Indian Navy diesel-electric submarine puts to sea in June

June 18, 2012 indrus.in

INS Sindhurakshak, an Indian Navy submarine that has been modernised in Russia, is scheduled to take to sea from the Zvyozdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk on 23 June.

In June 2010, a Zvyozdochka delegation and representatives of the Indian Ministry of Defence signed a contract for repair and modernisation of INS Sindhurakshak for a planned 27 months. Zvyozdochka, which specialises in repairing and scrapping nuclear submarines, has modernised four Indian diesel-electric submarines since 1997 – INS Sindhuvir, INS Sindhuratna, INS Sindhughosh and INS Sindhuvijay. The company also provides repair and modernisation services for another submarine of this class, INS Sindhukirti, at its base in Visakhapatnam.

All these are Indian variants of the Russian 887 EKM Kilo class diesel-electric submarine designed by the St Petersburg-based Rubin Design Bureau for Marine Engineering. They are designed for engagement of enemy submarines and surface vessels and defend naval bases, coast and sea communications, as well as for reconnaissance and patrolling.

A typical Kilo-class submarine has a displacement of 2,300 tonnes, length of 72.6 metres, a submerged speed of 19 knots (about 35 kilometres an hour), a test depth of 300 metres, a crew of 52 and endurance of 45 days. These submarines are armed with six 533 mm torpedo tubes.

The modernisation arms the submarines with additional state-of-the-art Russian Club S anti-ship missiles (designed by the Novator bureau) with a range of about 200 kilometres. Supplementary Indian-made equipment includes a USHUS hydro-acoustic unit and CCS-MK communications system.

INS Sindhurakshak was built in 1997 by the Admiralteiskie verfi shipyard in St Petersburg for the Indian Navy. The submarine will first undergo dock trials near the berth and then embark on full-scale sea trials.

“The submarine will be handed over to the customer by the end of the year”, ITAR-TASS cites shipyard spokeswoman Nadezhda Scherbinina as saying.

Zvyozdochka is a versatile shipbuilding company. The shipyard has two covered ship-houses with seven building berths designed for repairing and building vessels weighing up to 18,000 tonnes. United Shipbuilding Corporation controls 100% minus one share in the shipyard through its subsidiary OAO Northern Centre for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair.