4 September 2013 naval-technology.com

Syria's Navy is the smallest component of the nation's armed forces. While it is relatively neglected, with a budget estimated at only £90m annually, it is still the first line of defence on its Eastern Mediterranean flank and warrants consideration. As the situation in Syria and deliberation on possible intervention in the Mediterranean country escalates, Simon Williams examines the country's naval posture.

Maritime situational awareness in Syria

Syria's Mediterranean coastline measures 183km along Latakia and Tartus provinces. Although not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Syria does indeed abide by the Convention's zonal regulations, claiming a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles, contiguous zone with security jurisdiction of 24 nautical miles (which includes the territorial sea) and a 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. The territorial sea has a total area of 3,866 km².

According the US Navy Judge Advocate General Corps, Syria still requires that foreign warships and atomic submarines obtain permission from Damascus before entering and transiting its territorial sea. The US, also a non-party to the Law of the Sea Convention, does not recognise the jurisdiction of Syria to this affect and protests these claims through regular operational assertions.

Last year, the Syrian Air Defense Force shot down a Turkish RF-4E, which, according to the Syrian military, "penetrated air space over [Syrian] territorial waters."

Not only does this incident demonstrate that the country maintains sufficient surface-to-air capabilities to carry out such rapid reaction operations, but also serves as an example that Syria may not be so passive to naval or aviation encroachment on its territorial sea (12 nautical miles). It again elucidates that the nation deviates from international norms of scrambling fighters to intercept airspace probes, and instead skips directly to unleashing the metal.

It is important to clarify, however, that this may not be a purely political stance, but a genuinely operational one. President Assad even commented on the situation to Turkish media outlet Cumhuriyet, saying: "In this environment, the coming of a plane like that is perceived as an enemy plane. Those who understand military understand these things. A country anywhere in the world would behave like this. This definitely isn't a political decision."

Should this be the case, it illuminates the Syrian military's responsive instinct of engaging with potential enemy targets entering its territorial sea or airspace without warning. Understanding this reaction, perhaps, is of vital magnitude in evaluating the initial response Syria may take to a 'hypothetical' engagement coming from the Mediterranean.

Read more

Sep. 2, 2013 - By ANDREW CHUTER – Defense News

LONDON — The British government is trying to renegotiate a contract with the BAE-led alliance that is building two 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy in order to control rising costs, but it says the terms of the deal leave it with little room to maneuver, according to Defence Secretary Philip Hammond.

Responding to a critical Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report into the aircraft carrier program due to be published here Tuesday,, Hammond said in a statement, “We are currently negotiating with industry to seek to secure proper alignment between industry and the MoD over the balance of the project and so bring the costs under control, but we are doing so within the context of a contract that gives us very little negotiating leverage.”

The PAC criticized the contract signed by the MoD and the alliance, saying it was “not fit for purpose as it fails to provide industry with any real incentive to control costs.”

The British lawmakers said that as things stood, the “contractors will continue to make a profit until the 5.24 billion pound target cost has been exceeded by 2.5 billion pounds.”

At one point, the original contract negotiations — which led to the signing of the construction deal for the Royal Navy’s largest-ever warships in 2008 — were targeting a cost of 3.65 billion pounds.

A spokesman for the Aircraft Carrier Alliance declined to comment beyond confirming negotiations with the MoD were ongoing. The alliance includes BAE, Babcock and Thales.

Margaret Hodge, the PAC chairwoman, said in a statement the committee was still “not convinced that the MoD has this program under control. It remains subject to huge technical and commercials risks, with the potential for further uncontrolled growth in costs.”

Senior alliance officials reported to the MoD this summer that the program faced time and cost overruns, said one industry source. He said he did not believe they were significant problems at this point.

Labour were responsible for signing the construction deal, but it is the Conservative-led coalition government that came in for much of the report’s criticism.

The PAC was prompted to investigate the carrier program after the government’s 2012 decision to do a U-turn and revert to the F-35B short takeoff and landing version of the Joint Strike Fighter to equip the carriers.

The British originally selected the F-35B, but the coalition government opted to change to the F-35C conventional carrier variant in a botched decision made as part of the 2010 strategic defence and security review (SDSR).

