India’s highest decision making body on defence matters, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), has cleared two big ticket proposals.
One is on buying 31 drones, MQ-9B as they are called, from the United States. These unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs are made by General Atomics.
The other big decision taken by the CCS, which is headed by Prime Minister Modi, is to make two nuclear attack submarines (SSNs) in India.
These will be built at the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam on the eastern coast of India. The project, which is expected to be about 90 per cent indigenous, will cost about ₹45,000 crore.
It will take a few years to build these as the yard now has adequate expertise as well as experience in submarine construction.
So what exactly are these submarines, also called SSN or Submersible Ship Nuclear?
Submersible Ship Nuclear (SSN)
These are nuclear-powered and are primarily used for offensive operations. They can attack enemy submarines or even surface ships, and can also be used to gather intelligence. They can remain under water for long, about 40-60 days, as they are only restricted by constraints of crew fatigue and availability of provisions onboard. These can operate at a very high speed, in the range of 24-30 knots (40-55 kmph).
But they carry conventional weapons and no ballistic missiles. Their deployment is more part of a larger tactical warfare.
Why India Needs SSNs
Currently, only a handful of countries have such submarines: the U.S, China, Russia, France and the UK.
Why does India need them? The Indian Navy has been demanding them for nearly five years now.
India currently has no SSN. It had leased one from Russia (Chakra) but the lease expired in 2021. There was a plan to get another one on lease but that hasn’t worked out, mainly because Russia faces sanctions for the war in Ukraine.
The China Factor
SSNs come in very handy in undersea warfare. India’s principal adversary China has 60 submarines. And about a fifth of that is nuclear powered.
China’s newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank earlier this year, a senior U.S. defence official said a fortnight ago.
A series of satellite images from Planet Labs showed cranes at the Wuchang shipyard, where the submarine was perhaps docked.
Submersible Ship Ballistic Missile Nuclear (SSBN)
India has less than 20 submarines and just two that are nuclear powered. But there are SSBNs or Submersible Ship Ballistic Missile Nuclear submarines. These are bigger in size compared to the SSNs and are used for nuclear deterrence. They carry long-range ballistic missiles, usually nuclear-armed.
INS Arihant, which is India’s first SSBN, was inducted into the Navy in 2016. The second one INS Arighaat was inducted recently.
Two more of these, though a bit bigger in size and tonnage, are being built in Visakhapatnam.
