AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION - SP's Naval Forces RE AD MIL( T ) SU H Y T HE CORNERSTONE OF INDIAN NAvYRS...

n REAR ADMIRAL (RETD) SUSHIL RAMSAY

THE CORNERSTONE OF INDIAN

NAvY’S maritime strategy is

generic capability building ap-

proach. This is justified by the

well-known dictum that there

are no permanent friends or enemies, only

permanent maritime interests. Indian

Navy’s Maritime Military Doctrine there-

fore propounds the basic philosophy to de-

velop capabilities that would enable it to

influence events ashore and to undertake

‘military manoeuvre from the sea’. Articu-

lated as a primary role for the Indian Navy,

this is sought to be achieved through a

combination of land attack weapons, am-

phibious forces, special forces and integral

aviation, coupled with the enhanced syn-

ergy between the three services.

Maritime Capability Perspective PlanThe Indian Navy’s maritime capability per-

spective plan (MCPP) adopted a ‘de novo’

approach to force development with em-

phasis on capability build-up rather than

numbers as also enunciated in the maritime

strategy. The MCPP drawn out for force de-

velopment and modernisation, spanning

over next three plan periods, 2005-2022, is

aimed to equip the Indian Navy with the

PAGE 4

“We can impart training to theIndian Navy on the Scorpene simulator”Interview with Jean-Louis Rotrubin, Chairman

and CEO, Defense Conseil International

PAGE 5

Empowering Fleet Air ArmMiG-29K is equipped with extended range,

beyond visual range (ER-BVR) missiles,

smart bombs and mid-air buddy tanking

facility from another MiG-29K for deep

penetration role

Rear Admiral (Retd) Sushil Ramsay

PAGE 6

A Journey through MDLAn overview of the Mazagon Dock Ltd, its

growth and development since its inception.

Vice Admiral (Retd) H.S. Malhi

PAGE 7

The GRSE OdysseyA profile of the Garden Reach Shipbuilders &

Engineers Ltd, Kolkata.

Rear Admiral (Retd) K.C. Sekhar

PAGE 8

Exponential GrowthThe Goa Shipyard Ltd is the only shipyard in

India today, which has the capability to design

and build ships to customers’ requirements.

Rear Admiral (Retd) Vineet Bakhshi

PAGE 9

Countering Separatist InsurgencyInterview with Vice Admiral Thisara Samaras-

inghe, the Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy

Sergei Desilva-Ranasinghe

PLUS

Public or Private: Government 10in Dilemma

WASS Opens First Subsidiary in India 11

Three-carrier Force 12

TecKnow 13

Rendezvous in Paris 13

275 Glorious Years 14

News in Brief 15

M O D E R N I S AT I O N

SP’s A N S P G U I D E P U B L I C A T I O N

R O U N D U P

December 2010-January 2011 Volume 5 No 6 `100.00 (India-based Buyer only)

www.spsnavalforces.net

6/2010 1

Military Manoeuverfrom Sea

INS Shivalik

Articulated as a primary role for the Indian Navy, this is sought to be achieved through

a combination of land attack weapons, amphibious forces, special forces and integral

aviation, coupled with the enhanced synergy between the three services

Ph

oto

gr

aP

h: I

ndia

n N

avy

Iam pleased to learn that SP Guide Publications is bring-

ing out separate special editions on the Indian Air Force,

Indian Army and Indian Navy.

Our Armed Forces have rendered invaluable contribu-

tions to the nation-both in times of war and peace. We want

our Armed Forces to retain the competitive edge and rank

among the best in the world.

We remain committed to the modernisation of the

Forces. However, modernisation must proceed hand-in-

hand with indigenisation. The all-around welfare of the

Jawans, ex-servicemen and their family members continues

to be our primary concern.

I am confident that the special editions will be liked and

read widely.

Please accept my best wishes for your future endeavours.

A.K. ANTONY

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE INDIA

INDIAN NAVY SPECIAL

capability to meet contemporary and future

challenges. The focus of the Indian Navy’s

long-term modernisation plan is to build a

capable three-dimensional force that is able

to meet all future challenges and fulfill its

larger responsibility commensurate with the

country’s growing influence.

Force Accretion Plans

Shipbuilding/Acquisition

Aircraft carrier programme: Since the de-

commissioning of vikrant, Indian Navy has

operated with a huge void in this sphere. In-

dian Navy’s sole carrier viraat had to be

given her third extensive refit to provide

life extension. viraat’s refit was planned to

refurbish the carrier in its entirety which in-

cluded strengthening the hull wherever nec-

essary, a major overhaul of its propulsion

system, comprising twin steam turbines, re-

tubing of her boilers.

At long last, the acquisition of extensively

refitted and modernised former Admiral

Gorshkov, now rechristened as vikrama-

ditya, has been finalised at an approved cost

of $2.35 billion (`10,575 crore), settling all

kinds of controversies which has delayed the

programme by nearly five years. The vikra-

maditya is now likely to be inducted into the

Indian Navy by 2012 post-trials.

Construction of the prestigeous 37,500

tonne indegenous aircraft carrier (IAC), for-

merly known as air defence ship, is report-

edly on track with the likely commissioning

of the ship by 2014. The IAC would embark

an air wing with a mix of up to 30 aircraft

consisting of MiG 29Ks and the indigenous

light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas, as also ro-

tary wing assets to include KA 31 AEW hel-

icopters. For aircraft operations the ship

would be fitted out with short take-off but

arrested recovery arrangement on an an-

gled flight deck with a 12º to 14º ski-jump.

The carrier will be powered by four HAL-

built General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines

driving two shafts that would give the ship

a top speed of over 28 knots.

Reportedly, follow-on programme of

two additional IAC of 45,000 tonnes has the

approval of the government. Yard nomina-

tion for this project, however, seems to be

in doldrum, as the Cochin Shipyard Ltd has

limited space and infrastructure to under-

take construction of ships of this size. Suc-

cessful launch of IAC and its follow-on

programme would provide the Indian Navy

with an impressive power projection capa-

bility with two deployable carriers available

at any given time by 2017.

Project 17: Shivalik, the first of the three

Project 17 stealth frigates built by the

Mazagon Dockyard Ltd (MDL) has been com-

misissioned with follow-on ships, Satpura

and Sahyadri, scheduled to join the fleet by

mid- and end 2011. The ship’s stealth capa-

bility is provided through the incorporation

of systems to minimise her signatures.

These include an infra-red supression sys-

tem (IRSS) provided by Canada’s Davis Engi-

neering; acoustic and vibration signatures

would be suppressed by use of noise and vi-

bration-proof mounts and the design caters

for reduced radar cross section. These ships

are capable of carrying two advanced multi-

role helicopters. These new stealthy power-

ful platforms will add significant punch to

the Indian Navy’s sword arm with a total of

seven being planned.

Projects 15A & 15B: Approved in 2000,

the three follow-on Delhi Class destroyers

form the Project 15A which have been

named as the Kolkata Class. The second and

third ships will be named as Kochi and Ben-

galuru. These ships are considerably differ-

ent from their predecessors with the

incorporation of stealth features and ad-

vanced technology. The major changes will

include the fitment of up to 16 vertically

launched BrahMos missiles and the new

long-range Barak NG, LR-SAM being jointly

developed by DRDO with Israel’s IAI, as also

new sensors. These three ships are expected

to join the Indian Navy between 2012 and

2014. The government has also approved an

additional four ships of the same class to be

designated as Project 15B and the construc-

tion load to be shared between MDL and Gar-

den Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd

(GRSE). Although the design is the same,

these are likely to have enhanced weapons

and systems such as BrahMos-II and the ex-

tended range barak (ER-SAM).

Talwar Class: The construction of three

follow-on Talwar Class GM frigates from

Russia is under way with delivery of first

ship in 2012 and the other two within the

next 12 months. These are to be named the

Tej (sword), Tarkash (quiver) and Trikand

(tri-pronged). Major changes being the re-

placement of Klub missiles with the Brah-

Mos system.

Project 28 ASW corvettes: Four new

ASW platforms based on the Kora Class

corvette design are being built by GRSE

and are now expected to join the fleet by

mid-2012 onwards. At 2,500 tonnes and

designed for a minimised signature profile

to provide stealth capability, these ships

would considerably augment the Indian

Navy’s ASW capability.

Amphibious capability: With the induc-

tion of landing platform dock (LPD)

Jalashwa, the Indian Navy has considerably

augmented its amphibious capability. To-

gether with the five landing ship tanks

(large), a sealift capability for over 3,500

troops and a squadron of armour now ex-

ists. The Jalashwa also carries six SH53

troop carrying helicopters, which together

with the existing fleet of the Seaking 42C

provides an element for aerial envelopment.

To augment its amphibious lift capability,

the Indian Navy is now looking to build

larger amphibious ships of the LPD variety.

This project may be pursued through exter-

nal design collaboration on the model for

the IAC project. Discussions are said to be

on with various prospective shipbuilders for

selection of suitable design requirements.

Support ships: The 2008 order for a fleet

tanker on Italian Shipbuilder Fincanterri

had a follow-on option of up to three

tankers. Indian Navy has now exercised this

option for one follow-on ship. Together

with the two ships in service, this induction

would enable Indian Navy to ensure the

availability of at least three such fleet sup-

port ships at any time.

Submarines

Conventional: The underwater fleet of 16

Russian Kilo/Foxtrot and German Shishu-

mar Class submarines is planned to be aug-

mented to 30 platforms over the next few

years. These are part of Indian Navy’s 30-

year submarine building plan which was ap-

proved almost a decade ago. Under this

plan, the first submarine of the six new

Scorpene Class, currently under construc-

tion at the MDL in collaboration with the

French DCNS, is expected to join Indian

Navy by 2012 and remaining five to follow

at 18-month intervals. Recently, the govern-

ment has approved Project 75I for con-

struction of six submarines with air

independent propulsion (AIP) in collabora-

tion with a foreign shipyard with transfer

of technology (ToT) provision. As per ap-

proved plans first two submarines would be

imported along with ToT for indigenous

construction of the balance submarines at

a selected shipyard.

Nuclear: With the launch of Arihant on

July 26, 2009, the indigenously designed

and developed nuclear submarine, 2009 be-

came a watershed year. India thus became

the sixth country to acquire the capability

to build nuclear submarine. The achieve-

ment is singularly unique as this bold ven-

ture was accomplished even without

possessing indigenous design and develop-

ment capability for a conventional variant.

Arihant, the first in the series of three

SSBNs should be inducted into Indian Navy

by 2012, if not bogged down by unforeseen

delays. Arihant is said to be carrying 12 x

K-15 submarine launched ballistic missiles

(SLBM) with range of 700 km, with both con-

ventional and nuclear warheads. Addition-

6/20102


M O D E R N I S AT I O N

The last issue of SP’s Naval Forces for the year

2010 coincides with the Navy Day on December

4. The editorial team of SP’s Naval Forces wish

the Indian Navy all success in guarding India’s

maritime interest. Sri Lanka Navy played a major

role in weakening the LTTE. In an exclusive in-

terview with SP’s Naval Forces, the Commander

of the Sri Lanka Navy, Vice Admiral Thisara

Samarasinghe explains their Navy’s role. Mod-

ernisation plans of the Navy are on track and with

about 40 ships including submarines under con-

struction, the Indian Navy is getting ready to ride

the waves. Adding to this is the aircraft carrier

projects both in India and Russia, construction of

indigenous nuclear powered submarine, plans

for acquiring additional conventional submarines

and many more such plans. Indian Navy’s

progress in modernisation is far ahead of the

other two services and speaks volumes of lead-

ership and management provided by the Navy’s

hierarchy. This is followed by the modernisation

of the Fleet Air Arm which is progressing in tan-

dem with the surface and the subsurface ele-

ments. The mantra of public-private participation

is being repeated since 2001-02 but there is very

little progress to show on the ground. The de-

fence PSU’s have been supporting the Navy and

the Coast Guard since independence, but they

have their own limitations of output and bureau-

cratic controls. The article on the subject analy-

ses the government’s dilemma and suggests that

it should take the plunge. The issue also includes

brief profile of the PSU shipyards.

SP’s Naval Forces wishes the Indian Navy

success in riding the waves in 2011 and its read-

ers happy reading and a happier New Year.

Jayant BaranwaL

Publisher & Editor-in-ChiefED

IT

OR

IA

L

INS Talwar

INS Delhi

PhotograPhs: Indian Navy

6/20104


M O D E R N I S AT I O N / I N T E R V I E w

ally, she will be fitted for carrying conven-

tional torpedoes and anti-ship and land at-

tack cruise missiles. Reportedly, there are

plans to develop a sea-based version of the

Agni-III with enhanced range to provide

credible deterrence second strike capabil-

ity. To acquire much needed training and

operating philosophy, the government ap-

proved lease of Russian Akula-II Class SSN,

Nerpa is on track and the boat is expected

to arrive in the first quarter of 2011. Nerpa

will be equipped with Klub missiles with

range of 300 km and four standard-sized

torpedo tubes.

