What is so great about that news that we do not already know about ?

AEC is a GOI orginasation , and GOI claims the same , didnt expect AEC or any Govt Org/Institution to differ.

Unless they allow an independent peer review done by who are ex DAE,BARC or any independent institution in India the claims of AEC , GOI needs to be taken with a bag full of salt.

The leading brains behind the development of TN was Dr. Sikka, Dr. Chidambaram and Dr. Kakodkar from AEC, so what happened to the test only they knows exactly. Then from where do you expect the test’s result should come?? Do we believe them??? If we dont, then we should not let them to develop the bomb itself. We need a third party to check them whether they are telling truth or not!!! We should let the third party themselves to develop the bomb, so that we can believe them. Thats why we are Indians and after 60 years of independence we still need some other’s certificate to judge our own people. If the test was fizzle than they had every choice for a second TN test but they did not, why? because there were sure about the test. Some doubt Dr. Santhanam’s credibility because he was silent for last 11 years and suddenly became a truth-teller!!!

The People of India have shown their faith in the Congress government by re-electing them with a better majority! So no matter what Non Residents (who can’t vote) think the majority is liking the way the country is moving forward. Recent polls suggested 60% of the population is in favour of closer ties with the USA. 🙂

As an Indian, my personal view about the People of India’s vision and elective capabilities:
I am not a favor of BJP nor anti-Congress or against India-US ties (I really favor that) but I am pretty much aware that most of the people of India don’t know what is good for them and what is bad. Most of the people of India do not know what is a nuclear bomb forget about Indo-US nuclear deal. I am pretty sure that you are aware of our general people’s knowledge about democracy at all!! and how our leaders are elected in Parliament (just spend Rs. 10 and get a vote). 😮 Other way, with so many talents and so much of resources we could have another type of India and her armed forces! 😎

INS Chakra: K-152 Nerpa, an improved Akula-II class SSN

http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20090729/155661233.html 😀

INS Viraat refit complete, gears up for golden jubilee
18 Aug 2009, 1103 hrs IST, IANS

NEW DELHI: It’s an old warhorse, 50 years old to be exact. But after a life-extending refit, India’s lone aircraft carrier INS Viraat is back to
show it still has enough steam to give the jitters to the enemy.

INS Viraat, meaning giant in Sanskrit and which has a crew of 1,500 personnel, has been docked at Cochin Shipyard Ltd for the past year for repair and maintenance. The refit will increase the aircraft carrier’s sea life with the Indian Navy till 2015.

“The refit of the aircraft carrier has been completed. Currently it is floating (in the docks),” a senior official at the shipyard told IANS requesting anonymity. “By the beginning of next month, it is expected to go to its parent base at Mumbai in the Western Naval Command.”

And it will be received with a great bang. A golden jubilee celebration for completing 50 years of service.

The 28,000-tonne INS Viraat, the Centaur class aircraft carrier, was originally commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes Nov 18, 1959. The Indian Navy acquired the platform in 1987 after it had served the Royal Navy for nearly 28 years.

An extensive refit – with brand new fire control equipment, navigation radars, improved nuclear, biological and chemical protection and deck landing aids – increased the life of the vessel into the next decade.

In September 1993, the engine room of Viraat was flooded, temporarily putting the vessel out of service. By 1995, the vessel was back with a new search radar.

Apart from some major and minor refits at different times, including one in 2006, INS Viraat underwent an extensive life-extension refit in 1999-2000, with new and upgraded propulsion, sensors, sonar, radars, weapons, communication and flood-control systems.

A Royal Navy team will also attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Viraat.

The aircraft carrier gives the Indian Navy an edge over the Chinese navy, which does not have one.

The Indian Navy will get its second aircraft carrier – the Russian-built Admiral Gorshkov – which is expected to be inducted by 2012.

INS Viraat is pivotal to the navy’s aim to project its naval and air power beyond its borders. It provides operation ground for Sea Harrier combat jets. It can embark up to 18 combat aircraft and is suited for supporting amphibious operations and conducting anti-submarine warfare.

Gorshkov, on the other hand, will operate 16 MiG-29 K fighter jets. The two aircraft carriers will increase the reach of the India’s blue water navy.

India earlier this year laid the keel for its indigenous 37,500-tonne aircraft carrier at the Cochin Shipyard. The carrier would be inducted by 2015.

