Sea trials of nuke submarine in 2yrs

NEW DELHI: India’s very own nuclear submarine could undergo sea trials in two years, according to the navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta.

In the first detailed official statement on the Advanced Technology Vessel as it is known, Admiral Mehta said on Monday that the DRDO project, a technology demonstrator, was “somewhere near completion”. DNA had reported in September that sea trials of the ATV would be conducted in 2009.

The ATV is one of India’s oldest defence projects, having been initiated sometime in 1974. It is an indigenous effort to build a nuclear submarine, largely based on Russian design inputs, to carry and launch the country’s nuclear weapons.

India will, however, have to wait a few more years for a full-fledged capability to launch nuke weapons from air, land and sea. “The triad cannot be completed without the submarine capability. At this point of time there is no great movement in that direction,” he said.

Admiral Mehta also confirmed that India was leasing an Akula class submarine from Russia to “train our crew on nuclear submarines, reactors”.

On the delay over the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, to be renamed INS Vikramaditya, Admiral Mehta said it could join the Navy in early 2011 if the Russians speeded up its overhaul.

He said meetings are being held to evolve a consensus and the Russian demand was for a $1.2 billion increase in the contract, which was originally around $1.5 billion including for the ship-borne fighter planes.