Upgrades – Surface and Sub-surfaceCombatants Upgradation or modernisation of warships

and submarines is carried out as part of

mid-life upgrade (MLU) package which is

generally confined to weapons and sensors.

Ships and submarines acquired from 1980

onwards from the former Soviet Union and

those indigenously constructed was due for

MLU. Hence from the beginning of 2000, a

comprehensive modernisation package was

launched for them.

Godavari Class: MLU package for these

ships includes indigenously developed

sonar, radars and communication systems,

combat management system, etc to augment

weapons and sensors capability, is being car-

ried out at naval dockyard, Mumbai.

SNF Class destroyers: MLU of SNFs Rajput

Class destroyers is being indigenously un-

dertaken in phased manner. While surface-

to-surface supersonic missile BrahMos

would boost the fire power considerably,

long range surface-to-air missile capability

with multi function radar being indigenously

jointly developed with Israeli industry would

considerably enhance the firepower of these

ships. The new generation Sonar HUMSA and

USHUS, along with indigenously developed

communication and combat management

system, are being integrated in phased man-

ner as part of MLU package.

SSK submarines: MLU of German origin,

Shishumar Class of submarines has been

successfully carried out in India. The MLU

package included indigenously developed

surveillance devices like sonar, communica-

tion systems and electronic support meas-

ures, besides replacement of periscope, fire

control system and so on.

EKM submarines: Modernisation plan

for Type 877EKM Sindhughosh Class sub-

marines has been accomplished and six out

of an inventory of 10 submarines now have

torpedo-launched missile (TLM) capability.

The package included torpedo tube-

launched missiles, radars, fire control

systems, electronic support measures,

periscopes, and sonar and communication

systems. Initial problems related to the per-

formance of submarine-launched Klub mis-

siles have been reportedly resolved.

Combat Management SystemThe future combat management system,

developed by the Indian Navy with assis-

tance from the Centre for Development of

Telematics, is being manufactured by

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). This will

form an important part of the C4I2SR setup

onboard frontline combatants. The newly

developed system will eventually be in-

stalled on all frontline ships to realise In-

dian Navy’s grand vision of a fully

net-centric navy.

Electronic WarfareFor the electronic warfare (EW), the Indian

Navy has deliberately chosen indigenous

route and all frontline air (homi/kite), sur-

face (ellora) and sub-surface (porpoise)

combatants are being equipped with EW

suites developed by the Defence Research

and Development Organisation’s (DRDO)

Defence Electronics Research Laboratory.

This is the Sangraha family of five EW suites

for different naval platforms, capable of in-

tercepting, detecting and classifying vari-

ous types of radars.

Missile SystemsSurface-to-surface missiles: The newly devel-

oped BrahMos supersonic missile system

has equipped the Indian Navy with power-

ful anti-surface capability. BrahMos is ver-

tically launched with a range of 300 km and

has active radar guidance for the terminal

stage with land attack capability. BrahMos

has been approved to replace the Klub sys-

tem for three follow-on Talwar Class stealth

frigates under construction at Kaliningrad

in Russia. Together with Klub missile fitted

on the Talwar Class as also the modernised

Kilo Class submarines with TLM capability

including the land attack version BrahMos

would provide formidable capability to the

Indian Navy. In addition to Klub missiles,

BrahMos system is likely to be a standard

fit for the new Project 17, as also the

Kolkata Class now being built.

Air-to-surface missiles: The main anti-

surface missile in the Indian Navy’s inven-

tory has been the Sea Eagle for the past two

decades. The replacements being consid-

ered include the air launched versions of

the Russian Klub system, as also the Har-

poon Block II that has been offered by the

United States. This would modernise the

anti-surface ship capability of the Indian Air

Force which provides maritime strike sup-

port to the Indian Navy. The Defense Secu-

rity Cooperation Agency’s notification also

mentions that the sale would assist the In-

dian Navy to enhance interoperability with

the US Navy. An air launched version of the

BrahMos is also under development for the

Indian Air Force and could thus be inducted

into the Indian Navy as well.

Surface-to-air missiles: Till the induction

of Israeli short-range barak system, all of

Indian Navy’s surface fleet was essentially

equipped with Russian, the medium range

surface-to-air missile systems. Barak short-

range SAM has been inducted as anti-mis-

sile defence (AMD) for all frontline

warships. The government has approved

joint development of Barak Next Genera-

tion, with a range of about 70 km, between

the DRDO and Israel Aircraft Industries to

bridge the gap in long range AMD capability

for Indian Navy. The missile is expected to

have a dual pulse motor which can be verti-

cally launched, as also engage both aircraft

and sea skimming missiles.

Anti-Submarine WarfareThe new generation hull mounted

panoramic sonar which is an advanced ver-

sion of the indigenously developed ad-

vanced panoramic sonar hull and being

produced by BEL is slated for installation

progressively in all warships. Other under-

water sensors in the NPOL’s stable are the

Panchendriya submarine sonar suite, the

MIHIR helicopter sonar and the underwater

telephone. In partnership with BEL and

NPOL, the Indian Navy has also installed

the USHUS sonar on EKM submarines to

replace the original fit MGK-4000. In addi-

tion, Indian Navy has also recently de-

ployed the Nagan, a low frequency towed

array sonar system developed by the NPOL,

in conjunction with BEL, Larsen & Toubro,

Uniflex Cables and Keltron.

Mine WarfareModernisation of existing Natya Class

minesweepers is being attempted by their

conversion as mine hunters in stages. In the

first phase, Thales has received contract for

the conversion of six ships of this class for

complete change of the sonar suites and

combat systems. The Australian mine-

sweeping system, developed by Australia’s

Defence Science and Technology Organisa-

tion in collaboration with Thales in Aus-

tralia, is being installed.

A large maritime nation like India has to have an adequate size

Navy for safeguarding its maritime interest and spreading its le-

gitimate message to win friends amongst littoral states. This was

what was achieved by our country in the first century AD where

our culture spread to the East, to countries like Indonesia. Even

today Indian epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are staged

in those predominantly Muslim countries. This cultural renais-

sance in our neighbours is also a mission for the Indian Navy in

the 21st century to win friends and spread peace.

A Message from Admiral R.H. Tahiliani,

Former Chief of Naval Staff

SP’s: Does the DCI have any presence in other parts

of the world?

Rotrubin: About five years ago, we were

mainly involved in very large-scale training

programmes linked to foreign sales of

French-built equipment. Now we are much

more focused on smaller population of

trainees but we are present in a far larger

number of domains than before. Today we

have more than 50 small or midsized pro-

grammes. Our main partners are the Mid-

dle-Eastern countries with which we have

long-standing and lasting cooperation.

SP’s: Please quantify the range and scale of training

services offered by NAVFCO to various foreign navies?

Rotrubin: Training ranges from academic

training of naval officers and military engi-

neers, through maritime training to engi-

neering and logistics training at all stages

tailored to the requirements of the cus-

tomer navy, culminating in the operational

qualification of the ships delivered by

French shipyards and the crews manning

them, but also the performance of the crew

to execute multi-task tactical exercises.

SP’s: DCI is said to have specialisation in transfer of

French Navy’s know-how to navies of foreign nations.

Can you please describe the process?

Rotrubin: For nearly three decades, NAvFCO

has been specialising in instruction, training,

consulting and technical assistance for

friendly foreign navies and has trained more

than 13,000 officers, naval engineers, petty

officers and specialists. From theoretical in-

struction to operational training, in France

or abroad, whether for European, Middle-

Eastern, South American or Asian customer

countries, DCI-NAvFCO is the partner for

naval and naval/air equipment sales.

SP’s: How are the mechanics of providing comprehen-

sive product support, support services, equipment op-

erating and maintenance philosophies, documentation,

etc worked for naval systems?

Rotrubin: We have developed a catalogue of

generic operational training courses. The

courses provide a wide range of operational

training necessary to correctly use the dif-

ferent action and information means on

board a modern warship: anti-submarine

warfare, anti-air warfare, anti-amphibious

warfare, mine warfare, electronic warfare

(radar and communications), information

warfare, aircraft control, operational infor-

mation management.

SP’s: Are your playing any role in the Scorpene sub-

marines being constructed at Mazagon Dock Ltd?

Rotrubin: We can have cooperation between

India and France for submarine training for

the scorpene project. Indian training pro-

gramme should begin by 2012. We can train

the Indian Navy on the scorpene submarine

in Malaysia. The Malaysian navy has also

bought a DCNS scorpene simulator. So we

can impart training to the Indian Navy on

the Malaysian Scorpene simulator, which is

operational in Malaysia.

“We can impart training to the Indian Navyon the Scorpene simulator”Jean-Louis Rotrubin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Defense Conseil International in an exclusive interview with SP’s Naval Forces

spoke about the role of DCI in transfer of know-how to countries purchasing French defence material

PhotograPh: DCI

To read the complete interview log on to:www.spsnavalforces.net/interviews


THE FIRST FOUR MiG-29K aircraft

of the Indian Navy’s new Black

Panther Squadron, the Indian

Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 303,

were inducted in February 2010.

The MiG-29Ks would provide considerable

integral airpower capability to the fleet.

These multi-role carrier borne aircraft are

said to be improved version of the ones in

the inventory of Indian Air Force. MiG-29K

is equipped with extended range, beyond vi-

sual range (ER-BvR) missiles, smart bombs

and mid-air buddy tanking facility from an-

other MiG-29K for deep penetration role.

Coupled with the limited upgrade for Sea

Harriers, including new AI radar and armed

with Derby ER-BvR air-to-air missile, they

would form the core of the fleet’s integral

airpower, providing it substantial maritime

strike capability in addition to the primary

air defence role. Although one squadron of

MIG 29K comprising 16 aircraft (including

4 trainers) is on order to operate from

vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov),

the total number to be acquired would be

between 40 and 50, to equip the indigenous

aircraft carrier’s air wing as well. Additional

contract has been signed for 29 additional

MiG-29K at a cost of $1.2 billion (`5,400

crore) to meet this target. In addition, the

naval version of the Hawk advanced trainer

is also being procured. Naval aviators of

Black Panther Squadron have undergone

carrier-borne training with the US Navy

(USN) on the Goshawk. Naval variant of

light combat aircraft (LCA) under develop-

ment by Aeronautics Development Author-

ity, Bangalore, has already completed few

flight trials successfully and has the same

configuration as the twin-seat LCA trainer.

Perhaps as a backup option, request for in-

formation (RFI) has been issued to all lead-

ing global manufacturers for multi-mission

carrier borne fighter/strike aircraft.

Long-range Maritime ReconnaissanceAircraftLong-range airborne surveillance capability

of fleet air arm has been augmented with re-

furbished IL 38 aircraft equipped with the

state-of-the-art avionics and Sea Dragon

suite. The refurbished aircraft would pro-

vide anti-submarine and anti-surface war-

fare (ASW/ASv) capability in addition to

their basic maritime surveillance roles. Eight

state-of-the-art P8I multi-mission maritime

patrol and ASW aircraft based on the Boeing

737 platform have been contracted to re-

place eight ageing TU 142 Ms. The first P8I

is expected to be delivered by 2012/13. This

is a potent long-range platform which is

ASW/ASv capable with intelligence, surveil-

lance and reconnaissance capability. The P8I

is to be fitted with AN/APY 10 synthetic

aperture radar in addition to the combined

APS 137D(v)5 maritime surveillance radar

and SIGINT system. It is capable of carrying

torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

P8 Posiaden is slated for simultaneous in-

duction in USN and the Indian Navy. Exer-

cisng the option for a repeat order, recently,

a contract has been signed for eight addi-

tional P8I. For maritime surveillance role

there are medium-range Dornier aircraft

also equipped for the information warfare

role. To cover the capability gap between

long-range and short-range maritime sur-

veillance six medium-range maritime recon-

naissance (MRMR) aircraft with a speed of

200 knots and endurance of up to five hours

are planned for procurement. This project

is conceived for replacement of ageing

Islander 2T aircraft. New MRMR aircraft is

expected to be equipped with state-of-the-

art weapons and sensors, such as air-to-

surface missiles, surveillance radar, ESM

and COMINT.

Rotary WingThe rotary wing inventory consists of a mix

of Western and Russian helicopters. Mod-

ernisation plans envisage replacement of

16 older SeaKing 42s. Many globally

renowned helicopter manufacturers are in

the fray. Eurocopter’s EC 725, NH 90, Siko-

rsky’s S 70 B, Lockheed Martin MH 60R, etc

are reported to be in contention for this

multi-role helicopter. The requirement

is for 10- to 12-tonne helicopters with dip-

ping sonar, missile-firing capability, light-

weight general purpose radar, a

forward-looking infrared sensor, data link,

night vision and torpedo-carrying capabil-

ity. The surveillance capability of Kamov 25

and 28 has been enhanced with installation

of indigenous ESM. Kamov 31 AEW helicop-

ter has established itself as a potent ele-

ment for its designed capability and role.