On July 26, India launched into the waters its first indigenous nuclear-powered attack submarine, built under the Advanced Technology Vessel project with Russian help. Once this vessel, INS Arihant, is commissioned around 2012, India will become only the sixth country after the US, Russia, China, France and Britain to possess a nuclear-powered submarine.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/INS-Viraat-refit-complete-gears-up-for-golden-jubilee/articleshow/4905324.cms

Interesting interview with Anil Kakodkar – Chairman, AEC on the nuclear reactor used to power the Arihant
By Pallava Bagla

This nuclear submarine for which the reactor has been made by your team, how significant an achievement is that?

Well, we have a compact propulsion reactor which has been tested at Kalpakkam for the last three years and this is an exact prototype of what has been installed in INS Arihant which was launched soon. So it’s a major achievement of new reactor technology which incidentally will also be required for the larger power programme because this is based on pressurised water reactors (PWR). So this signifies both. We have a compact power plant for propulsion but we also have PWR technology which can be used for electricity production through indigenous route in future.

So why should Indians be proud of this?

Well, one has to be proud because it has been done here, it has been done by Indians and this is something which is not available for the asking, whatever money you want to pay. There is no way to acquire that unless you do it yourself and not many countries have such a capability. So it is certainly a matter to be proud of.

So how different is a reactor in a nuclear submarine as compared to, say, a reactor you see at Narora or Kakrapar or by way of scale?

There are several very distinguishing features and very important challenges. First, it’s a moving system and particularly it’s a ship so we have to have a reactor which would work in spite of the different kinds of rolling, pitching motions. It could also be subjected to attacks supposing there’s a depth charge near by. It should be able to withstand the kind of acceleration loads that will be seen on the components. So this is one important challenge. We do design reactors for withstanding earthquakes. This is one, it has to be able to withstand motions and forces which are of a much larger magnitude. Then, the compactness is another feature within the space that you can occupy for a given power. A submarine reactor is extremely small compared to the corresponding case in a power station. Third is in terms of the energy density — again it arises out of the compactness but to be able to realise that, you should be able to exchange a large amount of power in a small volume in a small surface area. There are also requirements of the rapid response. In a land based reactor, we can live with a somewhat slower response in terms of change of power in a given time. But this being a propulsion system, particularly for the kind the navy people will be required to work on, you require a reactor which can have a very fast response. So that means the nuclear fuel has to be of that kind, the reactor systems have to be of that kind. So there are several such challenges which have been successfully overcome, quite apart from the fact that this is a PWR technology and that itself has its own challenges.

But people say or have constantly said that India doesn’t have the expertise in enrichment. So does this criticality of the ‘PRP,’ as it is called, lay to rest the controversy that India does not have the full capability of enrichment?

Yes, we have an enrichment plant at Mysore, the Rare Materials Plant and that plant has sufficient capacity to meet the requirements of this programme. This reactor is now running for three years. So obviously, we had got the fuel earlier than that.

Was this completely made in India?

Yes.

Designed, fabricated and executed in India?

Yes, that’s right, by Indian industries.

And by Indian scientists?

Yes.

At Vizag, the Prime Minister went out of the way and thanked the Russians, and the Russian Ambassador was also present. What was the role of the Russians? India had leased a Russian nuclear submarine?

I would also like to thank our Russian colleagues. They have played a very important role as consultants, they have a lot of experience in this, so their consultancy has been of great help. I think we should acknowledge that.

Consultancy for what?

For various things, as you go along when you are doing things for the first time — with a consultant by your side, you can do it more confidently and these are difficult time-consuming challenges. So you have to do this without too much of iterative steps and consultancy helped in that.

So this is not a Russian design?

It is an Indian design.

Indian design, made in India, by Indians?

Yes, that’s right.

You have had the system running here in Kalpakkam for several years. Has it functioned smoothly?

Yes, it is working extremely well.

No outages, no issues?

Well this is run in a campaign mode because this is run in the same way as one would expect in the real situation. So it is running in a campaign mode because I think the important thing is to be able to ramp up and come down and it is really doing extremely well.

It is believed that it will also carry some things which the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has developed [the nuclear bombs]. So will it really give India the second strike capability because we have a no-first-use policy?

Yes that is the purpose of such a platform.

And this platform will ensure that?

Yes.

Are you confident of that?

Of course, I am confident. It has been designed with a lot of care.

