Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Augusta Submarine ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Yannik Le Bris) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz Stefan- Gady Back in 2012, Pakistan announced the creation of a Naval Strategic Force Command and hinted that the country now possessed a sea-based second nuclear strike capability. Today, almost three years later, Pakistan’s alleged maritime deterrent continues to puzzle analysts. The overall consensus of opinion is that the country has not acquired a sea-based second nuclear strike capability just yet. Another thing that most experts agree is that the delivery vehicle of an ocean-launched Pakistani nuclear warhead would be a submarine-launched variant of the Hatf-7 (Babur) cruise missile. According to a 2013 policy brief on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Pakistan already indicated in 2005, when the missile was first tested, that the system was designed to deploy in submarines. The Hatf-7 is a medium-range subsonic cruise missile with a reported

INS Arihant ( Source- Indian Navy) Source- The National Interest Author- Akhilesh Pillalamarri The Indian government will be launching a major naval expansion soon that will include the indigenous construction of seven stealth frigates and six nuclear powered attack submarines. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet approved plans to build the 13 new ships at about a cost of one trillion rupees or about $16 billion on Tuesday. The expansion would triple the size of India’s nuclear submarine fleet and comes on the heels of Narendra Modi’s pitch to increase the proportion of indigenous defense production in India. In a recent speech, Modi said that he would like the percentage of domestic procurement in India to increase to 70 percent. According to The Times of India, this decision comes at a time when India has a “critical necessity” to boost its “overall deterrence capability” in the Indian Ocean, especially the region stretching from the Persian Gulf to the St

USS Santa Fe ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ United States Navy) Source- The Diplomat Author- Franz- Stefan Gady The U.S. Navy’s dominant position in undersea warfare can no longer be taken for granted. “Emerging technologies present a serious challenge in that they may empower development of potential rival undersea forces and erode the stealth of U.S. submarines,” concludes a new report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). The report, entitled “The Emerging Era in Undersea Warfare,” lays out the rapid changes occurring in the technological realm and how they will affect future combat under waters. While the report’s author, Bryan Clark, notes that the United States will have the opportunity to be the “first mover” and establish itself as a leader in this emerging new field within undersea warfare, he also unequivocally points out that the U.S. Navy will have to give up its current undersea warfare concepts due to the “vulnerability of to

Soryu Class Submarine ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons) Source- The Diplomat Author-Prashanth Parameswaran India has forwarded a proposal to Japan asking if it would be interested in a multi-billion dollar project to build six submarines in India, Indian media sources reported January 29.  Since 2007, India has been trying to add six new submarines with foreign collaboration under Project 75I in order to replace a fleet that has been depleted by aging and accidents. But the move has been repeatedly delayed due to bureaucratic wrangling. The plan has now once again gained steam under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Last October, the Defense Acquisition Council approved the proposal to build the six diesel-electric submarines indigenously at a project cost of around $8.1 billion dollars. All six of them will be built in an Indian shipyard in the country under the “Make inIndia” initiative, and they will be equipped with both land-attack missile capabilities

German Type-212 Submarine ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ Author) Source- Aspi Strategist Author- Michael Ward There has been considerable public debate about Australia’s future submarine program with much of the focus being centred on whether submarines should be produced locally or procured offshore. But surprisingly little of the debate has touched on the imperative to avoid a capability gap once the Collins-class submarines begin to be retired from service in the latter half of the next decade, nor on how Australia might best utilise existing sovereign submarine capabilities to achieve that. Given the unique nature of the Australian requirement, it seems highly unlikely the solution for Australia’s future submarine would be either an ‘off-the-shelf’ purchase from an offshore supplier or an onshore design-and-build activity. Notwithstanding the fact that Australia doesn’t have the design capabilities to go it alone on the future submarine program, any existing

PLAN Type 96 Class SSBN ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- In the Picture) Source- Want China Times China's new Type 096 Tang-class ballistic missile submarine, thought to be in development, may become a serious threat to the United States in the Western Pacific, as it is estimated to be able to carry 24 missiles according to Russian Military Analyst based in Moscow. An article titled China's Nuclear Potential published on Dec. 30 said that it will still takes decades for China to establish sufficient second strike capability. However, China takes much less time to develop its nuclear forces than most Western observers had previously thought. Currently, the People's Liberation Army Air Force still relies on H-6K bombers and Q-5 attackers to conduct nuclear strikes. While Q-5 attackers have been slowly replaced by the more advanced JH-7A, China is unlikely to develop a new stealth bomber to take H-6K's place in the near future, the article sai

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/opinion/the-submarine-race-in-asia.html?_r=1