Inventory of this rotary wing is being

steadily augmented. Eight utility version of

advance light helicopter (ALH), constructed

at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, have been

inducted into helicopter fleet of the Indian

Navy. However, this aircraft appears to

have run into some problems, namely inad-

equate endurance, payload and most seri-

ously its blade folding mechanism,

essential for shipboard operations. The

ASW version of the ALH is also reported to

have fallen short of naval staff qualitative

requirements. The Defence Minister, while

agreeing that the ASW version of the ALH

was not suitable for the Indian Navy, has

however refuted claims that the service has

rejected the helicopter. Global tenders for

light utility helicopters are expected to be

issued shortly.

Network-centric Warfare CapabilityFormer Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta

had said, “With India’s rapid growth, the In-

dian Navy has a much bigger role to play

now, much more to contribute to the na-

tion’s strength. The Indian Navy will focus

on network-centric warfare (NCW) and its

ability to operate offshore, especially in the

Indian Ocean region, for longer periods.”

The challenge would be to enable all units,

new as well as legacy systems to ‘talk to

each other’ or in other words, interoperable

so as to effectively fuse information from

varied inputs and present a common oper-

ating picture. Achieving maritime domain

awareness (MDA) across its area of interest

is essential to achieve net-centricity.

Combat Management SystemA combat management system (CMS) is an

integral part of the weapon suite of any

modern platform. Using the latest technol-

ogy, a typical CMS presents a real time

comprehensive battle space picture to the

commander by processing and analysing

the vast amount of information provided

by the ship’s onboard sensors and those of

the units in company. The system also

facilitates threat evaluation of targets, tac-

tical navigation, control of aircraft and hel-

icopters and command and control of

warfare in all three dimensions—surface,

sub-surface and air. The future CMS, devel-

oped by the Indian Navy with assistance

from the Centre for Development of

Telematics, is being manufactured by the

Bharat Electronics Limited. This will form

an important part of the C4I2SR setup on-

board frontline combatants and air

elements. The successful fielding of the

indigenous command and control system

has added an additional dimension to the

indigenous capability in weapon and elec-

tronic systems design and development.

The systems will be installed on several of

the major combatants of the Indian Navy

that are at present under construction or

due to be inducted in the future. As the

key component of Indian Navy’s grand

vision of a fully net-centric navy, the new

CMS projects have also been envisaged to

incorporate much improved data linking

capabilities to facilitate full scope of

NCW functionality.

Empowering Fleet Air ArmMiG-29K is equipped with extended range, beyond visual range (ER-BvR) missiles, smart bombs and mid-air buddy

tanking facility from another MIG 29K for deep penetration role

PhotograPh: PIB

6/2010 5

I N D U S T RY

2 MiG-29K and 1 Sea Harrierduring induction ceremony,at Indian Naval base, Goa

6/20106

D E F E N C E S H I P YA R D


MAzAGON DOCK LIMITED

(MDL), Mumbai is one of the

leading warship-builders in

South Asia. The yard was es-

tablished in 1771 with a small

dry dock to repair erstwhile East India’s trad-

ing crafts, which subsequently went through

various ownership changes in 19th and 20th

century in the hands of the Peninsular & Ori-

ental Steam Navigation Company (P&O

Lines), British India Steam Navigation Com-

pany till the Government of India took it

over and incorporated it as a defence public

sector undertaking (DPSU) in 1960. Since

then it has remained under direct adminis-

trative control of the Department of Defence

Production, Ministry of Defence. Subse-

quently, the company took under its wing,

two adjacent yards and a workshop, namely

Alcock Yard and Scindia Workshop.

Over the years, the company has spe-

cialised in building frigates, missile destroy-

ers, corvettes, conventional submarines,

jack up rigs and process oil platforms, mul-

tipurpose support vessel, sophisticated

dredgers, voith tugs and other marine plat-

forms and has earned the reputation of

being the leading defence shipyard catering

to higher end warships and submarines for

the Indian Navy.

The yard is spread over 28 hectares of

prime land in South Mumbai and has infra-

structure facility to build any vessel up to

27,000 discrete wavelet transform (DWT).

Its design office is one of the most modern

and is equipped with latest hardware

and software such as computer aided de-

sign/computer aided manufacture/com-

puter integrated manufacture that makes

drawings, which can be directly transferred

to computer numerically controlled plate

cutting machine in plater and assembly

shop as well as in pipe shop without any

human intervention.

In five decades of its existence as DPSU,

it undertook various challenging naval proj-

ects of constructing Nilgiri Class frigates in

1970s, Godavari Class frigates in 1980s,

Khukari Class corvettes, vibhuti Class mis-

sile boats and Delhi Class destroyers in

1990s and Shivalik Class stealth frigates in

the first decade of 21st century. The yard

also undertook building HDW Class sub-

marines in the late 1980s while construc-

tion of Scorpene Class submarines are

currently on hand.

FacilitiesThe yard has most modern facilities to

build sophisticated vessels and naval ships,

which is as good as any other foreign ship-

yard. Major facilities in the yard include a

production shop, four assembly shops,

three slipways, four dry docks and a wet

basin, all equipped with level luffing and

electric overhead travelling cranes.

In addition to the major facilities, pipe

shop, machine shop and sheet metal shop

having modern machineries support

shipbuilding construction. MDL has also

dedicated facilities for construction of sub-

marines which houses special purpose ma-

chineries and equipment like submerged

arc welding equipment with multiple heads,

circular milling machine, shot blasting

and priming facility, sophisticated quality

control equipment, etc.

Shipbuilding MethodologyIn a nutshell, shipbuilding consists of two

parts—steel work and outfitting. Steelwork

consists of pre-fabrication, assembly and

erection of steel structure while outfitting

consists of installation of equipment, ma-

chinery, fittings and electrical, mechanical

and weapon systems. Traditionally, the two

parts of the process were undertaken se-

quentially, with outfitting starting after the

steel structure had been finished. Of late,

with technological advancement, both these

stages are undertaken in parallel to speed

up construction of vessels and also to im-

prove it efficiently.

In steel work process, flat and curved

steel panels formed from steel plates are

joined together to make outside hull. In the

modular construction methodology, within

the steel blocks assembly as much outfit

equipment and fittings as possible are in-

corporated in the early state. These pre-out-

fitted blocks are then taken to building

berth/slipway for final erection. Painting in

controlled condition is also undertaken to

minimise curing time.

After significant completion of steel and

outfitting work, the vessel is floated out and

taken to basin where its systems are tested

before the ship is taken out for a series of sea

trials. On successful completion of the sea

trials, the vessel is delivered to its customer.

The Growth StoryThe yard’s value of production has gradu-

ally increased from `518.37 crore (about

$115 million) in the financial year 2005-06

to `2,856.13 crore (about $634 million) in

the financial year 2009-10. All other finan-

cial parameters like gross profit, net worth,

capital employed and value added per em-

ployee also proportionately increased over

the years. The annual output has increased

substantially.

Modernisation/Augmentation of InfrastructureMDL has embarked on a modernisation proj-

ect to upgrade and enhance its facilities in

order to meet committed delivery schedule

of various vessels. Under the project, an ad-

ditional wet basin having one 100 MT crane,

one 50 MT crane and a 15 MT crane, a cradle

workshop, stores, a modular workshop and

a 300 T Goliath crane are being constructed

in South Yard and East Yard. The estimated

cost of the modernisation project is `826

crore (about $184 million). It is scheduled to

be completed by December 2011. On com-

pletion, the yard will be able to berth two

more warships and two submarines for out-

fitting. This will facilitate introduction of

modular construction technique, which will

enhance productivity and reduce vessel

build periods to a desirable extent. Addition

of cradle assembly shop will assist construc-

tion of Scorpene submarines.

Modular ConstructionA heavy-duty 300-tonne Goliath crane

under construction will be able to lift and

transport pre-fabricated modular units

from modular workshop to slipway or dry

dock where final assembly would take

place. The modular shop (200 m x 30 m) is

designed to fabricate eight pre-outfitting

ship’s modules of 250 T each.

Cradle Assembly ShopIt is said that the submarine’s effectiveness

lies in its stealth characteristics. One of the

criteria of stealth feature is less noise ema-

nating from it. To attain this, machineries

and equipment of submarines are installed

on resilient mounts and this operation will

be carried out on cradles in the cradle as-

sembly shop.

Additional Wet Basin Second wet basin (27,000 sq m) is being

constructed to accommodate two sub-

marines and two surface ships (P17/P15A

Class of vessels) for carrying out outfitting

work. The new wet basin will have one 100

T and one 50 T level luffing cranes on its

south wall and a 15 T crane on its north

wall so that construction work on all ves-

sels can progress simultaneously.

Augmentation of Facilities at Alcock YardMDL is also planning to augment its facili-

ties by making use of spare land available

in its Alcock Yard. The facilities in this

yard will be augmented at an approximate

cost of `650 crore by building suitable

infrastructure.

Year 2009 and 2010 were significant in

the annals of MDL. During this period, two

missile destroyers—INS Kochi and INS

Chennai—were launched from its slipways

while a stealth frigate INS Shivalik was

commissioned. Apart from naval vessels,

MDL also commissioned a most modern

dredger for Dredging Corporation of India

and launched two MSvs for a Singapore-

based company. In the next decade, the

yard hopes to get fresh orders from the

Indian Navy to build four vessels each of

P15B Class missile destroyers and P17A

Class stealth frigates and three P75I Class

submarines to become one of the heavily

loaded yards in the world.

A Journey through MDLYear 2009 and 2010 were significant in the annals of Mazagon Dock Limited. An overview of MDL’s growth and

development since its inception

PhotograPh: Indian Navy

A view of MDL

VICE ADMIRAL (RETD) H.S. MALHI

Chairman and Managing Director of Mazagon Dock Limited

6/2010 7


ICGS Sankalp, the 5th Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) of theIndian Coast Guard manufactured by GSL

Early years The odyssey began in 1884 when the River

Steam Workshop was set up to provide lo-

gistics and repairing facilities for the fleet

owned by the River Steam Navigation Com-

pany. Later on, it was converted into a joint

stock company on February 26, 1934 and

started its new journey in the name of Gar-

den Reach Workshops Ltd (GRW) managed

by a managing agent Mcneill & Berry Ltd.

With a vision to convert this small ship re-

pair yard into a premier shipbuilding yard,

the Government of India took over the com-

pany on April 19, 1960 and placed it under

the administrative control of the Ministry of

Defence. GRSE, then known as GRW, was

the first shipyard in independent India to

build a seaward defence boat and were de-

livered to the Indian Navy soon after the

takeover. Since 1960, GRSE has built and

delivered sizeable number of ships/crafts/

auxiliary vessels/boats for commercial use

to the Indian Navy and Coast Guard to-

talling to over 650. Of the total number of

vessels built, around 50 are warships.

Business StrategyGRSE’s business strategy over the years has

been to concentrate on low volume and

high value shipbuilding orders. This actu-

ally meant to focus on warship production

for the Navy and the Coast Guard. The busi-

ness strategy paid dividends and GRSE con-

tinued to grow and attained Category-I Mini

Ratna status on September 6, 2006. True to

the vision, GRSE has become one of the pre-

mier shipbuilding yards with seven units at

Kolkata and the Diesel Engine Plant located

at Ranchi (dedicated for assembly and man-

ufacture of marine engines).

With opening up of the Indian economy

and public-private partnership in defence

sector, in order to remain self-sustaining in

the future years, GRSE has to look beyond its

present defence shipbuilding orders. Efforts

are in progress towards entering into joint

venture with foreign companies towards ac-

quiring capability/capacity to fully design

other naval vessels beyond GRSE’s present

range of ships. Also a few memorandum of

understandings (MoUs) have been signed

with private shipyards for construction of

auxiliary/offshore support vessels. All this

would go a long way towards fully exploiting

the shipyard’s facilities and also increase the

volume of business and production range.

For cost reduction, efforts are being

made to control the cost of production

through automation (CNC plate cutting,

pipe bending machines, automatic/semi-au-

tomatic welding machines) and technologi-

cal advancement (installation of ERP SAP

R/3), additional Tribon licences for ship de-

sign. Further, the modular concept of ship

construction reduces the build period that

has a direct bearing on cost of production

in man-days. However, modular construc-

tion requires freezing of the build specifi-

cation prior to award of a contract, a prac-

tice that would need to be pursued.