Two years later, when the spiraling cost of fitting catapults and traps to the two STOVL-designed warships became clear, the government changed its mind again and reverted to the F-35B.

The PAC said the decision to switch to the F-35C was “deeply flawed” on cost grounds and wasted at least 74 million pounds of taxpayers’ money.

Hodge said that “at the time of the SDSR, the MoD believed the cost of converting the carriers for the new aircraft would have been between 500 million pounds and 800 million pounds. By May 2012, it had realized that the true cost would be as high as 2 billion pounds.”

The renegotiations come as the carrier construction program is approaching the halfway mark. The alliance is preparing to fit the last major structural element of the first of the warships around mid-November, ahead of it being floated out of the yard at Rosyth, Scotland, next summer.

The government has committed only to operating one of the carriers and will decide in the 2015 SDSR whether it can afford to operate the second vessel as well or whether it will mothball or sell it.

Negotiations to buy a first production batch of F-35Bs to equip the aircraft carriers are currently underway, and the British hope to start flying from HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2018.

The PAC report said that aside from trying to change the terms of the carrier contract, the MoD was also attempting to renegotiate a wider maritime agreement with UK industry “with a view to incentivise contractors more by transferring cost risk.”

The MoD had aimed to conclude negotiations over the summer, said the PAC.

BAE and Babcock both have terms of business agreements with the UK government that virtually guarantee workload in return for efficiency savings at their ship construction and repair yards.

With two naval shipyards in Glasgow, Scotland, and a third in Portsmouth, southern England, BAE has been in talks with the government for months about reducing its capacity once the aircraft carrier program starts to run down.

A decision on future yard closures had been expected in late 2012, but negotiations with the government over several issues, including a possible stop-gap order to fill some of its yard capacity until the Type 26 frigate program enters production later in the decade, have delayed a decision.

The PAC also criticized the government for delaying an airborne early warning helicopter program that is vital for the protection of the aircraft carrier.

Known as Crowsnest, the program would replace an existing Sea King helicopter-based capability due to be axed in 2016 with an AgustaWestland EH101 rotorcraft system planned to become fully available in 2022 — two years after the first carrier is scheduled to become operational.

Hammond defended the money-saving decision.

“The Crowsnest program is expected to deliver an initial operating capability by the time the first carrier is in operational service. Maritime surveillance will also be provided by other platforms and systems, including the state of the art radar on the Type 45 Destroyers, working together in a layered defence.”

August 30, 2013: Strategy Page

 building a class of twin hull (catamaran) patrol ships that are very fast and very heavily armed. The WPC (High Efficiency Wave Piercing Catamaran) type ships are under 1,000 tons, 60.4 meters (180 feet) long and have a top speed of 68 kilometers an hour. The crew of 34 operates several weapons systems, including eight anti-ship missiles (Hsiung-feng 2 and 3 models) a 76mm cannon, a 20mm anti-missile autocannon and four 12.7mm machine-guns. There is no anti-aircraft system (other than some shoulder fired missiles) and no helicopter hanger (but a rear deck that a helicopter can operate from). The waterjet propulsion system makes for a very maneuverable ship. Sufficient supplies are carried for patrols of up to a week.

The anti-ship missiles are designed and built in Taiwan. The 6.1 meter (19 foot) long Hsiung-feng 3 weighs 1.5 tons (with a 181 kg/400 pound warhead) and has a top speed of 2300 kilometers an hour. Max range is 130 kilometers. It uses inertial and GPS guidance to get to the general vicinity of the target, then several other sensors to lock on to a specific ship and hit it. Hsiung Feng 2 anti-ship missiles (subsonic speed, range of 160 kilometers, half the weight of the Hsiung Feng 3) have a less advanced guidance system.

The WPC type ships are part of a program to replace older patrol craft with newer and more effective designs. Three years ago Taiwan commissioned the first of 21 Kuang Hua-6 (KH-6) guided missile patrol boats. These 34.2 meter (106 foot) long, seven meter (22 foot) wide, 170 ton ships have a crew of 19. They are armed with four Hsiung Feng 2 anti-ship missiles, a 20mm autocannon, two 7.62mm machine-guns and two decoy (for incoming missiles) launchers. Top speed is 55 kilometers an hour. At cruising speed of 22 kilometers an hour, the ships can stay at sea for about two days at a time. The other twenty KH-6s are all in service now. The KH-6s replace thirty older, and smaller (57 ton) Hai Ou class boats. These patrol boats guard the coast, and especially the 180 kilometers wide Taiwan Straits that separate China and Taiwan.

