imperative that the key members have to learn to
operate the nuclear power plant controls and each crew member has to
be aware of all the possible emergencies that can take place in the
ensconced nuclear reactor.
To
support the project, universities and commercial firms have been
employed on an ad hoc basis, including the well-equipped Naval
Design Directorate in
New Delhi
where Russian
specialists visit on a regular basis for other Naval projects. Those
publicly known for their participation are Larsen and Toubro Ltd for
the reactor modules, Mazagaon Docks for the propulsion systems
modules, Bharat Electronics for the sensors and Tata Consultancy for
Command and Control.
The
cloak of secrecy is slowly lifting, and this analytical article is a
result of media reports. The Prime Minister is the head of the
Steering and Funding Committee of the project that is monitored by
the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and the DRDO head, Dr
V K Aatre, the Canadian-trained sonar scientist. The former CNS
Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat asked for an audit, but was unceremoniously
removed on
30 December 1998
for discussing ATV
matters among other contentious issues.
As
early as mid 1996, the media reported that $285.7 million had been
spent to develop the ATV. Analysts have estimated that the submarine
to be launched by the year 2007 would require an additional $714.3
million. The Navy has built a Soviet-designed facility - the Special
Safety Service at Vishakapatnam that can monitor the health of the
people working on the submarine and the radiation leaks emanating
from the submarine. It is reported that the DRDO has received design
assistance from Rubin, engineers and defence workers of the former
Soviet Union
.
India
has confidential
agreements with
Russia
on Defence
collaboration and National Security Advisers meet regularly to
review issues.
It is now common knowledge
that since 1971, the Indian scientists
were attempting to produce a compact nuclear power plant (reactor)
design suitable for use at sea. Captain Kotta Subba Rao, under the
guidance of Drs. Ramanna, Srinivasan, and Iyengar (the stalwarts who
steered
India
’s nuclear
programmes) had been trying since 1975 to design and build a
submarine reactor at BARC. Of the three reactor designs evaluated,
the first was rejected in late 1976 the second in 1979 and the third
in 1981. Captain Subba Rao left the Navy but he was apprehended
carrying his design to the
USA
and was imprisoned
for 20 months. He was finally found innocent as it was proved that
he had presented this design, which had been previously cleared, as
a thesis for his Doctorate.
BARC
envisaged uranium enrichment facilities employing centrifuge
technology. Eric Arnett and some observers have speculated that the
purpose of the nuclear submarine program "is intended to
provide an invulnerable launching platform for nuclear
weapons." The
US
Naval
War
College
- trained Chief of
Naval Staff, Admiral Madhavendra Singh who is member of the ATV
Board in a press interview in early 2002, claimed that the Indian
Navy would have nuclear strike capability. Such statements are not
made without Government clearances.
Arnett
makes another observation concerning the early nature of the
programme. “The history and implications of the SSN for Indian
maritime strategy suggest that the
US
presence in the
Indian Ocean
was a strong
motivation for the SSN programme.” He is correct in his
observation because
India
vehemently
objected to the
US
presence in the
Indian Ocean
, while
USA
has always been of
the belief that its benign Naval presence in the region contributes
to stability and security, and fosters trade. The
US
is now looking at
the Indian Navy to help patrol sea-lanes in the
Indian Ocean
and the Government has given Cabinet approval to the Navy to
study escorting details.
India
is leaning towards
more cooperation with
USA
following the
events of 11 September, as it hesitatingly sheds its non-aligned
socialist stance.
India
’s draft nuclear
doctrine recommends a “ No First Use”. Hence for deterrence, a
retaliatory strike weapon from the sea towards
Pakistan
is appreciated as
the primary purpose of the nuclear submarine programme. And in the
long run, to serve as a deterrent to
China
.