Export PotentialGRSE has export potential for design and

construction of frigate, corvette, landing

ship tank (also known as logistic ship), pa-

trol vessel using conventional and water jet

propulsion, survey vessel and FRP intercep-

tor boat. However, being a PSU, all exports

are subject to clearance from the Ministry

of Defence. At present, GRSE has an export

order for an offshore patrol vessel of 75

metres length. Though a few more FRPs

have been submitted but its outcome is pre-

mature to commit.

Among the engineering products,

portable steel bridges (single and double

lane) have export potential to countries like

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myan-

mar, Indonesia, vietnam and Africa.

Future Plansl Mission: To be a leader in shipbuilding

industry in South East region and con-

tribute significantly to strengthen the

Indian Navy, Coast Guard and maritime

potential of the nation.

l Vision: To provide state-of-the-art war

vessels of world class standards for our

national maritime requirement.

Functional Divisionsl Ship

l Engineering

l Engine

Ship DivisionGRSE undertakes construction and repair of

ships primarily for the Indian Navy and

Coast Guard. Over the years, GRSE has de-

veloped expertise in construction of frigate,

corvette, landing ship tank, hydrographic

survey vessel, patrol vessel (offshore and

in-shore), hovercraft and FRP fast intercep-

tor boat.

Ships delivered: Till date, GRSE has

made significant contribution towards ship-

building and ship repair for the Indian Navy

and Coast Guard. During the last three

years, GRSE has delivered two landing ship

tank (INS Kesari and INS Airavat), seven fast

attack crafts, 73 FRP fast interceptor boats

and four RO-RO passenger ferry to An-

daman & Nicobar Administration.

Shipbuilding orders: GRSE’s shipbuild-

ing order in the financial year 2010-11

stands at `7,433.57 crore (about $1.65 bil-

lion) comprising anti-submarine warfare

corvettes, fast attack crafts for Indian

Navy, in-shore patrol vessel for Coast

Guard and fast interceptor boats for the

Ministry of Home Affairs and Andaman &

Nicobar Administration. In addition, GRSE

has obtained export order of one offshore

patrol vessel. Among the future order to

follow are additional eight in-shore patrol

vessels from the Coast Guard. GRSE has

been nominated to build the latest state-of-

the-art stealth frigates. Construction of

seven ships under this project will be

shared between MDL and GRSE.

Modernisation: Considering the acqui-

sition plan of the Indian Navy/Coast Guard,

the defence shipyards in the country can be

kept occupied for the next 20 to 25 years in

meeting the country’s defence needs. How-

ever, to maintain the desired force level for

the country’s defence, the shipyards need

to deliver ships at a faster rate through re-

duced build period. Towards meeting this

objective, GRSE has embarked on a mod-

ernisation plan (technology and infrastruc-

ture) for undertaking “integrated modular

construction”. The modernisation outlay is

to the tune of `600 crore approximately

(about $13.3 million) and being funded

partly from the naval budget. The moderni-

sation involves creation of the following in-

frastructure facilities:

l One inclined berth of 180 m x 23 m of

3,000 T vessel capacity

l One dry dock of 180 m x 27 m of 10,000

T vessel capacity

l A module hall (north-south) for consol-

idation of larger blocks

l 250 T capacity Goliath crane covering

the berths and module hall

The modernisation is expected to be

completed by 2011. Consequently, GRSE

will have the capacity to undertake simul-

taneous construction of four large ships

and seven smaller ships.

In addition, GRSE acquired the Raja

Bagan Dockyard (RBD) from the Central In-

land Water Transport Corporation in Sep-

tember 2006. The infrastructure is being

renovated and upgraded in phases. RBD in

the long run is to become a self-contained

unit for construction and repair of smaller

ships. Since the start of warship production

in RBD from August 2007, the unit has

launched eight fast attack crafts till date.

Also ERP (SAP ECC 6) is under installa-

tion for efficient planning, monitoring and

control among design, planning, material,

production, finance and human resource

departments. The ERP system is expected

to go live in 2010.

Engineering DivisionThe Engineering Division undertakes man-

ufacture of:

l Portable modular steel bridges exten-

sively used by the Indian Army and

border roads for establishing communi-

cation in hilly terrain, over rivers, canal

and during natural calamities caused by

floods/earthquake, etc. The bridges are

built to IRC-6 classification ranging from

9R to 70R (the heaviest class on Indian

roads).

l Design and manufacture of deck ma-

chinery items for fitment onboard ships

like capstan, anchor windlass, boat

davits, helicopter traversing system (for

handling helicopters onboard), winches

and pumps.

Till date, the engineering division has

export order for portable bridges worth

`4.12 crore (about $9,15,000) from the

Royal Government of Bhutan.

Engine DivisionThe Engine Division is located at Ranchi,

Jharkhand and undertakes:

l Licence production/overhaul of MTU

marine diesel engines (396, 538 and

4000 series) used onboard Indian Navy

and Coast Guard ships for propulsion

and power generation.

l Sale of spare parts in India.

GRSE is the only shipyard in the country

having its own engineering and engine divi-

sion undertaking design and manufacture

of a specific range of equipment being fit-

ted onboard ships.

Financial StabilityGRSE has continued to be financially stable

and dividend paying public sector undertak-

ing over the last 16 years. Its value of pro-

duction (voP) during 2008-09 was `672.69

crore (about $161.5 million) with a profit of

`88.98 crore (about $20 million) before

taxes. These figures have grown in 2009-10

with voP being `870.74 crore (about $194

million) with a profit of ̀ 130.75 crore (about

$ 29 million) before taxes.

The voP of `870.74 crore for the 2009-

10 is the highest voP ever achieved by GRSE

since inception and recording a quantum

jump of over 29 per cent from its previous

year. With the average growth in vOP over

the last six years being 14 per cent, GRSE is

confident in surpassing the set target of

`972 crore (about $216 million) in 2010-11.

For the year 2009-10, GRSE paid a dividend

of `24.77 crore (about $5.5 million).

The GRSE OdysseyGarden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd has been a financially stable and dividend paying public sector undertaking

for more than one and half decades now

A file photo of Rear Admiral K.C. Sekhar at the occasionof keel laying of the 3rd, 4th & 5th vessels of the Waterjet FACs series at Rajabagan Dockyard

PhotograPh: grsE

REAR ADMIRAL (RETD) K.C. SEKHAR

Chairman and Managing Director of GRSE

6/20108



ORIGINALLY ESTABLISHED BY

THE Portuguese in 1957 and

named Estalerios Navais De

Goa, the Goa Shipyard Limited

(GSL) was a small barge repair

facility. Following the liberation of Goa in

1961, the yard was leased to the Mazagon

Dock Ltd till 1967. Thereafter, it was incor-

porated as the Goa Shipyard Limited, with

its own board of directors. The Government

of India accorded status of schedule “B” to

the company in January 1997 and it was

conferred the status of Mini Ratna Cate-

gory-I in March 2007.

To begin with, GSL undertook ship re-

pairs, built small barges and fishing

trawlers. Over the years, GSL upgraded in

value chain and built a reputation as one

of the most sophisticated shipbuilders in

the country. The shipyard has progressed

from a barge building unit to a yard capa-

ble of building complex warships. The

growth has been a consequence of a long-

term investment in upgrading technology

and investing in people. The progress has

been driven by the design department

which has evolved and developed a range

of vessels. Today, GSL is the only shipyard

in India which has the capability to design

and build ships to the customers’ require-

ments. The yard has acquired the reputa-

tion for delivering quality ships not only

on time but also ahead of the schedule.

GSL has successfully improved its perform-

ance on all fronts. It has been an arduous

but exciting journey brought about by the

sustained efforts and toil of the GSL’s

workforce and officers and the vision of

past leadership. This has been possible be-

cause of the excellent support that GSL has

received from the Department of Defence

Production, Ministry of Defence and the

state government. The principle customers

are the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast

Guard who have consistently reposed their

faith in the ability of GSL, which has given

continuous impetus to constantly innovate

and progress.

Key StrengthsSome of the key strengths of GSL are its in-

house design capability, skilled workforce

and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)-IT

System. In fact, the in-house expertise in

design not only gives GSL an edge in the

domestic market but also makes it attrac-

tive to global customers. It has also in-

ducted the latest technologies and

productive tools to improve productivity.

GSL was the first shipbuilder in India to im-

plement the latest design software such as

Tribon and Primavera and incorporate it

into an ERP system.

GSL today is fully computerised and its

offices are virtually paperless. GSL’s integra-

tion of its design and project management

capability has enabled a complete exploita-

tion of the ERP system. As a consequence,

GSL has been able to re-engineer and im-

prove its operational efficiencies. Further

improvements have been made by concen-

trating on core competencies and outsourc-

ing non-core areas like material handling,

and low skilled fabrication processes.

Ship and Patrol VesselsGSL has developed five variants of patrol

vessels ranging from 50 m to 105 m with

speed ranging from 25 knots to 35 knots.

GSL is also developing designs for the ships

of 75 m and 115 m lengths for future

requirements of customers as an ongoing

effort at research and development to

develop new products.

GSL has thus so far built 187 ships in-

cluding offshore patrol vessels (OPv), mis-

sile craft, survey vessels, a sail training

ship, fast patrol vessels, extra fast attack

craft, offshore supply vessels and 100 glass

reinforced plastic fast interceptor boasts

and around 97 vessels have been repaired

for the nation till date.

Recently, GSL has commissioned the 90

m OPv ‘ICGS vishwast’ which is the first of

a new class of OPv, indigenously designed

and built by the shipyard. The 105 m

NOPvs for the Indian Navy, which are under

construction in the yard, are based on GSL

in-house design realised after an intensive

research and development activity. With

GSL’s proven capabilities for design and

construction of the range of patrol vessels,

there is great scope for entering the global

market. GSL is currently in negotiations

with a country in the Middle East for the

supply of four armed patrol vessels. In ad-

dition, markets in Africa and East Asia are

also being explored.

Diversification: While making consis-

tent progress in core competency in ship-

building area, the yard has also utilised its

technical and managerial capabilities to

successfully diversify into new area of busi-

ness, which include the design and con-

struction of training simulators for the

Indian Navy and Oil and Natural Gas Corpo-

ration (ONGC) Ltd, setting up of shore-

based test facility for light combat aircraft

(Navy) for Aeronautical Development

Agency, Bangalore and recent venture into

construction of glass reinforced plastic

boats for the Ministry of Home Affairs. GSL

is also into the business of supplying stern

gear equipment and spares to the Indian

Navy and other Indian shipyards in collab-

oration with an international firm of repute.

Recently, in the face of stiff competition,

GSL has won a prestigious order for the

supply of stern gear equipment for the first

indigenous aircraft carrier, being built for

the Indian Navy at Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

Modernisation: GSL has also embarked

upon a planned modernisation programme

to augment and modernise its infrastruc-

ture facility. GSL’s modernisation plan in-

cludes creation of new land building berths

with transfer bays, fully serviced jetties,

state-of-the-art ship-lift and transfer sys-

tem, installation of new cranes and mate-

rial handling equipment and augmentation

of various yard services. Apart from this, a

dedicated GRP ship construction facility is

also being set up. The modernisation plan,

once fully implemented, will enhance the

present capacity threefold and will also

provide for building of high technology

GRP vessels. The yard modernisation at a

cost of approximately `800 crore (about

$0.18 billion) is being undertaken in four

phases. The modernisation plan aims to

provide GSL with practically a new ship-

yard with state-of-the-art shipbuilding

facilities.

Corporate Social Responsibility While all efforts were made to improve the

overall performance of the company, GSL is

also making efforts to fulfill its corporate

social responsibility (CSR). The initiatives

taken by the company in this regard have

been aimed at contributing to the well-

being of the people of Goa. Enhanced busi-

ness activity of GSL will result in enhanced

economic development of the state and will

also create more employment avenues for

the local population. The company has

taken many steps as part of its CSR activity

to improve the society including looking

after community health and hygiene;

educational aids and educational support

infrastructures; needs of orphanage and old

age home; provision of civic amenities;

medical care, etc.

Financial Profile GSL is doing well financially. For the finan-

cial year 2009-10, a dividend cheque of

`13.38 crore (about $2.9 million) was pre-

sented to the Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

GSL has declared a dividend of 90 per cent

of the paid-up share capital for 2009-10 as

compared to 57 per cent in the previous

year. There has been a 70 per cent growth in

production and a 59 per cent growth in net

profit this year. The company has achieved

a value of production (voP) of `866.48 crore

(about $193 million) and made a net profit

of `130.72 crore (about $29 million). It is

against a voP of `508.01 crore ($113.4 mil-

lion) with a net profit of `81.96 crore ($18.2

million) in the previous year. This is the

highest voP and net profit achieved by the

company since its inception in 1957.

