Bharat Rakshak

One morning in 1999, the tiny Canadian village of Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean awoke to a surprise. Parked off the coast was a Chinese icebreaker ship, the Xue Long, mocking Ottawa’s pretensions of control over its northern waters. China is not even amongst the eight Arctic countries — Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, the US (Alaska), Iceland, Denmark (Greenland) and Canada itself — that claim the Arctic’s fabled hydrocarbon reserves, and the rapidly opening Arctic shipping lanes. But Beijing knows that global warming is melting the Arctic ice cap; and it is readying to exploit this, both commercially and militarily.

This growing capability threatens Indian strategy in a war with China. Defence analysts point to India's two-fold strategy: defending the land border in the north with the army and the air force; while using the Indian Navy to block China’s commercial and military shipping in the Indian Ocean. India’s coastal airfields, especially in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and its proximity to the choke points of Malacca and Sunda in southeast Asia and the Straits of Hormuz and Aden in West Asia will allow the Indian Navy to impose a strangling economic blockade on China.

But this is not possible if Chinese shipping transits through the Arctic routes, which bypass the Indian Ocean. On Monday, at an international maritime seminar in New Delhi, Defence Minister A K Antony expressed concern, saying: “The possible melting of the polar ice caps will have tectonic consequences for our understanding of what maritime domains constitute ‘navigable’ oceans of the world. Specific to Asia and the Indian Ocean Region, there may be a need to reassess concepts like chokepoints and critical sea lines of communication (SLOCs).”
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The future submarine should weigh about 3500 tonnes, come with air independent propulsion, the latest hull shape, engine technology and sensor suite.

Mr Ohff said the new vessels should be based on a current European design, such as a German HDW 214, and could be built in Australia for about $1.5 billion per vessel.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... z1neB27C1I

Sinking feeling: our subs 'outdated'
David Ellery
February 28, 2012

HMAS Collins transits through Cockburn Sound at sunrise.

HMAS Collins transits through Cockburn Sound at sunrise. Photo: Supplied

Australia's Collins class submarines would almost certainly be blown out of the water if they were sent into action against the modern submarines that will be operating in the region from the 2020s, says the man who built them.

Hans Ohff, the original managing director and chief executive officer of the Australian Submarine Corporation, told The Canberra Times claims the vessels could be kept operational until 2035 are absurd.

Mr Ohff oversaw the delivery of the six Collins class boats between 1996 and 2003.
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He also says current Australian Submarine Corporation chief executive Steve Ludlam's recent claim the existing boats could be kept operational without new engines is a flight of fancy.

The managing director and chief executive officer of the Australian Submarine Corporation from 1978 to 1992 and the chairman of Australian Submarine Corporation's engineering services until 2002, Mr Ohff said while the Collins was brilliant in its day, the 1980s design had since been overtaken by three new generations of submarines.

''I am very proud of what we achieved [with Collins] but if one of those went up against a modern submarine such as a German HDW 209 or 214, I would rather be in them,'' he said. ''By 2035 you might just as well stay in port - you'd get blown out of the water [if you put to sea].''

Mr Ohff backs a ''military-off-the-shelf solution'' to be developed in partnership with a European submarine company. If the future submarines can't be built in Adelaide for less than $1.5 billion each they should be built overseas.

Australia's most successful submarines, the O-Boats that were in service from 1967 until 2000, were a classic ''military-off-the-shelf solution'' (see graphic).

Mr Ohff likened trying to keep Collins's notoriously unreliable diesels in operation for another 23 years to maintaining a vintage car.

''Collins doesn't have the diesels it should have had from the start; it [the engines] aren't a good fit for a submarine,'' he said. ''You could run the diesels for another 100 years but they are never going to be the best solution - they will always be less quiet and less reliable than they should be. It wouldn't be efficient.'' He poured cold water on the current push by the Australian Submarine Corporation, Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Defence Materiel Minister Kim Carr and a Defence faction to keep Collins alive and well until 2035 to allow the development of an ''evolved Collins'' that would be designed and built in Adelaide.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-new ... z1ne9i83Gk

^ lets secure the IOR first...a tall order given its vastness.

i dont think we have the resources to fight a polar war and hit the new artic trade routes between PRC, western europe and n.america anytime in my lifetime for sure.

I agree....always its better to take war into south and east china sea. these areas are allegedly quite shallow with mean depth of 75m onlee (barring a few trench areas), and hence unsuitable for large SSN.

sounds like a place where the new U218 design could help out.

The Type-216 is a double hull concept to meet Australian demand for a ocean going sub. How effective it will be in littoral warfare is another matter. Aren't single hull subs fare better than the double hulled one in the littoral ?

Singha, Navy Recognition says that it is a double hulled design. Which one to believe ?

that location north of madagascar is way off indian coast and we supposedly have only a sigint base there. do we have planes with range in maldives or mauritius or it was a Tu142 bear reaching out from tambaram itself!

other than Kilo and their SSBN/Akula, other Russian subs were also single hull.

There is no India-Italy thread and this happened in IOR so here goes:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 077976.cms

"India and Italy on Tuesday struggled to overcome differences on the case of two Italian naval guards held in Kochi for killing two Indian fishermen, amid indications that Rome might consider an out-of-court settlement to resolve the issue that has evoked public opinion in both countries. "


So how exactly (if this is true) is it different from the blood money Raymond Davis affair in TSP?

Would the eyetalians agree to blood money if the shoe was on the other foot?

Does GoI even consider Indian lives and justice system worth the effort?

If this is true, GoI are no better than the pakis. Shame on the eyetalians and shame on GoI. End of 'superpower' fantasies

There is no India-Italy thread and this happened in IOR so here goes:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 077976.cms

"India and Italy on Tuesday struggled to overcome differences on the case of two Italian naval guards held in Kochi for killing two Indian fishermen, amid indications that Rome might consider an out-of-court settlement to resolve the issue that has evoked public opinion in both countries. "


So how exactly (if this is true) is it different from the blood money Raymond Davis affair in TSP?

Would the eyetalians agree to blood money if the shoe was on the other foot?

Does GoI even consider Indian lives and justice system worth the effort?

If this is true, GoI are no better than the pakis. Shame on the eyetalians and shame on GoI. End of 'superpower' fantasies