Aug. 30, 2013 – Defense News (AFP)

TAIPEI — Taiwan plans to purchase two warships from the United States as part of its efforts to modernize its forces against a perceived military threat from China, a lawmaker said Friday.

The defense ministry has listed Tw $5.6 billion (US $187 million) in its 2014 and 2015 budgets to buy two Perry-class frigates from the US Navy, said lawmaker Lin Yu-fang, citing defense budgets submitted to the parliament.

The ministry aimed to buy two rather than four Perry-class frigates, as previously reported by the media, to replace some of its Knox-class frigates that were retired, Lin said.

Ties between Taiwan and former rival China have improved markedly since Ma Ying-jeou became the island’s president in 2008 on a China-friendly platform. He was elected for a second term last year.

However, China still claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and has repeatedly threatened to invade should the island declare formal independence, prompting Taipei to seek more advanced weapons, largely from the US.

In 2001, then-President George W. Bush approved the sale of eight conventional submarines as part of Washington’s most comprehensive arms package for the island since 1992.

President Barack Obama’s administration has approved more than $12 billion in sales and equipment upgrades but has held off on Taiwan’s requests to buy new F-16 fighter jets, a step against which China has repeatedly warned.

Taiwanese defense officials were not immediately available to comment on the planned purchase.

Aug. 29, 2013 - By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS  - Defense News

WASHINGTON — Four years to the day from when it was pushed across Hampton Roads, Va., to begin the biggest overhaul of its life, the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt returned to Norfolk Naval Base — reconditioned, refueled and overall much spiffier than before.

The ship returned to base Thursday following four days of sea trials to validate the work and redelivery to the Navy.

The $2.622 billion refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH), carried out about midway through the ship’s planned 50-year active lifespan, is the most comprehensive shipyard period an aircraft carrier will undergo. All of the ship’s major systems are replaced, upgraded or renewed, and both nuclear reactors are refueled. The upgrades give the ships another 23 years or more of active service.

Roosevelt is the fourth carrier to undergo the full RCOH process, each at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. — where all today’s US aircraft carriers are built.

“The ship performed wonderfully. All the systems were operating well,” Chris Miner, the shipyard’s vice president of in-service aircraft carrier programs, said via satellite phone Thursday as Roosevelt headed back to Norfolk.

“The improved capabilities of the ship were shown to be operating properly,” he said. “At the end of the day, TR is [now] as capable as any carrier in the fleet.”

Unlike the previous three RCOHs, Roosevelt won’t be headed back to Newport News for another short shipyard period for work added on since the original work package was agreed to, or discovered during the overhaul.

“We moved a significant amount of work into the RCOH,” Miner explained, eliminating the need for a follow-on shipyard visit.

Completion of the RCOH was originally scheduled for February 2013, but was extended twice due to emergent work and additional modifications. The additional work, according to Naval Sea Systems Command, added about $153 million to the ship’s overall cost.

At peak, Newport News assigned about 4,000 employees to work on Roosevelt, Miner said. Those workers now have been transferred to other projects in the shipyard, including three other aircraft carriers:

■ The Abraham Lincoln arrived in late March to begin its RCOH, scheduled to be completed in late 2016.

■ The Gerald R. Ford, first of a new class of carriers, is under construction and scheduled to be launched this fall.

■ The Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear carrier, was towed to the shipyard in mid-June to undergo inactivation. When the work is complete, the ship will be towed around South America to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., for final dismantling.

Three carriers already have completed the RCOH process: Nimitz in June 2001; Dwight D. Eisenhower in March 2005; and Carl Vinson in July 2009.

August 29, 2013: Strategy Page

The Philippines has turned to France to obtain more offshore patrol ships for its coast guard. The first to arrive (in 2014) is a recently retired P400 class patrol boat. The 373 ton, 54.8 meter (180 foot) long vessel has a crew of up to 29 and two ten-seat small power boats on board.  Top speed is 44 kilometers an hour and can stay out up to 20 days at a time. Armament consists of a 40mm and 20mm autocannon plus two heavy machine-guns plus small arms. The 26 year old P400 will be refurbished before delivery to the Philippines. Total cost to the Philippines will be about $8 million.