Exponential GrowthThe Goa Shipyard Limited is the only shipyard in India today, which has the capability to design and build ships to the

customers’ requirements. The growth has been a consequence of a long-term investment in upgrading technology and

investing in people.

Over the years, GSL upgraded

in value chain and built a

reputation as one of the most

sophisticated shipbuilders in

the country

PhotograPhs: PIB, gsL

REAR ADMIRAL (RETD) VINEET BAKHSHI

Chairman and Managing Director of Goa Shipyard Ltd

ICGS Sankalp, the 5th Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel of theIndian Coast Guard manufactured by GSL

Rear Admiral (Retd) Vineet Bakhshipresenting a dividend cheque of`13.38 crore to the Defence Minister

6/2010 9

I N T E R V I E w

n SERGEI DESILVA-RANASINGHE, SRI LANKA

SINCE SRI LANKA ATTAINED inde-

pendence in 1948, the problem

posed by illicit immigration and

smuggling between northern Sri

Lanka and southern India com-

pounded as each decade passed. “Prior to

the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

emerging as a dominant Tamil militant

group, the use of sea lanes to engage in sub-

versive activities against the Sri Lankan state

commenced as early as the 1970s,” said

Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy vice Ad-

miral Thisara Samarasinghe. “Political rea-

sons aside, we had a fishing community

which was heavily involved in smuggling and

illicit people transfer through cross-border

movement between southern India and the

northern coastline of Sri Lanka. What made

matters worse was that insurgents started

using small fast moving dinghies and started

causing us problems,” he added.

The dawn of a full blown separatist insur-

gency in the aftermath of the 1983 riots com-

pelled the Navy to expand and adopt new

tactics and strategies at sea. “We developed

our Navy to cater to the increasing threat,

and later in the early 1980s, established a

naval surveillance zone where fast gunboats

were stationed. At least three fast gunboats

were stationed in the north, supported by pa-

trol boats. With the available resources we

had, we stationed ourselves along the mar-

itime boundary with India and tried to stop

this, but the gaps were too large and the

equipment was not very effective. Following

that we introduced the mother ship-daughter

craft concept and still we could not stop the

flow,” said the vice Admiral.

Unable to prevent the movement of in-

surgent boats between Sri Lanka and India,

the Navy was forced to modernise which

saw the acquisition of new vessels, particu-

larly Israeli built Dvora fast attack craft.

vice Admiral Samarasinghe said, “In the

mid-1980s, we went for faster platforms—

Dvoras—which could travel at a speed of up

to 30 knots. The militants realised that they

were at a disadvantage as they couldn’t

match our speed. Therefore in the 1990s,

they shifted focus to infiltrating and attack-

ing our harbours using frogmen and suicide

boats.” He further pointed out, “This was a

constantly evolving scenario. Our first un-

derwater disasters were in 1995 inside Trin-

comalee harbour when the LTTE first

started underwater attacks/warfare. Simi-

larly, the LTTE started equipping dinghies

with .50 calibre machine guns and even

used larger craft which had five 250 hp out-

board motors and radar,” he said.

Throughout the 1990s, the massive

growth of LTTE influence in the Tamil dias-

pora enabled it to derive considerable logis-

tical and financial support to continue its

war effort in Sri Lanka. “The international di-

aspora involvement provided the LTTE with

supplies from abroad. The LTTE developed

a shipping network which also incorporated

smuggling and drug trafficking in their

warehouse ship operations.” He further em-

phasised, “The LTTE had control of land and

therefore had places to hide their boats.

Their requirement was to get their logistics

in with their bigger ships that attempted to

unload close to the shore. We confronted

them, but sometimes they got through. The

bigger ships kept moving further away and

tried to unload their weapons shipments, so

we acquired off-shore patrol vessels to pur-

sue them outside our exclusive economic

zone,” said vice Admiral Samarasinghe.

However, the end of the third phase of

Sri Lanka’s conflict known as Eelam War 3

(1995-2002), was followed by negotiation

proceedings that culminated into the Norwe-

gian mediated ceasefire agreement which

commenced in 2002 and ended abruptly

with the resumption of full scale hostilities

in 2006. Throughout the ceasefire, there

were many confrontations between the LTTE

and the Navy, especially due to the fact that

the Navy continued to play a central role in

supplying by sea the isolated and besieged

garrison on the Jaffna Peninsula, in Sri

Lanka’s north, which was subject to regular

harassment by the Sea Tigers. “The Navy

kept that sea route open at a heavy cost. We

had the major task of transporting a large

number of troops and civilians to the North,

so the Navy acquired a larger and more mod-

ern vessel which enabled us to move faster.

In addition, weekly and sometimes daily our

spare parts had to go, including large quan-

tities of the army’s artillery, weapons and

ammunition,” he said.

The commencement of the final phase of

Sri Lanka’s conflict (2006-09) saw the emer-

gence of a radically revised naval doctrine to

confront the Sea Tigers. The year 2006 saw

robust political and strategic leadership

which led to a major transformation in the

military and its way of war. According to

vice Admiral Samarasinghe, “We were all

asked for ideas and strategies to defeat the

LTTE and were invited to ask for whatever

we needed. The three forces brainstormed

strategies and put forward proposals which

were discussed at a higher level by the Na-

tional Security Council, and they decided the

final strategy,” he affirmed. “The strategy

adopted was to fight multi theatres, so that

the LTTE could not concentrate its forces. By

this time, we had several offshore patrol ves-

sels and with the help of foreign countries

we were able to increase our shore surveil-

lance facilities. The use of maritime domain

awareness was brought into the picture for

surveillance and coordination of radars

against the LTTE warehouse ships,” he

added. Throughout the years 2006 and

2007, the culmination of the Navy’s effort to

curb LTTE international shipping network

since 1999 led to eight LTTE warehouse

ships being sunk in the deep sea, which dealt

a critical blow to its maritime supply lines.

Similarly, the Navy’s rapid transforma-

tion led to the development of new brown

water capabilities that could effectively

challenge the dominance of the Sea Tigers

in the waters off Sri Lanka’s northern and

eastern coastlines. “To overcome suicide

boats, we improved our weapon systems,

bought more fast attack crafts, increased

our numerical strength and also tried to

build our own boats (our own boat building

facility started in 1997),” said vice Admiral

Samarasinghe. “We introduced the ‘small

boat concept’ as there was a large increase

in the number of LTTE suicide boats and

our bigger fast-attack vessels were some-

what vulnerable. This is why we decided to

increase production of our small boats, in-

crease their speed and fit a better weapons

outfit than that of the LTTE. The small boat

concept was effective because as the Sea

Tigers increased in number, so did the

Navy.” The strategy adopted by the Navy

ensured that the Sea Tigers suffered regular

and significant losses that were mostly ir-

replaceable, which therefore rapidly de-

pleted its effectiveness and capabilities as

an asymmetrical maritime force.

After almost three years of sustained

fighting, the Sea Tigers were a shadow of

their former capabilities, with the Navy suc-

cessfully learning to protect its harbours

and nullifying the threat posed by suicide

boats. The Army’s hard fought land cam-

paign successfully cornered the LTTE into a

small area along Sri Lanka’s north-eastern

coastline and compelled the Navy to main-

tain its largest ever naval blockade. “During

the last stages, we had four rings of boats

to prevent the escape of the LTTE leader-

ship. We had our small boats very close to

land, the inshore patrol crafts, fast-attack

craft, gunboats and offshore patrol vessels

further away to keep watch. This proved

very effective and though there was specu-

lation that the LTTE supreme leader left by

sea, they were all proved wrong. In addition,

we also saved thousands of civilians who

were held as human shields by the LTTE

when they escaped from LTTE controlled

areas by boat. It was a long blockade and

we coordinated with and had the support

of the Army. The only reason the ships

came into the harbour was for water. Crew

fatigue was not considered; people were

willing to stay. For 60 days, no one got off

and we didn’t receive a single request from

a commanding officer for leave,” he said.

The significance of the Sri Lanka Navy’s

contribution to the defeat of the LTTE is an

interesting example of successful combined

operations between land, air and naval

forces. “We are participating in many forums

and many navies around the world have re-

quested that we share our experience,” said

vice Admiral Samarasinghe. “In a short pe-

riod of time, I have been invited to three na-

tional symposiums and have been part of

the final panel in all three symposiums. The

Galle Dialogue Naval and Maritime Confer-

ence held at Galle in southern Sri Lanka in

August 2010 attended by 11 countries was

a tremendous success. Similarly, our officers

at lower levels are also sent for various in-

teractions offered by friendly countries,” he

added. This is further evidence that the

uniqueness of Sri Lanka’s counterinsurgency

strategy and success will continue to serve

as an important case study to militaries

worldwide which are seeking to absorb and

learn transferable lessons.

Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe is an analyst

who specialises in South Asian and Indian

Ocean Region politics and security.

CounteringSeparatist InsurgencyThe success of Sri Lanka Navy’s maritime campaign to defeat the Sea

Tigers, the maritime wing of the LTTE, and the deep sea fleet of LTTE

warehouse ships (known as the Sea Pigeons), played a major role in weak-

ening the LTTE and ultimately led to its military defeat. In an exclusive in-

terview with SP’s Naval Forces, the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy,

Vice Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe illustrates how the Navy contributed

to Sri Lanka’s counterinsurgency victory.

PhotograPh: sri Lankan Navy Media

Sri Lanka’s counterinsur-

gency strategy and success

will continue to serve as an

important case study to

militaries worldwide which

are seeking to absorb and

learn transferable lessons

6/201010


I N D U S T RY

n LT GENERAL (RETD) NARESH CHAND

AT THE TIME OF independence,

India had only government-

owned defence industries like

the ordnance factories and ship-

yards. There was no clear-cut in-

dustrial policy until the Industrial Policy

Resolution was undertaken in 1951, which

talked about self-reliance in many areas in-

cluding defence. After independence, only

the defence public sector and other govern-

ment factories were allowed to be a part of

the defence industry. As the security envi-

ronment demanded better weapons, India

looked towards Russia and majority of the

defence inventory tilted heavily in favour of

Russia which is true even today.

Naval PerspectiveThe Indian Navy is the only service in India

which has its own design team under the

Controller of Warship Production and Acqui-

sition. The design team has one group for

surface ships and the other for submarines.

Construction of ships is done by the four de-

fence public sector undertakings (DPSUs).

The fourth shipyard i.e. the Hindustan Ship-

yard has been recently acquired by the Min-

istry of Defence (MoD). The surface ship

design group also monitors and controls the

construction of ships in the shipyards.

The Indian Navy is a customer as well as

a designer. Smaller ships, boats and less

complex systems were framed out to the

other shipyards. The Indian Navy started in-

digenous warship construction in the early

1960s. However, most of the weaponry,

communications, sensors, marine equip-

ment, machinery and steel for the hull were

imported. Submarine construction suffered

after Prime Minister v.P. Singh’s govern-

ment stopped construction at Mazagon

Docks due to charges of corruption and the

know-how acquired was frittered away. This

has come in the way of Scorpene construc-

tion, causing avoidable delays. Naval hard-

ware is very expensive and as such its life

is stretched as much as possible which en-

tails mid-life upgrade. In spite of establish-

ing licensed production for imported

equipment, facilities have not been estab-

lished for such upgradations.

At present the Indian Navy has about 40

warships under construction, apart from the

Scorpene submarine project and the defence

shipyards have much more than they can

handle. If you add the aircraft carrier and the

nuclear submarine project then the list be-

comes formidable. The defence shipyards

are not known for their efficiency and cost

control. In fact some of unions had opposed

the Kelkar Committee’s recommendations

regarding participation of private industry.

This has resulted in long delays and massive

cost overruns in nearly all the projects. For

example India’s first stealth ship which was

to cost `2,250 crore (about $0.5 billion) es-

calated to ̀ 9,000 crore (about $2 billion) and

was delivered after 10 years. Similarly, the

cost of Destroyers escalated from `3,600

crore (about $0.8 billion) to `11,876 crore

(about $2.64 billion). The Scorpene project

has already been delayed by five years. The

aim is not to denigrate the DPSUs as they

have been the main suppliers to the Indian

Navy after independence but with the grow-

ing requirement of the Indian Navy, time has

come to develop shipbuilding expertise in

the private sector.

Partnership with the Private IndustryIndian Navy has made efforts in the past

to involve the private sector including

small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and

ancillary industries in supplying marine

equipment like alternators, diesel engines

and generators; minor equipment like

motors, pumps and valves. It is also possi-

ble for private companies to have joint

ventures with foreign original equipment

manufacturers (OEMs) to produce major

marine equipment and electronic systems

which are also required by commercial

ships. Some examples are electronic and

telecommunication systems; diesel en-

gines, turbines, propulsion systems like

propellers; deck machinery and machinery

control systems, etc. As the industry devel-

ops, many more complex systems can be

produced and supplied.

l Participation of private industry has

been permitted since 2001-02. Twenty

six per cent foreign direct investment

(FDI) is permitted, but there is a case

for increasing it to around 49 per cent.