The
Defence Minister George Fernandes had referred to
China
as threat Number
One in 1998 soon after the Shakti nuclear blasts. The PM declared
India
was a nuclear
weapon state. An analyst at the Canadian Institute for International
Peace and Security (CIIPS) has noted: "Analysis of India's
defence priorities in the
Indian Ocean
points to a
long-term strategy of meeting a potential Chinese incursion into the
Indian Ocean
at the key check
points in the east - the
Strait of Malacca
”. An assessment
of
India
's current maritime
force structure of three Carrier Navy reveals that
New Delhi
is seeking to
attain a sea-denial capability in the
Indian Ocean
region and the nuclear submarine project is vital to
achieving this end.
Background
of ATV
The
then Defence Minister K Venkataraman in 1983 and
Dr Raja Ramana the former Director
of BARC and architect of India’s 1974 nuclear bomb,
selected Vice Admiral M K Roy (former DNI), his
flat mate in London during college days, to head the
ATV project in Delhi. Indian officials were looking for a
design that could offer a chance to learn the production and
operating skills relevant to nuclear-powered submarines. The
Type-209 design offered by the West German company HDW met some of
these criteria. In 1981 HDW won the order for four plus two boats,
based on a 'stretched' and heavier version of the Gabler IKL design
weighing 1500 tonnes (designated Type-1500).
West Germany
gained an
advantage in negotiations by offering the new generation of SUT B
wire guided torpedoes supplied by the German company AEG.
Allegations of commissions surfaced to derail the follow-on project
and recently Indian has finalised the order for six
Scorpenes on DCN.
The
Indian Navy leased and operated INS Chakra successfully from 1988 to
1991 and fired its first underwater- launched SSM. The initial
design strategy for the ATV was to copy the leased Charlie II with
an Indian built nuclear reactor for propulsion. The Russians
provided detailed drawing of the leased submarine minus the reactor
design, as that would have violated the NPT. HY-80 steel was chosen
for the construction of the submarine pressure hull and much
experience was gained under the direction of Dr. P.C. Deb, Director,
Naval Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory to overcome welding
problems. In late December 1995 it was reported that DRDO had made
considerable progress in the fabrication of the pre-test capsule (PTC)
of titanium steel fabricated in 1994 at Hazira in
Gujarat
. From there it was transported to Kalpakkam. The submarine
hull is finally to be covered with rubber acoustic tiles to help
reduce its signature.
For
the PWR reactor, the Indian scientists had access to the West German
reactor used on the Otto Hahn and the Soviet reactor used on the
Lenin. Indian sources mention information about a Japanese naval
nuclear reactor (Mutsu) and its suitability for use in a submarine.
Most PWR fuel is uranium-aluminium dispersed fuel (cermet) in steel
or zirconium cladding. Indian scientists from BARC and the Indian
Institute of Technology have published a number of recent papers
describing the uranium-aluminium and uranium-zirconium phases. Both
Apsara and Zerlina are known to have used medium enriched uranium.
Aluminium clad uranium fuel elements are also in use in both the
Cirus and Dhruva reactors. Experience gained in the fabrication of
these fuel elements would be invaluable in the design of submarine
plate type fuel elements. The steam turbine design and test
facilities for use with the nuclear reactor have been set up at
Vishakapatnam. In July of 1996, All India Radio reported - "
India
has successfully
developed a nuclear-powered submarine reactor for the navy. The
submarine named the Advanced Technology Vehicle was tested
successfully somewhere in the East coast recently.”
The
challenges faced for the design of certain safety features in
submarine nuclear reactors is the design of the control rod
insertion and withdrawal mechanism. This may have been responsible
for the radiation leaks aboard the leased Soviet submarine which
lead to the reported death of at least one Indian scientist. It is
known that
India
tried to buy a rod
worth minimizer ((RWM) used by reactor operators to guide and
monitor the proper sequences for the withdrawal and insertion of
control rods. The control rod technology for use with the rod worth
minimizer has now been developed by
India
.
