NEW DELHI: In the face of its dwindling submarine fleet and delays marring its acquisitions, the Navy is appointing a Rear Admiral to supervise its submarine acquisition programme.
With submarine construction programme running behind schedule, the strength of the Navy fleet has hit an all-time low of 14 submarines and it is likely to dip further as most of the vessels becoming old. The Navy had last inducted a submarine in its flotilla 17 years ago.
Rear Admiral MT Moraes will take charge as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Submarine) on July 29. “He looks after perspective planning and acquisition of submarines for the Indian Navy. A role that assumes critical importance as the Indian Navy is pursuing vital submarine acquisition plans,” Navy spokesperson Commander P V S Satish said.
According to Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the Navy’s submarine fleet is ageing and by 2012, 63 per cent of the vessels would have completed their operational life.
Due to ‘serious slippages’ in the induction plan, the CAG report said: “In what could seriously impact the operational preparedness of the Indian Navy, more than 50 per cent of its submarines have completed 75 per cent of their operational life and some have already outlived their maximum service life.”
If the construction plan for new submarines is not expedited, the CAG said that ‘63 per cent of the existing fleet would complete their prescribed life by 2012 when the first new submarine will be inducted as per the present schedule.’
The Indian Navy, operating just 14 submarines, has a submarine strength much below the envisaged force level and a large number of submarines in the existing fleet will become due for decommissioning in the immediate future, leading to a sharp decline in the fleet.
The construction of six Scorpene submarines at Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) has been suffering chronic delays due to technology transfer issues. The indigenously-built nuclear submarine INS Arihant, which was launched in mid-2009, will be commissioned by 2012 end.
To aggravate the matters, the Project-75I, which entails construction of six new stealth submarines, is taking long to start. The tenders for the `50,000 crore project to be issued to foreign collaborators like Russian Rosoboronexport, French DCNS, German HDW and Spanish Navantia have not been issued so far.
Besides Mosaes, Rear Admiral Srikant will take over as Flag Officer Submarines (FOSM) based at Visakhapatnam on promotion and Rear Admiral G Ashok Kumar will take over as Flag Officer Sea Training at Kochi. FOSM is the class authority on submarines and is responsible for defining standards, policies and procedures for operations and maintenance of submarines in the Navy.