To review the defence acquisition

process, the Kelkar Committee was

formed which submitted its report in

April 2005. One of the important rec-

ommendations was to encourage the

participation of India’s top private

firms in defence production. It took

into account the increased capabilities

of Indian industry, growing globalisa-

tion of defence industry and suggested

exploring synergies amongst private

sector, DRDO, ordnance factories and

public sector. To promote greater

involvement of the private industry

and to create a level-playing field for

them when pitted against the DPSUs,

some leading companies which met the

criteria were to be granted the title of

Raksha Utpadan Ratnas (RURs), liter-

ally meaning ‘gems of the defence in-

dustry’. These firms would be treated

on a par with the DPSUs and ordnance

factories for the purpose of defence

production. RURs would have the fol-

lowing advantages:

— Eligibility to design, develop and pro-

duce major weapons platforms and de-

fence systems, manufacture weapons

and equipment developed by the DRDO.

— Receive technology from foreign de-

fence corporations and undertake

licensed production of foreign-origin

systems.

— Undertake defence research and devel-

opment, funded by the MoD up to

80 per cent.

— Duty-free import of equipment for de-

fence R&D and making prototypes of

weapons and equipment.

In addition, a portion of the offset

measures are bound to flow into private

industry, thereby assisting them in their

growth.

Areas of interest and likely hurdles for

the private industry:

l Trained manpower: Lack of trained

manpower as the private sector was not

involved in defence industry. However,

this can be overcome by training and re-

cruitment of retired personnel.

l Infrastructure: Lack of infrastructure

and lack of guidelines as to what will be

the size and shape of future weapon ac-

quisitions in a long-term perspective for

the private companies plan for the fu-

ture.

l Sale: Not possible to guarantee the sale

of a particular product.

l Export: At times the numbers are too

small to be cost effective. In any case ex-

ports are essential to generate profit but

the gestation period is very long for

this. Normally it takes about 20 years

production cycle to mature. Thus there

is no return on investment for the

private industry in the initial years.

Majority of the governments, directly or

indirectly fund the private defence in-

dustry to ensure its solvency in the in-

terest of the nation. The Indian

Government has to follow this model if

it desires for the private industry to

grow. But for this the private industry

has to prove that it can perform better

than the current system.

l R&D: Research and development comes

at a high cost as seen from the perform-

ance of the DRDO with its ever expand-

ing budget and delayed deadlines. Thus

the government has to pitch in for the

private companies by declaring selected

companies as RURs so that the govern-

ment can partially fund research and

development. The biggest exporters of

arms are those countries which have a

huge research and development budget

and decades of experience.

l High cost: The cost of military hardware

is very high, more so for naval plat-

forms. An aircraft carrier like Gorshkov

costs $2.1 billion (`9,450 crore) just for

the conversion and a new aircraft car-

rier cost as much as $3-4 billion

(`13,500-18,000 crore). Fremm multi-

purpose frigate, which is a European

project costs approximately $3.3 mil-

lion (`14.8 crore). With such high costs,

government support is essential for

funding and assured orders. The model

already exists in Europe and the US.

l Long gestation period: The gestation

period from research and development

to the user is quite long which includes

design and development, manufacture,

trials, acceptance and warranty support.

Post-warranty support will include as-

sured supply of spares during the life of

the equipment and midlife upgrades.

Thus the industry should be prepared

for a long-term commitment.

l Technology: Private industries till now

have not been involved in the defence

industry except for some low level pro-

duction. Thus they do not have a high

technological base. To involve them in

the process, they have to have access to

technology in a phased manner so that

they have ample time to absorb it. They

should also be aware of the process in-

volved in the transfer of technology.

l Military specifications: The private in-

dustry has to become aware of military

specifications and standards including

quality control.

l Ship design: Ship design is knowledge

intensive and thus requires invest-

ments in all aspects of design. Private

companies have to have their own

design teams if they want to get in-

volved in warship construction. Also

there is enough business opportunity to

augment the design departments of

the DPSUs.

l Joint ventures and collaboration:

There is enough maritime business for

all to share and a joint venture/collabo-

ration approach will be more successful

especially considering the high-tech

naval platforms involved and their high

cost. It is not only companies in the US

and Europe who take the consortium

approach, but it spans across countries.

l Upgrades: There is a great opportunity

for carrying out midlife upgrades of ex-

isting platforms and as there is lack of

space in the DPSUs, they are being sent

abroad to the OEMs.

l System integrator: This is another area

which the private companies can take

up and reduce the load on the DPSUs.

l Maintenance: It is another area which

generates opportunity is the mainte-

nance of ships and submarines, but

these require large capital investments

in dry docks and berths. In fact, at pres-

ent, the demand for ship repair and dry

docks is very large. With the right incen-

tives, India can develop as a nodal cen-

tre for ship repair.

SMEs have a great opportunity for supply

of special and general equipment as thou-

sands of sub assemblies and components go

into the construction of naval hardware.

SMEs have the advantage of having a very

short reaction time to carry out supplies at

a low cost due to less overhead. In any case,

many large companies generally do not re-

spond to tenders of low value. Government

procedures for acquisition have an inherent

delay in the process of ‘orders’ to ‘payment’

which may be difficult for a SME to absorb.

Thus, it will be better for them to collaborate

with larger companies and thereby avoid

dealing with the government directly.

Future VisionThe government has many plans to enlarge

the industrial base, but they have not been

translated into action. As there is more than

enough maritime business for all, the gov-

ernment sector should loosen their strangle-

hold and encourage the private sector to

develop. Private shipyards like Larsen &

Toubro, ABG Shipyard, SKIL Infrastructure

Ltd, Adani and Bharathi are coming up and

have global ambitions. At a recent function,

the Defence Minister hinted at the change of

defence production policy as he stated, “The

first ever Defence Production Policy would

be unveiled soon and major changes incor-

porated in the Defence Procurement Policy.”

It is hoped that the new production and pro-

curement policy provides a level-playing to

the private industry.

Public or Private

Government in DilemmaAs there is more than enough maritime business for all, the government sector should loosen its stranglehold and

encourage the private sector to develop. Private sector participation in defence production would be a long-term

commitment and mutually beneficial.

I N D U S T RY / O E M

6/2010 11

n SUCHETA DAS MOHAPATRA

IS THE INDIAN DEFENCE MARKET really

growing? With n-number of international

companies opening their offices in the

country, it seems it actually is. Whitehead

Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS), a Finmec-

canica company, has chosen India to open

its first subsidiary in the world and has

named it the Win Blue Water Services Pri-

vate Ltd. With a focus on sale of naval

equipment, Win will conduct market re-

search and analysis, offset and supply

chain management and thus help WASS ex-

pand its footprint in India. The Indian office

will deal with the markets in Middle East

and Far East as well.

Addressing a press conference to mark

the inauguration of the new Indian office in

New Delhi, Giuliano Enea, Director, Win Blue

Water Services Private Ltd said, “The Indian

defence market is increasing in size and this

office will help us have a foothold in the

country. WASS is in India since 1975. We at

Win, with our expertise, would provide assis-

tance and advice to parent and other compa-

nies on how to approach the Indian market.”

“We are looking ahead to industrial part-

nership with both public and private sector

companies in India. Our aim is not only to

sale, but also to improve the services, pro-

vide logistic support, provide expertise to

any foreign company and also support the

offset requirement,” said Sunil Bhatia, Direc-

tor, Win Blue Water Services Private Ltd.

Known for its underwater advanced sys-

tems like lightweight and heavyweight tor-

pedoes, torpedo countermeasures, WASS is

offering its Black Shark torpedoes to the In-

dian Navy. A request for proposal (RFP) has

also been issued by Bharat Dynamics Lim-

ited for torpedo countermeasures for the

Indian Navy, informed the officials. “We

have visited about a 100 Indian companies

for possible joint ventures. We do not want

to compromise on our standards and so are

looking for partners who would comply

with our standards,” said Antonio Budroni,

Regional Delegate, WASS. With regard to the

sale of their surveillance equipment, the

company has begun talks with private in-

dustries working on the shores, but did not

seem to have much hope from the Indian

Government. “We had demonstrated our

surveillance equipment for harbour protec-

tion ahead of 26/11 terror attacks in Mum-

bai, but we are not sure how is the Indian

Government wanting to protect its shores,”

said Budroni. “Underwater internet cable is

a dangerous and sensitive area which needs

to be protected,” he added.

“We have demonstrated our product be-

fore different agencies and hope that year

2011 will be a year of good knowledge and

quality response.” said the officials’ opti-

mistic about the Indian market. Ambassador

of Italy to India Giacomo Sanfelice di Monte-

forte was also present at the inauguration.

WASS Opens First Subsidiary in IndiaThe Finmeccanica Company aims at expanding its footprint in India through its subsidiary Win Blue Water Services

Private Ltd

SP’s

READ SP’s NAVALFORCES MAGAZINE AS eBOOK!

WATCH EXCITING VIDEO FOOTAGES!

BROWSE LATESTNEWS UPDATES!

SEE THE LATEST VIDEOS:WASS OPENS FIRST SUBSIDIARY IN INDIA

FIRST F-35C LIGHTNING II ARRIVES AT NAS PATUXENT RIVER JOIN US ON

DO INDIAN DEFENCE SHIIPYARDS MATCHTHEIR COUNTERPARTS ABROAD?

Yes No Don’t Know

Join the poll & comment

(Left-Right) Giuliano Enea, Director, Win Blue Water Services Pvt Ltd, Italian Ambassador Giacomo Sanfelice diMonteforte, Antonio Burdroni, Regional Delegate, WASS and

Sunil Bhatia, Director, Win Blue Water Services Pvt Ltd

PhotograPh: abhishek / sP guide Pubns

For related video log on to www.spsnavalforces.net

n LT GENERAL (RETD) NARESH CHAND

INDIAN NAvY HAS PLANNED a three-

carrier force to cater to India’s security

needs. At present the Indian Naval Ship

(INS) viraat is already in service, the

second one is under construction at

the Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) and the third

one is being imported from Russia. The con-

struction of indigenous aircraft carriers was

planned way back in 1989, one to replace

INS vikrant in 1997 and the other to aug-

ment the fleet. The design was planned with

DCN which later on became DCNS and the

construction was to be carried out at CSL.

But due to cost constraints and other limita-

tions, the project went through many

changes including change of nomenclature

from air defence ship to Indian Aircraft Car-

rier (IAC) Project 71. The situation became

more critical with the decommissioning of

INS vikrant in January 1997 and the Indian

Navy was left with only INS viraat. An air-

craft carrier, specially which is second-hand,

needs frequent maintenance and thus does

not guarantee its availability during crisis.

The Indian Navy became desperate to get an-

other aircraft carrier and thus the plan to ac-

quire Admiral Gorshkov was formulated.

Admiral Gorshkov was a modified Kiev Class

aircraft carrier of the Russian Navy, origi-

nally named Baku. Meanwhile, Project 71

was taking shape in CSL. There is a plan to

build another aircraft carrier after the cur-

rent Project 71, but it is too futuristic to

comment at present. It was also decided to

maintain INS viraat as long as possible. The

progress on Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier ac-

quisition programme is as follows:

INS ViraatINS viraat was commissioned in the Royal

Navy as HMS Hermes in 1959. It served as

the flagship of the Royal Navy’s task force

during the Falkland Islands campaign in

1982 and was decommissioned in 1985. It

was purchased by the Indian Navy during

April 1986, where it was given an extensive

refit at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth,

England. It joined the Indian Navy during

1987 and since then has undergone many

mid-service life refits. The ship has been

more than 50 years in service, out of which

it has been with the Indian Navy for more

than 23 years. The recent mid-service life

refit has been to refurbish it in its entirety.

It includes strengthening of the hull wher-

ever required, major overhaul of the

propulsion system including the boilers

and the twin steam turbines and upgrade of

electronic systems, sensors and communi-

cations. Apart from this, routine mainte-

nance has been carried out. The aim is to

increase the life span till Project 71 and

Gorshkov materialises.

Admiral GorshkovAdmiral Gorshkov is a modified Kiev Class

aircraft carrier of the Russian Navy, origi-

nally named Baku which was commissioned

in January 1987 and decommissioned

in1996. It was sold to India in 2004 for con-

version into an aircraft carrier for the Indian

Navy. It was to be a short take-off but ar-

rested recovery (STOBAR) carrier and named

INS vikramaditya. It has a displacement of

44,570-tonne, deck of 273 m Ski jump and

aircraft complement of 20 MiG-29 fighters

and up to eight Kamov Ka-28/Ka-31 anti-

submarine helicopters. It would also be able

to carry HAL Tejas and Dhruv light helicop-

ters. The original contact for $1.5 billion

(`6,750 crore) was signed in 2004 between

India and Rosoboronexport with the delivery

to take place by 2008. The cost $750 million

(`3,375 crore) was for the retrofit of the car-

rier and the balance weaponry, including

MiG-29K fulcrum aircraft and Ka-27 Helix-A

and Ka-31 Helix-B anti-submarine helicop-

ters. After the upgradation and overhaul, it

was to remain sea worthy for 30 years.