Communications
and Weapon Systems:
The
VLF communication facility Project Skylark was commissioned by 1988
with US assistance for signals to penetrate seawater to a depth of
8-10 meters. The work in this area is being carried out by the
National Institute of Oceanography,
Goa
, the Indian
Institute of Technology,
Madras
and
Bangalore
, and the Defence
Electronics Applications Laboratory,
Dehra Dun
(also known as the
Instruments Research and Development Establishment). Actual
electromagnetic pulse studies (EMP) are conducted at the Department
of High Voltage Engineering, Indian
Institute
of
Technology
,
Bangalore
. Additional
support is provided by the Electronics and Radar Development
Establishment,
Bangalore
, Research Centre
Imarat,
Hyderabad
, and the
Electronics Research and Development Centre,
Calcutta
. An article
published in January 1993, by researchers from the Defence
Electronics Applications Laboratory, Dehradun reviewed the area of
submarine communications and stated - "In the near future, the
blue-green laser is going to be the vital means of sending large
information to a submarine operating much deeper (500-700 m) with
unrestricted speed.
The
weapon system Sagarika has been mentioned by the media as a
submarine launched cruise or ballistic missile with a range of over
300 km and as per details in the Asian Defence Journal (5/95):
"India is testing scale models of a submarine-launched
ballistic missile (SLBM) Sagarika in wind tunnels at the
Aeronautical Defence Establishment (ADE), a part of DRDO. The
project initiated about three years ago (1992), is aimed at building
a SLBM that will be carried on
India
’s indigenous
nuclear submarine. This is a very complex process that involves the
development of an optimum surface design of the missile to counter
the airflow. Indian engineers are now trying to develop an engine
and a guidance system for the cruise missile." It is therefore
interesting to note that in early 2002 the Indian Navy, DRDO and
Larsen and Toubro successfully launched the 200km
SSM Dhanush from
the OPV Subhadra (P51) and the trials are on going. The work on
these systems is being carried at the Defence Research and
Development Laboratory (DRDL),
Hyderabad
and the Research
Centre, and the Aeronautical Defence Establishment located at
Bangalore
. Development of a
submarine launched ballistic missile is a very complicated
undertaking. Among the major problems associated with such a system
are the effects of water in the nozzle on motor ignition. This
effect caused the failure of two of three flights of the US Trident
II missile and
UK
has been debating
the safety factors in the Drell report. Maraging steel components
for missile projects are produced at Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd.,
Midhani or at its
Hindustan
's Aerospace
Division located in
Bangalore
and by Godrej
Aerospace drawing on the vast experience of ISRO. The aluminium
alloy components are being manufactured by the Bharat Aluminium
Company. It has been reported that computer aided warship design and
stability studies are being carried out at the
Institute
of
Armament Technology
, Pune, with
related signature analysis work carried out at the Naval Science and
Technological Laboratory,
Visakhapatnam
.
Conclusion
The
Indian Government has given the go ahead for a Nuclear Command under
the CDS.Experts have opined that the present Indian nuclear strategy
would have to place a greater emphasis on 'second strike' capability
to ensure deterrence. Such a potential would probably not suffice if
it were restricted to
the Indian landmass with mobile AGNI missiles or aerial delivery,
even if TU 22Ms and SU 30 MKI are inducted. The need to analyse this
in greater depth for projection of power from movable platforms has
to be emphasised. To give credence to India’s nuclear war fighting
structure that is yet to be formulated, will also depend on the
'will' of the leadership to pursue a given strategy.
India
will have to
demonstrate a potential to survive a pre-emptive attack. This would
necessitate a policy to provide a visible survival capability to the
civilian population and industrial units like the 12 million ton
Reliance Refinery at
Jamnagar
, that lies in the
proximity of her borders. Additionally this would entail much larger
expenditures on damage limitation infrastructure .The sea leg of the
triad appears attractive and offers the best bang for the big bucks
that the Indian Naval planners are spending on the ATV, which must
succeed.
Back
to Top
Disclaimer
Copyright
|