Sealord, all the next gen DDGs have a large phased array radar for target tracking and missile guidance on fwd mast and a huge 3D surveillance radar on the rear mast(SMART-L, S1850). dutch, italians, french, germans, british….the spanish & danes with the SPY1 have surveillance on the flat panels of superstructure and smaller guidance radars SPS(?) . all of these designs are > 5000t.

there are reasons why they are doing this and not going with Heracles even if the weapons like aster15 are same for british, italians and french.

a smaller ship probably doesnt have the stability to support 15 ton assenblies like the APAR high up on a mast.

their weak point is probably the Heracles radar – thales had been trying to sell that into india’s new ships without success so far, Heracles is inferior to EMPAR which is what you need to be a bigstick these days. its more suitable for a corvette…no gun ciws and no smaller missiles to avoid wasting the aster15/30. not bad for a small ship, but a stretch to compare to 6500t designs like 052x.

Ja, india has a ‘agreement’ with Unkil to fly their dsrv kit from san diego etc in case of a submarine accident. though for obvious reasons I wouldnt like to ‘test’ the strength of this agreement anytime soon. I believe only selected parts of western europe, Unkil and perhaps japan have the state of art DSRV right now.

march05
http://submarinesaustralia.com/log_archives/log_03_05.htm

USN Rescue for Indian Submarines
By the end of the year, the safety of crew in Indian submarines in distress will be in the hands of the US Navy. In a deal between the two navies the Submarine Rescue Programme, to be signed later this year, the US will airlift a deep submergence rescue vessel (DSRV) to an Indian submarine in distress anywhere in the world and evacuate the crew to safety.

The Navy is understood to have made an initial payment of $100,000 to the US government already, and will be followed by further instalments after the agreement is signed. The agreement is only stopgap until India gets its own DSRV. The actual acquisition of a DSRV is part of the Navy’s mid-to-long term plans.

The Navy’s four German HDW submarines (Shishumar-class) are currently being fitted with hatches and pads so that the American rescue vehicle can dock during rescue procedures. The absolute threshold depth for a submarine rescue is about 650 metres.

The Navy currently operates 16 submarines, four German Shishumar-class submarines, two Foxtrot-class and 10 Russian kilo-class submarines. A complement of six Scorpenes is expected to join the force over the next few years, with the deal ready to be endorsed by the Cabinet Committee on Security.

===
btw the 4 IN U-209 have a escape sphere also though it may not always be possible to use it.supposedly it can accomodate all the crew.

MBDA has offered Mica to India but obviously since the Meteor looks to be 10 yrs away from even its funding AFs, it isnt on the table. Mica would be a good option to integrate on MKI to supplement the Adder.

M-400 naval recon pod – side looking sea search radar.

small fry wont do. U need to hunt down AIP SSK and the uber-SSNs in deep water.

My req:
* patrol time of 10 hrs at a position 500km away from landbase
* air 2 air refueling
* 100+ sonobuoys
* 4 torpedoes in bomb bay (not lightweight pups, but big lean wolves)
* 6 ASMs of Exocet MM40 category underwing / 2 Brahmos
* 4 ASMs in internal bay in lieu of torpedoes
* 2 x AAMs for self defence
* comprehensive ELINT gear
* mid course targeting for ASMs
* standoff radar jammer
* MAD and self defence SPJ in tail
* high dash speed
* all weather, cat5 storm operating capability
* IRST and long range ESM & Radar
* room for 2nd crew sleeping and recreating area/galley/showers
* 4 engined, cheap and reliable to operate with high MTBF quiet engines
* 2 engined flying capable to conserve fuel
* [most important] fierce shark mouth on the nose and eagles eyes on belly

I’d go for a A400-M or A340 conversion. time to use the Big Stick.

well I respect the PLANs new capabilities including perhaps this varyag but they or anyone else are quite a few decades from threatening the US dominance of the worlds sea lanes. the US has to suffer a period of prolonged economic stagnation(decline) causing defence cutbacks that force the retirement of many many principal combatants before others get to play in that league.