Separately the Philippines is buying a newly built 82 meter (271-foot) patrol ship and four 24 meter (79-foot) patrol boats from France for $120 million. The larger ship is similar to the P400 and meant to patrol hundreds of kilometers off the coast while the smaller boats are for coastal patrols. The larger vessels will be dealing with even larger ships China is building for patrols off the coast of neighboring countries. China claims all of the South China Sea, including areas very close to the Filipino coast.

Greek Type 214-class submarine Papanikolis at HDW in Kiel, Germany. Authorities have not specified which Greek submarine programs are connected with allegations of bribery by German industry.

Aug. 27, 2013 By ALBRECHT MÜLLER – Defense News

BONN — Prosecutors last week searched the offices of Rheinmetall-Defence-Electronics and Atlas Elektronik in northern Germany on suspicion of bribery in connection with the sale of submarine equipment to Greece from 1998 to 2011, according to a spokesman for the public attorney’s office in Bremen.

Rheinmetall-Defence’s subsidiary is accused of paying €9.1 million (US $12.18 million) and Atlas Elektronik €8.5 million in bribes during that time to Greek officials, the spokesman said. The whole issue came to light in the wake of a regular tax audit at Rheinmetall-Defence-Electronics in 2012.

Sources have not specified which submarine program this involves, but the Greek Navy operates the Type 209- and Type 214-class submarines. Both classes were developed by German companies Howaldstwerke-Deutsche Werft, Kiel and Nordseewerke GmbH (NSW), Emden.

While both companies acknowledged the investigations, Rheinmetall-Defence said the accusations lack any basis. And while not commenting on the ongoing investigation, Atlas Electronics confirmed that the company did an internal compliance audit in 2010, which raised suspicions.

The spokesman for Atlas Elektronik also said it reported this incident to the public attorney’s office at the time. However, the spokesman said that, at the time, it appeared that nothing had happened in Germany’s jurisdiction, so German prosecutors did not investigate.

How long the investigations will take is not clear yet.

August/28/2013 Burak BEKDİL -  Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey is planing to spend $600 million to buy 10 new assault boats and had initiated a contest for the program, defense sector sources have said

Defense procurement officials expect a number of local shipyards are expected to race for Turkey’s $600-million worth assault boat purchase program. The design and manufacturing of the boats will be local, they have said.

Turkey is expected to spend more than half a billion dollars on a batch of new assault boats, defense sources have said.

Turkey’s defense procurement authorities recently launched a new competition for the acquisition of 10 new assault boats, a program dubbed the “Turkish-type assault boat.”

Officials and defense industry sources agree that the proposed program would cost Turkey nearly $600 million.

Defense procurement officials said an official request for information for the contract was issued at the end of July. “This will be a major contest for mostly local shipyards but there will be a foreign contest too,” one official said. “The design and manufacturing will be local, hence the tag ‘Turkish-type assault boat.’”

Industry sources expect competition among local shipyards RMK Marine, Yonca-Onuk, Dearsan and Istanbul Shipyards.

The program will be managed by STM, a government-owned defense industry engineering and consultation company. STM, under authorization from the procurement agency, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) had carried out feasibility studies for the assault boat program between 2008 and 2010.

Under the plan, local shipyards will compete for the design and manufacturing work. State-owned defense companies Aselsan and Havelsan will compete for the warfare system and state-owned missile maker Roketsan will produce the weapons systems.

Foreign companies will be asked to bid for main propulsion and steering systems. The deadline to reply to the request for information is Sept. 13, 2013.

Tender for local warship to be remade

ANKARA / ISTANBUL - A tender for Turkey’s national warship program (MİLGEM) will reportedly be rearranged following a report by the prime ministry’s inspection office stating that the original tender’s result was not in the public interest, local daily Star reported yesterday. Seven companies, including Koç Holding’s RMK Marine, the winner of the first tender, have been called upon to offer their prices.

However, officials from the Undersecretaries for the Defense Industry declined to comment to the Daily News on the issue.