Renegotiation Controversy The contract soon ran into controversy with

Russia demanding escalation in cost and

delayed delivery schedule. Russia kept on

asking for the increase in price which fi-

nally came to about $2.2 billion (`9,900

crore) with the rationale that a new aircraft

carrier will cost about $3-4 billion (`13,500-

18,100 crore) and refurbished aircraft car-

rier will cost about 60-70 per cent of thus

would be around $2 billion (`9,000 crore).

One view was that the price was being

linked with the accident of Russian nuclear

submarine Nerpa which was to be leased to

the Indian Navy. However, it became a fait

accompli for India as it had already in-

vested a lot of money and time on the proj-

ect. Moreover, delivery of the fighter

aircraft MiG-29K had already started and In-

dian Navy pilots were being trained in it.

The Government of India has agreed to

cough up the amount and it is to be deliv-

ered by 2012. It is hoped that Russia does

not spring any more surprises.

IAC Project 71The project has undergone many changes

and the current configuration displaces

37,500 tonnes, measuring about 260 metres

by 60 metres, with a top speed of 28 knots

and endurance of 8,000 nautical miles. The

construction commenced with the plate cut-

ting on April 11, 2005 and the keel was laid

down on February 28, 2009. The design ap-

pears to be influenced by Italian Navy’s An-

drea Dorea Class now called Cavour Class

aircraft carrier. It will be powered by four

HAL-built General Electric LM 2500 gas tur-

bines driving two shafts. The IAC will have a

STOBAR arrangement on an angled flight.

The air component is likely to consist of

about 12 combat aircraft such as the Naval

LCA, the MiG-29K or the Sea Harrier

Mk.51/Mk.60, along with 10 helicopters like

HAL Dhruv and/or the Sea King Mk.42. Russ-

ian company NDB is likely to assist in the

aviation technology related aspects. It is un-

derstood that Fincantieri’s Naval vessel Busi-

ness Unit has been contacted for preparing

the concept, design and implementation

plans. The company is likely to continue till

commissioning. The hull and landing deck

are to be built by Larsen & Tubro Limited.

One reason for the delay was the availability

of suitable steel. The ship was to be launched

during end 2010 and delivered by the end of

2014.The carrier will be equipped with the

latest weaponry, sensors, battle management

systems, navigation systems and communi-

cations. On Navy Day last year, Chief of

Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal verma had indi-

cated that the second IAC will be more capa-

ble than the current one under construction.

It may be closer to 50,000 tonnes with a

steam catapult. There were indications ear-

lier that the Navy may opt for the latest elec-

tromagnetic aircraft launch system.

6/201012


P R O C U R E M E N T

Besides the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Viraat,

which is already in service, the second

one is under construction at the Cochin

Shipyard Limited (CSL) and the third one

is being imported from Russia

Three-carrier Force

There were indications earlier

that the Indian Navy may opt

for the latest electromagnetic

aircraft launch system

A Sea Harrier tethered on INS Viraat deck

Ph

oto

gr

aP

h: I

ndia

n N

avy

6/2010 13

T E C K N O w / R E P O R T

On Combat & Intelligence Mission

DCNS has unveiled its SMX concept ship. For the

concept ship, DCNS has focused on how to get

what is essentially a conventional submarine to a

theatre of operations as quickly as possible. Powered by

three gas turbines driving three water jets, the SMX-25

submersible is designed to achieve a sustained surface

speed of 38 knots.

The SMX-25 is essentially a conventional submarine

but can be deployed very quickly. On reaching its desig-

nated patrol area, the SMX-25 will operate like other sub-

marines using the same types of sensors and resources.

In the innovative semi-surfaced configuration, with

only the upper portion of the sail above water, the boat

will be able to use the same kind of sensors (including

aircraft surveillance radar) and weapons as a conven-

tional surface combatant i.e. anti-ship, land-strike and

anti-air missiles launched from vertical silos while main-

taining an extremely discrete radar signature. The SMX-25

will be equipped to deploy combat swimmers and their

delivery vehicles, commandos, unmanned underwater ve-

hicles (UUvs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAvs).

The purpose of the SMX-25 project is to send a ves-

sel, having the advantages of both a submarine and of a

surface ship. Carrying 16 missiles, four heavy torpedoes

and machine guns, it can engage in surface as well as

underwater combat. A vessel able to take into account

the constraints affecting land and littoral combat, it will

carry, in addition to its 27 crew members, 10 Special

Forces troops, with a displacement of 4,850 tonnes sub-

merged and 2,850 tonnes surfaced. With a length of 109

m (354 ft), quiet and stealthy in design, this vessel is ca-

pable of reconnaissance as well as combat or intelli-

gence missions.

For related video log on to www.spsnavalforces.net

T E C K N O W

n SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

FROM OCTOBER 25 TO 29, 2010,

the Le Bourget exhibition centre at

Paris witnessed a congregation of

technology, products, services,

machinery and equipment. Euro-

naval 2010, an international exhibition and

conference of technologies, equipment and

services for the naval defence industry fo-

cused on the global challenges facing the

maritime world and the growing impor-

tance of sustainable development in mar-

itime trade and shipping.

ThalesThales displayed its unmanned underwater

vehicles (UUv) and autonomous underwater

vehicles (AUv). The UUvs and AUvs are

used in mine countermeasures (MCM) and

anti-submarine warfare (ASW), as well as in

the protection of harbours. Thales designs

AUv internal navigation systems based on

an inertial system associated to a Doppler

log. This provides high performance locali-

sation accuracy crucial for mine relocalisa-

tion during neutralisation or mine

avoidance phases. The necessary sensor

suites onboard UUvs and AUvs provide ac-

cess to environmental parameters. These ei-

ther confirm the pre-defined mission plan

or allow the systems to build a new opti-

mised plan taking into account real envi-

ronmental parameters.

Northrop GrummanNorthrop Grumman showcased its LPD San

Antonio-class amphibious warfare and

transport ship and its international patrol

frigate, a versatile and affordable warship

based on the multi-mission National Secu-

rity Cutter currently operated by the US

Coast Guard. The company’s Sa’ar 5B lit-

toral corvette, an enhanced version of the

Northrop Grumman Sa’ar 5 corvette cur-

rently in service with the Israel Navy will

also be on display as well as the advanced

Enforcer-class fast patrol craft design.

Others on display were the company’s

Sperry Marine’s latest generation of naviga-

tion and ship control technology vision-

Master FT and Sperry Marine’s MK39 ring

laser gyro navigation system and the MK27

fibre-optic attitude and heading reference

system for naval vessels.

SaabSaab introduced for the first time the new

generation command and control system

9Lv Mk4, a modular and scalable system al-

lowing unique software connectivity and in-

teroperability. Saab’s remotely operated

underwater vehicles– the double eagle, ves-

sel traffic management system, ship control

system and missile systems as RBS15

among other products and systems for the

naval domain.

SagemSagem exhibited its long-endurance Pa-

troller UAv at the Euronaval 2010 exhibi-

tion. The Patroller-M (Maritime) is designed

for coastal surveillance and maritime ap-

proach missions. It can also be used in

other naval operations, such as SAR and in

fighting against trafficking, piracy or illegal

immigration. The Patroller UAv showcased

was the homeland security ’S’ version (al-

ready available for sale).

EurocopterEurocopter displayed the NH90 NFH helicop-

ter, produced by the NH Industries, a joint

venture of Eurocopter, AgustaWestland and

Fokker. The NH90 NFH offers unrivalled

flexibility to achieve the ‘one ship-one heli-

copter’ multi-role frigate concept. Euro-

copter’s indoor exhibit at Euronaval were the

AS565 MB Panther, AS365 N3 Dauphin and

EC645.The Panther is the military version of

Eurocopter’s twin-engine Dauphin rotary-

wing aircraft, providing a multi-purpose,

medium-weight helicopter tailored for appli-

cations that include anti-submarine warfare,

anti-surface warfare, search and rescue, eco-

nomic exclusive zone (EEz) surveillance and

control patrols, maritime counter-terrorism,

casualty and medical evacuation, as well as

troop and cargo transport. The EC645 is an

armed variant of the EC145 twin-engine hel-

icopter, which can be used in the maritime

environment for EEz surveillance, armed sea

police missions, counter-terrorism, search

and rescue, as well as personnel evacuation

and cargo delivery.

Atlas ElektronikAtlas Elektronik, a joint subsidiary of

ThyssenKrupp and EADS had on offer

sonars and sensors, command and control

systems for submarines and surface

combatants, mine countermeasures sys-

tems, unmanned underwater vehicles,

radio and communications equipment,

naval weapons as well as coastal surveil-

lance and traffic guidance system. The

company’s 2,000th SeaFox is a powerful

mine disposal vehicle and the new SeaFox

MKIII is being fitted with a novel type of

fuse that will allow safe on-board recovery

of the SeaFox C if it is not used after de-

ployment. The company also highlighted

on SeaOtter MkII and vision600 synthetic

aperture sonar.

The purpose of the SMX-25 project is to send a vessel having the advantages of both a submarine and a surface ship

Rendezvous in ParisEuronaval 2010 witnessed a congregation of technology, products, services, machinery and equipment

(Above left) Eurocopter AS565;(right) Sagem’s Patroller-M UAV andAtlas Elektronik’s SeaOtter MKII

Specifications

Length overall : 109 m

Max. speed, semi-surfaced : 38 knots

Displacement, surface : 2,850 tonnes

Displacement, submerged : 4,850 tonnes

Speed, submerged : 10 knots

Endurance, patrol : 30 days

PhotograPhs: Eurocopter, sagem, atlas

Ph

oto

gr

aP

h: D

CN

s

6/201014


I N D U S T RY


FROM A vERY HUMBLE beginning

as a marine repairs facility, the

Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, crossed

a historic landmark when it cele-

brated the 275th anniversary of

its existence on October 6, 2010. Estab-

lished to build both “men-of-war” and mer-

chant ships during the British era, over the

years, this dockyard has grown to be

recognised as one of the most reputed

yards in the world. Since its inception, the

ships built by this yard were found to be

more durable and sea worthy than those

built in Europe. Soon after gaining inde-

pendence, it was decided by the govern-

ment to create major repair and mainte-

nance infrastructure to support warships

solely for the Indian Navy.

Established in 1735, the yard has

steadily added infrastructure and facilities

commensurate with growing demands of

time by building dry-docks of multiple di-

mensions, all of which are in use even today.

Illustrious Bombay Dock took 15 years to be

built, adding multi-dimensional capacity in

a phased manner, between 1750 and 1765.

Named after Sir Jonathan Duncan, the then

Governor of Bombay, Duncan Dock was

added in 1807 to build warships. The first

ship to be built in Duncan Dock was Minden

which was the first major Royal Navy ship

to be built outside British Isle. The facilities

available with the marine yard at Bombay

were unparalleled in the East and provided

the British with a full-fledged base to fulfill

their global dominance ambitions.

The Master Builders of the Dockyard be-

longed to the Wadia family from Surat. The

first Master Builder, Lowjee Nusserwanjee

Wadia, was brought over from Surat to start

the shipbuilding activities in this yard. He

was followed by eight other master

builders, all from the same lineage, who

kept the shipbuilding skills at the yard in-

tact till 1884. The reputation of shipbuild-

ing infrastructure which the Wadias had

established soon spread far and wide, re-

sulting in a spate of orders for shipbuilding

on the Bombay Docks.

During the British rule, 170 war vessels

were built for the East India Company, 34

warships for the Royal Navy and 87 mer-

chant vessels for private companies. These

included ships for the East India Company,

Bengal Pilot Service and a host of private

merchants. The largest ship built was “Mea-

nee” with a displacement of 2,591 tonnes.

Steam propulsion-based ships were built as

early as 1829. Some of the famous warships

built at the Bombay Docks include Ganges,

Cornwallis, Minden and Asia. HMS Trinco-

malee, a frigate, built by the Bombay Dock

in 1817, is the second oldest ship afloat in

the world.

Spread over 55 hectares, now Naval

Dockyard, Mumbai, has a vast range of en-

gineering facilities to meet every mainte-

nance need of ships and submarines of the

Indian Navy and is manned by a highly

skilled workforce of over 11,000 personnel.

