NEW DELHI: With plans to keep the underwater combat strength up to date, submarine INS Sindhuvijay will be docked for its mid-life refit by the end of this year.
Sources confirmed that the Indian Navy is set to send one of its Sindhughosh-class submarines, INS Sindhuvijay, for a mid-life refit at Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Visakhapatnam in the coming months.
The sources said that “the acceptance of necessity (AoN) has already been granted from the Ministry of Defence. Work is currently underway to finalise the refit contract, which is expected to be concluded in the coming weeks.”
If everything goes as per the plan, the submarine will be docked at HSL for the refitting at the end of this year.
This will be an important step in maintaining the underwater combat force, as upon completion of the refit, the Sindhuvijay boat will be battle-ready and enhance the Indian Navy’s operational readiness.
At present, there are 16 submarines of various classes operating with the force. These include the five Kalvari (Scorpene) class, four Shishumar (HDW SSK) class and seven Sindhughosh-class submarines.
INS Sindhuvijay was commissioned on 17 December 1990 at Riga in the erstwhile Soviet Union, as one of the eight of the Sindhughosh-class diesel-electric submarines. The Sindhughosh-class series is the Indian variant of the Russian Kilo-class diesel-electric attack submarine.
The name Sindhuvijay is a Sanskrit word meaning “Conqueror of the Sea”. The vessel last underwent an extensive overhaul at Russia’s Zvezdochka Shipyard in 2005.
The mid-life refit includes repairing hull damage, overhauling machinery, upgrading sensors and weapons systems, and extending the submarine’s service life to maintain combat readiness and counter evolving threats. With the refitting, the boats become operational and technologically relevant.
The DPSU HSL is adept at overhauling Indian submarines. The third of the Sindhughosh-class series submarines — INS Sindhukirti — was returned to the Indian Navy in August this year after a comprehensive overhauling and refitting of the boat.
INS Sindhuvijay is 72-74 metres long and has a displacement of 2,325 tonnes when surfaced and 3,076 tonnes when submerged.
The submarine has a speed of 10–11 knots (1.85 km) while operating on the surface and 17–19 knots submerged. INS Sindhuvijay has a range of 6,000 miles at 7 knots (surfaced/snorkelling) and 400 miles at 3 knots (submerged). The boat can reach a maximum diving depth of 300 metres.
A submarine is a military vessel that can travel both on the surface and in a submerged state and is deployed to execute offensive or defensive operations.
India has to maintain credible underwater combat readiness as, on one side, Pakistan, with the help of China, is on its way to induct modern Yuan (Hangor) Class submarines, which will be fitted with Air Independent Propulsion. Simultaneously, the Chinese PLA Navy operates a large number of submarines — over 50 conventional submarines and over 10 nuclear submarines.