The Defense Industry Executive Committee particularly called upon two companies, RMK Marine and Dearsan, to take part in the tender, after finding that they had already applied for another prominent shipyard in Istanbul at the beginning of the year. RMK Marine was selected in January by the committee to build six follow-on Milgem-class corvettes.

Construction of the first Milgem project ship, the Heybeliada, was completed in 2008, while the second ship, the Büyükada, is still under way.

27 August 2013 by nayeem sheikh

India is all set to acquire a second nuclear submarine on lease from Russia. The two sides have had preliminary discussions and a serious push is expected when Indian Defence Secretary RK Mathur meets his Russian counterparts during his visit to Moscow next week.

The idea had germinated in the Indian strategic establishment long before the Russian-built electric-powered submarine INS Sindhurakshak got sunk at its moorings in Mumbai naval dockyard on August 14.

Now with the Sindhurakshak practically gone forever and the Indian submarine fleet having been constricted to just 13 – of which only 7 or 8 can be operational at a given time – the Indian idea has acquired a greater steam.  The loss of INS Sindhurakshak seems to have catalysed the Indian defence establishment to come up with ideas that would ensure that India’s undersea warfare capabilities are actually bolstered, and not dented.

Indian Defence Secretary RK Mathur is all set to lead an Indian tri-service delegation to Moscow for the next round of High Level Monitoring Group on Defence. Mathur will be reaching Russia on September 1 for these crucial talks and the issue of taking on lease a second Russian nuclear submarine for the Indian defence forces will be very high on his agenda.

Sources say the Indian defence secretary will be negotiating with his Russian counterparts on many other agendas but his foremost talking point would inevitably veer around the subject of India acquiring the nuclear submarine on lease as it would provide New Delhi an immediate solution to deal with maritime threats in the neighbourhood.

The Russians are positively inclined to the idea of leasing a second nuclear submarine to India, according to sources. Actually, if this idea were to translate into reality, it would be the third nuclear submarine that the Russia would be leasing to India.

The first time it was then Soviet Union which had leased a nuclear submarine (named INS Chakra by the Indian Navy) way back in 1988. The lease at that time was only for three years and the Indians duly returned the vessel after the lease expired.

The second time India got on lease a nuclear submarine from Russia was a couple of years ago when India and Russia finalised the contract for it in 2011 and the Russian Nerpa class submarine was inducted into the Indian Navy last year as INS Chakra. The lease cost a billion dollars to India for a period of ten years.

The third lease, if it transpires (which it should given the political will from both the sides), should also be for a minimum of ten years. However, the lease values may be a bone of contention for the two sides. While the Indians are willing to shell out a billion dollars for taking on lease another nuclear submarine for a period of ten years, the Russians have jacked up the monetary value.

Moreover, the Russians have already conveyed to their Indian interlocutors that India cannot hope to get a nuclear submarine on lease from any other country. From India’s point of view, though the Russian logic seems to be well in place but then other countries like France and the UK may be persuaded to lease a nuclear submarine given India’s standing in the comity of nations currently.

The Indian strategic establishment seems quite upbeat on the idea of acquiring another nuclear submarine. The Indians have even named their probably acquisition as INS Chakra III.

Aug. 23, 2013 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: Damen Shipyards Group; issued Aug. 22, 2013)

Fourth Damen Stan Patrol for Mexican Navy

In the first week of August the Mexican Navy (Secretaria de Marina) and Damen Shipyards Group signed a contract for a fourth Damen Stan Patrol 4207. The Dutch ship design and shipbuilding company will supply the Mexican Navy with the design and material package with which ASTIMAR 1 (the Mexican Navy yard in Tampico) will build the patrol vessel.

In addition, Damen will assist ASTIMAR 1 with technical support in order to optimize the delivery time and quality of the vessel.

The Damen Stan Patrol 4207 is designed to perform patrol duties in coastal areas and the economic exclusive zone. Other clients who operate similar vessels in the region include navies and coast guards of Jamaica, Barbados, the Dutch Caribbean, Honduras, the Canadian Coast Guard and the US Coast Guard. The USCG recently received five Fast Response Cutters for the Sentinel Class, out of a series of 58, which are based on the same Damen Stan Patrol design.