Pioneering efforts of then Cdr N.E. Warner,

Cdr A.K. Bhatia, Cdr Daya Shankar, Lt Cdr

B.P. Sinha and S. Parmanandan have signif-

icantly contributed to the historic growth of

the yard which were further augmented by

successive generations of professionals to-

wards transformation of this dockyard to

the sophisticated levels of excellence.

To commemorate the 275th Anniver-

sary on October, 6, 2010, a seminar on life

cycle support for ships and submarines was

organised by the Western Naval Command

at Nehru Centre, Worli, Mumbai. Governor

of Maharashtra K. Sankaranarayan, Flag Of-

ficer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval

Command, vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin

and many senior officers of the Indian Navy

were present on the occasion.

Alongside the seminar an exhibition

TechYard 2010 was also organised by West-

ern Naval Command at the Nehru Centre,

Worli, Mumbai, which was inaugurated by

Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam

Raju. Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Nir-

mal verma, vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin

and several senior officers of Indian Navy

were present on the occasion.

Established in 1735, the Naval Dockyard has steadily added infrastructure and facilities commensurate with growing

demands of time by building dry-docks of multiple dimensions, all of which are in use even today

275 Glorious Years

President Obama being received by Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin FoC-in- C Western Naval Command at INS Shikra in Mumbai

PhotograPhs: Indian Navy

Ph

oto

gr

aP

h: I

ndia

n N

avy

Minister of State for Defence M.M.Pallam Raju with Chief of the NavalStaff, Admiral Nirmal Verma, Vice Admiral Sanjeev Bhasin and severalsenior officers at TechYard 2010

COOPERATIVE APPROACH FOR SECURITYOF SEA LANES

Defence Minister A.K. Antony has called for

adoption of cooperative approach for en-

suring the security of sea lanes in the Asia-

Pacific Region. Addressing the first ever

ASEAN Plus Eight Defence Ministers’ Meet-

ing in Hanoi, Antony said India is partici-

pating in two projects together with the

Malacca countries, within the framework of

IMO, to improve the safety of navigation in

this region. The Indian Navy is conducting

anti-piracy patrolling and escort operations

in the Gulf of Aden for over two years as

piracy remains a serious challenge for the

world community and expressed India’s

commitment to work together with other

countries to address piracy. He added that

the security of sea lanes of communication

is vital in today’s world. It is in the common

interest of nations to keep sea lanes open,

secure and free for navigation, trade and

energy supplies.

NAVY TO INCREASE CONTACT IN IORAddressing the Indian Navy’s Commanders’

Conference, Defence Minister A.K. Antony

has called for increased Navy-to-Navy con-

tact with the littoral countries of the Indian

Ocean Region (IOR) which would strengthen

professional ties and mutual trust, and

streamline interoperability issues.

DEFENCE MINISTER AT COAST GUARDCOMMANDERS’ CONFERENCE

Defence Minister A.K. Antony inaugurated

the 29th Annual Coast Guard Commanders’

Conference at Delhi. The Minister declared

that the Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN)

station at Tarapore in Maharashtra will be

commissioned very soon which will provide

a big boost to our real time maritime domain

awareness. He said that the ever increasing

threat from the sea has necessitated the

strengthening of the coastal security mech-

anism. It is also required to keep our vast

maritime zones under effective round-the-

year surveillance. Keeping India’s security

concerns in view, he said that the establish-

ment of 46 chain of static sensors atop the

light houses along the coastline needs to be

speeded up. He said the Government is com-

mitted to enhance the force levels in a

phased manner in the near future; recent

progress on increased presence of Coast

Guard include commissioning of five sta-

tions at Karwar, Gandhinagar, veraval, Hut-

bay and MurudJanjira, District Headquarters

No 12 at Kavaratti and Regional Headquar-

ters of the North-East, along with a co-lo-

cated station at Kolkata are likely to be

established next year. In addition, five sta-

tions at Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, Minicoy in

Lakshadweep & Minicoy Islands, Mundra in

Gujarat, Kolkata in West Bengal and Dahanu

in Maharashtra are also likely to come up

next year. The remaining nine stations at Pi-

pavav, Androth, Karaikkal, Krishnapatnam,

Nizampatnam, Gopalpur, Frazergunj,

Kamorta and Mayabunder are slated for

commissioning soon; as for future plans are

concerned, as many as 42 Coast Guard sta-

tions will be functioning all along the coast

by the end of the current Eleventh Plan.

PIRACY ATTEMPT THWARTEDOn November11, about 450 nautical miles

West of Mumbai, a merchant ship Mv BBC

Orinoco with a crew of 14 (5 Ukraine and 9

Philippino) reported being attacked by pi-

rates. The crew had locked themselves in the

ships engine room and the steering compart-

ment and communicated with their agents,

UK MTO Dubai, on e-mail. Dubai, in turn, in-

timated the Indian Navy for assistance. The

Navy detached one of its missile corvettes,

INS veer, to intercept the distressed vessel.

Soon thereafter missile destroyer, INS Delhi

with a team of Marine Commandos (MAR-

COS) embarked was dispatched to the scene.

One of Navy’s long range maritime patrol

aircraft was extensively deployed for aerial

surveillance. The Indian Coast Guard too re-

sponded with alacrity to keep one or more

Dornier aircraft on standby, besides asking

their ships on assigned mission to be also on

stand-by. At daybreak, the naval forces,

which had arrived at the scene, commenced

their actions. MARCOS slithered onto the

merchant ship from a Sea King helicopter

and took the crew to safety. Naval personnel

searched the ship thoroughly and the mer-

chantman set course for its destination once

the boarding party reported all clear.

JOINT JAPAN-US MISSILE DEFENSEFLIGHT TEST SUCCESSFULThe Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force

(JMSDF) and the US Missile Defense Agency

(MDA) have announced the successful com-

pletion of an Aegis ballistic missile defense

(BMD) intercept flight test, in cooperation

with the US Navy, off the coast of Kauai in

Hawaii. The event marked the fourth time

that a JMSDF ship has engaged a ballistic

missile target, including three successful in-

tercepts, with the sea-based midcourse en-

gagement capability provided by Aegis

BMD. JS Kirishima crew detected and

tracked the target.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN $48 MILLION ADVANCE PROCUREMENT CONTRACT The US Navy has awarded a $48 million

(`216 crore) cost-plus fixed-fee contract

modification to Northrop Grumman Corpo-

ration for advance procurement of long-

lead materials and performance of

engineering/planning efforts for LHA 7, the

second in the Navy’s latest class of large-

deck amphibious assault ships. The first

ship, America (LHA 6) is being built in

Pascagoula and is currently 33 per cent

complete. With this award, Northrop Grum-

man will provide additional engineering,

planning and technical support for the cur-

rent contract. The Navy issued the initial

contract in June for $175 million (`788

crore). LHA 7 will be 844 feet long and 106

feet wide and weigh 44,854 tonnes. Its hy-

brid propulsion system will drive it to

speeds in excess of 22 knots on its gas tur-

bines, but will also run cost-efficiently on

its auxiliary electric propulsion motors. It

will accommodate 1,204 crew and can

surge to accommodate 1,871 troops. LHA 7

will have an extended hangar deck with two

higher hangar bay areas, each fitted with an

overhead crane for aircraft maintenance.

DCNS DELIVERS SECOND SKJOLD FAST PATROL BOATRoyal Norwegian Navy has taken delivery of

the second Skjold fast patrol boat. The six-

ship programme is led by a consortium

comprising DCNS and two Norwegian con-

tractors with DCNS acting as combat sys-

tem design authority and co-supplier. DCNS

is working with Norway’s Umoe Mandal

shipyard and Kongsberg Defence & Aero-

space. Skjold FPBs are designed specifically

to patrol Norway’s littoral waters. Skjold

Class FPBs have a overall length of less than

50 metres and is equipped with eight anti-

ship missiles and a 76-mm gun.

UPGRADE FOR ROYAL NAVY MINEHUNTERS BAE Systems has secured a £15 million

(`109 crore) contract as part of a major

overhaul project to replace the 30-year-old

propulsion systems onboard the Royal

Navy’s eight Hunt Class mine countermea-

sure vessels. The equipment procurement

contract comes on the back of the com-

pany’s successful completion of the techni-

cal recommendation for a new propulsion

and machinery control system to the Min-

istry of Defence.

6/2010 15

Publisher and Editor-in-ChiefJayant Baranwal

Assistant group Editor r. Chandrakanth

Senior Editorial Adviser r. adm (retd) s.K. ramsay

Senior Technical Group Editor Lt general (retd) Naresh Chand

Contributing EditorsLt general (retd) V.K. Kapoorair Marshal (retd) V.K. Bhatia

Senior Copy Editor & Correspondentsucheta Das Mohapatra

Assistant Correspondentabhay singh thapa

Assistant Photo Editorabhishek singh

ContributorsIndia

admiral (retd) arun Prakashr. adm (retd) raja Menon

Cmde rajeev sawhney

Europealan Peaford, Doug richardson,

andrew Brookes (UK)

USA & CanadaLon Nordeen (Usa)

anil r. Pustam (West Indies)

West Asia/Africah.r. heitman (s. africa)

Chairman & Managing DirectorJayant Baranwal

Administration & CoordinationBharti sharma, survi Massey

Senior Art Directoranoop Kamath

DesignVimlesh Kumar Yadav, sonu singh Bisht

Sales & MarketingDirector sales & Marketing: Neetu Dhulia

head Vertical sales: rajeev Chugh

SP’s Websitesr. Web Developer: shailendra P. ashishWeb Developer: Ugrashen Vishwakarma

Published bimonthly by Jayant Baranwal onbehalf of sP guide Publications Pvt Ltd. allrights reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted in any form or by anymeans, photocopying, recording, electronic,

or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers.

Printed in India by Kala Jyothi Process Pvt Ltd

© sP guide Publications, 2010

annual subscriptionInland: `600 • overseas: Us$180

Email: [email protected]

Letters to the [email protected]

For advertising Details, Contact: [email protected]

[email protected] [email protected]

SP GUIDE PUBLICATIONS PVT LTDPOSTAL ADDRESS

Post Box No 2525, New Delhi 110 005, India

Corporate Officea 133 arjun Nagar, opp Defence Colony,

New Delhi 110 003, Indiatel: +91(11) 24644693, 24644763, 24620130

Fax: +91 (11) 24647093

Regd OfficeFax: +91 (11) 23622942

Email: [email protected]

representative officesBANGALORE, INDIA

air Marshal (retd) B.K. Pandey534, Jal Vayu Vihar, Kammanhalli Main rd,

Bangalore 560043, India.tel: +91 (80) 23682534

MOSCOW, RUSSIALagUK Co., Ltd, Yuri Laskin

Krasnokholmskaya, Nab.,11/15, app. 132, Moscow 115172, russia.

tel: +7 (495) 911 2762, Fax: +7 (495) 912 1260

www.spguidepublications.comwww.spsnavalforces.net

rNI Number: DELENg/2008/25836

1-2 December

Anti-Submarine Warfare 2010

London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor

Square, London, UK

www.anti-submarinewarfare.com

6-8 December

9th Future Naval Summit

Renaissance Portsmouth Hotel, Wa-

terfront Conference Center, vA, USA

www.futurenavalplanssummit.com

9-10 December

Naval Construction, Repair and Refit

Le Méridien Piccadilly, London, UK

www.navalrepairrefit.com

9-11 December

INMARCO-INAvation 2010

National Centre Of Performing Arts

(NCPA) Nariman Point, Mumbai

www.inmarco-inavation.com

24-26 January 2011

9th Annual Underwater Battlespace

Radisson Blues Hotel, Rome, Italy

www.uwbevent.com

1-2 February 2011

2nd Maritime Piracy & Security Summit

Dusit Thani Dubai, Dubai, UAE

www.acius.net

20-24 February 2011

International Defence Exhibition and

Conference (IDEX 2011)

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition

Centre, Abu Dhabi, UAE

www.idexuae.ae

21-22 February 2011

Seaport Security India

2011, Le Royal Meridien Mumbai,

Mumbai, India

http://seaportsecurityindia.com

20-24 February 2011

NAVDEX 2011

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition

Centre, Abu Dhabi , UAE

www.navdex.ae

>> SHOW CALENDAR

News in Brief

MASTER IN STRATEGY

Design and product ion of e lectron ic defence systems by ELETTRONICA S.p.A.

Sp’s NAVAL FORCES 276 X 418 SCACCHI:Layout 1 13/01/2010 9.36 Pagina 1

AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION - SP's Naval Forces RE AD MIL( T ) SU H Y T HE CORNERSTONE OF INDIAN NAvYRS...

Documents

Transcript of AN SP GUIDE PUBLICATION - SP's Naval Forces RE AD MIL( T ) SU H Y T HE CORNERSTONE OF INDIAN NAvYRS...