I am told it is about ten times smaller than a normal power reactor, is that correct?

Well if you want to construct a power reactor of a similar power capacity, it would happen that way, yes.

So would it be fair to call it a baby reactor?

It is a small reactor compared to, say, for example a commercial power station, 1000 MW (electric) would generate more than 3000 MW of heat, which is about 30 times what we produce here. Of course, such reactors are huge in size and dimensions and all. But it is a small compact reactor. And that’s the challenge about it.

So, when can one expect to have criticality on the sea-based reactor in the INS Arihant?

This will be essentially decided by the Navy, as I said they have a fairly elaborate sequence of activities through these trials and whenever they are ready for going through the criticality, I am sure our people will facilitate that to happen quickly.

Nuclear reactors for submarines are used normally for increasing the endurance. What is the kind of endurance you are being able to provide to INS Arihant?

Well it will be, in fact, in terms of the actual use for a nuclear submarine. The endurance is dictated more by human endurance rather than the energy of the power pack endurance. Power pack endurance is usually much larger. So it’s the human endurance — it can remain submerged depending upon the human endurance.

And will this submarine leave radioactive trace behind it because you have some kind of shadow shielding?

No, none at all. Because that has been factored into the design and there will be absolutely no trace left behind.

So, once the vessel dives it can remain hidden from Vizag to Mumbai all through?

Yes, as long as it is submerged it will remain hidden and it can remain submerged for a long time.

Is the noise level comparable to other submarines of this class, since that is one way of detecting submarines?

Yes, I think so. You have seen the inside. Tell me if you felt some sound there?
Compared to a power reactor the sound was minimal.

Compared to machinery running in any other place, did you hear much sound? I think this is a very quiet system.

Confident?? Effect of reality show! To me this interview look like a KBC!! :p

But the news about the land based prototype running smoothly for three years is really good. 🙂

Second, you obviously have no clue of what the AAD is meant for and what it does. Its a hypersonic “dart” meant to take out an incoming BM (range of upto 2000 Km) as fast as possible. To do so, its adds weight in terms of motor size and seeker capability to a substantial extent. Capability which is totally uneccessary for a missile meant for airbreathing targets. Its size and weight also limit its capability to conduct sustained manouevers at high G since it is NOT meant for engaging maneuverable air breathing targets at the end game!

With some modification (specially using long range low level FCR like AEROSTAT or satellite) AAD can be used as a cruise missile defence system. Just after the AAD test Dr. Saraswat presented this system to the press. There was also a video, I forgot the link.

Third, Russia did not provide the seekers for either the PAD OR the AAD. Agat cooperated with DRDL/RCI for subassemblies of one seeker.

Yes. The Ka band seeker of the AAD jointly developed by ECIL, BARC and DRDO/RCI/Project Air Defence team.

Though it is delayed I am happy that most of the systems were Indian….

Project 28: Prestigious Indian anti-submarine corvette project delayed to build up private sector suppliers

By Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 1st August 09
Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Kolkata

In the hot Kolkata sun, on the banks of the Hooghly River, craftsmen from Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) swarm over what will be the Indian Navy’s most high-tech stealth warship. For GRSE, the navy’s order for four anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvettes is its flagship project. But Project 28, as it is termed, is two years behind schedule.

The first corvette was to join the fleet early next year. Business Standard discovered, during a first-ever media visit to this secretive project, that it will be delivered only in June 2012. The other three corvettes of Project 28 will follow at one-year intervals.

The major reason for the delay: the Indian Navy has stipulated such unprecedented standards of stealth for every piece of equipment on board that suppliers have struggled to develop engines, transmission, air-conditioning and power-generating systems that work silently enough to meet those requirements. Furthermore, the navy mandated that Indian suppliers would provide much of that equipment. 😎

The Project 28 corvettes are 2500-tonne warships that will protect Indian Navy battle groups and coastal installations from lurking enemy submarines. In the deadly cat-and-mouse game between ASW corvettes and submarines, the stealthier vessel is usually the winner, detecting and destroying its opponent after sneaking up undetected. The challenge of Project 28 has been to minimise vibrations and noise from the ship’s machinery, propellers, and from water swirling past the hull.

Success has come late in developing some of this equipment. The Kirloskar group has delivered the engines, albeit after a delay. Earlier this year, DCNS of France supplied the Raft Mounted Gearbox, which almost completely suppresses noise from the power pack. But Wartsila India is still struggling to reduce vibration in the four diesel alternators that will power the corvette’s electronics.