Two previous patrol vessels, ARM Tenochtitlan (PC-331) and ARM Teotihuacan (PC-332) are already deployed by the Mexican Navy.

This Mexican patrol vessel is the fourth of this class to be built in Mexico. As with other clients, Damen puts its DTC-program (Damen Technical Cooperation) to use. This service is offered to both young and experienced shipyards and aims, if and when the client so desires, to develop their shipbuilding capabilities with respect to Damen vessels. With technical, operational and logistical assistance Damen shares its extensive knowledge on shipbuilding with many yards worldwide.

Damen Shipyards Group (est. 1927) operates more than 55 shipyards, repair yards and related companies worldwide. Damen employs 8,000 people in 35 countries, has delivered over 5,000 vessels since 1969 and delivers some 150 vessels annually to worldwide customers. Based on its unique, standardised ship-design concept and short delivery times, Damen is able to guarantee consistent quality.

22 août 2013 Par Rédacteur en chef. PORTAIL DES SOUS-MARINS

L’Iran commencera prochainement les essais de son nouveau sous-marin, le Fateh, qu’elle est sur le point de terminer, a déclaré le commandant adjoint des forces navales iraniennes, le contre-amiral Reza Kadem Bigam.

Selon le contre-amiral, des sous-marins ressemblant au Fateh seront construits en « grande quantité parce que c’est une arme stratégique ».

Il a aussi annoncé que le Fateh se différencie des sous-marins de la classe Ghadir parce qu’il est équipé de missiles et torpilles plus puissants. De plus, le nouveau sous-marin pourra lancer missiles et torpilles en même temps.

En juin 2012, le contre-amiral Abbas Zamini avait annoncé que son pays lançait le développement d’un sous-marin nucléaire et que, pour sa conception, il s’appuierait sur l’expérience accumulée pour la construction de la centre nucléaire de Bushehr. Les caractéristiques de ce sous-marin n’ont pas été communiquées.

Référence : RIA Novosti (Russie)

HANOI, Vietnam, Aug. 23 (UPI)

Russia's Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg said it will float out the third of six Project 636 Varshavyanka-class submarines being built for Vietnam's navy by the end of the month, RIA Novosti reported.

The Varshavyanka class, with more advanced stealth technology and an extended combat range, is an improvement on its predecessor, the Kilo class of submarines, RIA Novosti said.

The U.S. Navy calls the diesel-electric subs black-holes because their technology makes them nearly undetectable when submerged.

Vietnam will use the 3,100-ton submarines primarily for anti-shipping and anti-submarine missions in relatively shallow waters.

RIA Novosti said Vietnam ordered the six submarines in 2009 to counter China's increasing naval influence in the region. The contract, worth around $2 billion, includes training of Vietnamese crews in Russia.

A Vietnamese crew has been training since April in the first of the submarines, the Novorossiisk, that completed its 100-day sea trials last month and is expected to be delivered in November, Admiralty Shipyards said.

Admiralty will float out Vietnam's fourth Varshavyanka-class vessel in November, with delivery of the last vessel to Vietnam scheduled for 2016.

A report by Naval-Technology in August last year said the Varshavyanka-class vessels have a range of 400 miles using electronic propulsion and can patrol for 45 days.

The submarines carry a crew of 52 and feature 533mm torpedo tubes and Kalibr 3M54 (NATO SS-N-27 Sizzler) cruise missiles, developed by Russia's Novator Design Bureau.

Top speed is 20 knots and diving depth is about 985 feet.

The shipyard also said the first of another six being built for Russia's Black Sea Fleet would be floated out in November.

Construction of the first Varshavyanka-class sub for the Black Sea Fleet, a vessel named the Novorossiisk, began in 2010 and was completed ahead of schedule, the shipbuilder said.

Admiralty Shipyard also constructed India's ill-fated Sindhurakshak submarine that was destroyed by an explosion this month.

The vessel is the seventh and last of the 10 Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines the Indian navy acquired from Moscow between 1986 and 2000.

Admiralty built the Sindhurakshak in 1997 and the Russian Severodvinsk Zvezdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk recently completed a 2 1/2-year, $80 million modernization of the vessel.

Sindhurakshakat had arrived at Mumbai Naval Docks on April 29 but sank after a massive explosion Aug. 14 that killed 18 seamen.