Once all this is in place, six huge spaces will have to be cut open in the corvette’s hull, through which giant cranes will lower monster-sized equipment like the 65-tonne engines. Then the hull will be welded shut once again.

For the navy, which has implemented indigenisation as something of a religion — the Naval Headquarters includes a full-fledged Directorate of Indigenisation — the delay in Project 28 is a regrettable, but acceptable, consequence of its twin objectives: building cutting edge warships and, simultaneously, developing Indian warship building industry.

The Navy Chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta told Business Standard that the navy had carefully laid down stealth standards that were absolutely necessary in war. Admiral Mehta explained, “We cannot compromise operational requirements for suppliers who are having difficulties meeting standards. We cannot come second in war.”

The navy’s top designer, Rear Admiral MK Badhwar, says the navy is determined to nurture an Indian supplier base, to develop increasingly high-tech products for warships. He points out, “Initially, they (the private companies) had real problems in meeting the sophistication levels that we were demanding. But we insisted and now most of them have done so. This is vital for an indigenous shipbuilding industry.”

All this has taken the cost of Project 28 from a sanctioned Rs 2800 crores (Rs 700 crores per corvette), to an estimated Rs 7000 crores now. This is approximately in line with cost increases for previous Indian-built warships.

GRSE’s Chairman and Managing Director, Rear Admiral KC Sekhar explains, “Fortunately our shipyard will not take a financial hit, since this was a cost-plus contract (in which the actual cost of construction of the first ship will be the basis for paying for the entire project). But we have learned valuable lessons. The complexity of the project was totally underestimated.”

The Project 28 corvettes, when they join the navy’s fleet, will be silent and heavily armed. An Otomelara Super Rapid Gun Mount (SRGM) on the bow can pour 76 millimetre shells onto aerial and surface targets. Flanking it will be two Indigenous Rocket Launchers (IRLs) that can fire at both submarines and ships. Submarines can also be engaged through six torpedo tubes. Two AK 630 Gatling guns, one on either side, can shoot down attacking aircraft. Finally, vertically launched missiles are likely to be mounted for engaging aerial targets.

http://ajaishukla.blogspot.com/2009/08/project-28-prestigious-indian-anti.html

Prithvi becomes as a versatile short range missile of the Indian Army…. 😎

Prithvi II advanced version test-fired at Chandipur

15 Apr 2009, 2247 hrs IST, TNN

BALASORE: India on Wednesday successfully test-fired the advanced version of its indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-II short range
ballistic missile from the integrated test range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-Sea.

Defence sources said, mounted on a mobile tatra transporter-erector launcher (MTL), the sophisticated missile was test-launched from the launching complex – III (LC-III) at about 10.21 a.m.

This was the third consecutive success of the DRDO within last 45 days. Last month, it had successfully conducted the test of an interceptor off the Orissa coast and then BrahMos missile from the Pokhran range.

Sources said, it was a user trial conducted by Secunderabad-based 333 regiment of army. The test was aimed at achieving “close to zero circular error probability (CEP) accuracy”. A source said, “The missile used for the test was picked up randomly from the assembly line after production and was launched with an improved aided inertial navigation system. It has achieved single digit accuracy reaching close to zero CEP.”

“The entire flight path of the missile was smooth in accordance with pre-decided co-ordinates. It travelled up to 191 km within a span of nearly six minutes,” a source said.

The 8.56 metre high and one metre thick Prithvi missile, with a launch weight of 4.6 tonne, has a strike range of 150 km to 350 km. Powered by liquid propellant, Prithvi can operate with both liquid as well as solid fuel and carry a payload of between 500 kg and one tonne, including nuclear weapons.

“The Prithvi missile can be taken close to the forward line over any kind of terrain. It has been designed to deliver advanced conventional warheads deep into enemy territory. The missile stops climbing when it reaches an altitude of 30 km and dives at the target at an 80 degree angle,” said a defence scientist.

Prithvi is India’s first indigenously built ballistic missile. Since 2002, Prithvi II has been used by army with the overarching logistical control and support retained by IAF. Scientists of DRDO and senior Army officials were present during the test-firing.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bhubaneswar/Prithvi-II-advanced-version-test-fired-at-Chandipur/articleshow/4406998.cms