June - July 2015 Volume 10 No. 3 `100.00 (India-Based Buyer Only) See page 12 SINCE 1965 43rd isSUE From 51 Years Old Media House www.spsmilitaryyearbook.com www.spsnavalforces.com ROUNDUP THE ONLY NAVAL MAGAZINE FOR NAVIES ACROSS ASIA-PACIFIC Ear panel 2015-16.indd 1 31/08/15 3:42 PM PAGE 4 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPH: Indian Navy ‘Make in India’ Thrust on an Overdrive for the Indian Navy In a very recent interaction with the media, Admiral R.K. Dhowan, Chief of the Naval Staff, said, “we have put the ‘Make in India’ thrust on an overdrive. The focus in the road map is on weapons, sensors and cutting- edge technologies, with certain milestones and required timelines.” Rear Admiral Sushil Ramsay (Retd) PAGE 6 Vishal to be Nuclear Powered? The United States and India have agreed to form a working group to explore the joint development of India’s next-generation aircraft carrier. Rear Admiral Sushil Ramsay (Retd) PAGE 7 Airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare Sikorsky Aircraft has been selected by the Indian navy to fulfil its multi-role helicopter requirement for anti-submarine and anti- surface warfare missions. Rear Admiral Dr S. Kulshrestha (Retd) PAGE 9 Indian Navy on yet another Benign Humanitarian Mission There is a need to focus on It is the benign role assigned to the Indian Navy which has been tested repeatedly under the most trying and adverse conditions and humanitarian assistance & ‘much more productivity and disaster relief missions most proficiently and successfully accomplished. Rear Admiral Sushil Ramsay (Retd) competitiveness of Indian shipyards, PAGE 10 Sailing towards Self-Reliance with much less capital investments Innovation in an organisation is the key to its performance in the field of technology and aids in production of new age equipment on shipbuilding infrastructure’ and systems. Rear Admiral Sushil Ramsay (Retd) PLUS In an exclusive interview with SP s Naval Forces, Rear Admiral A.K. Saxena, Director General of Naval Design, Surface Ship Group, focussed on Indian Navy striving for News in Brief 11 indigenous warship production and strengthing public private partnership SP s Naval Forces (SP s): Beginning from also ensuring their top class construc- struction are one of the most complex the times of designing the first Leander tion indigenously. What was the strategy engineering activities involving aggrega- class frigate, the Indian Navy’s Design that led to successful construction of the tion and integration of multitude of com- Organisation has clocked several stu- home-grown ship designs? ponents and systems. Unlike other indus- pendous successes in not just rolling out Director General Naval Design (SSG) tries like automobile or aircraft industry APPLIED FOR state-of-the-art surface ships designs but (DGND-SSG): Warship design and con- where a prototype can first be developed, 3/2015 1 INTERVIEW The Indian Navy is dead on a recent interaction with the in production of new age equip- joint training and spreading course for Make in India vision media, We have put the Make ment and systems. The industry goodwill by visiting Australia, of the Prime Minister Narendra in India thrust on an overdrive. pitched in with Anil D. Ambani, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Modi, which is supported by The focus in the road map is on Chairman, Reliance group, lead- Cambodia, Thailand, Seychelles the interview of Rear Admiral weapons, sensors and cutting- ing by giving an illuminating talk and Israel. There are also a few A.K. Saxena, Director General edge technologies, with certain and assuring that in addition to write-ups to keep you all abreast of Naval Design (Surface Ship milestones and required time- the existing infrastructure and of the events, followed by the Group). During the interview, lines. Accordingly an article on shipbuilding assets at the Pipa- News in Brief and appointments. Rear Admiral Saxena has articu- the subject which carries out an vava Shipyard evaluated at Wish you all discerning lated upon all facets of warship analysis and in-depth review of `10,000 crore, his enterprise has readers happy reading! building including infrastruc- the Navy s plans for Make in plans for further investments to ture, design, construction and India is included. the tune of `5,000 crore to facili- engaging of the private sector. Following Make in India tate expansion of the shipbuild- He emphasized on the need vision, the Indian Navy had also ing capabilities for indigenously EDITORIAL to focus on much more pro- organised a seminar on Innova- construct warships. All very ductivity and competitiveness tion and Indigenisation during inspiring for the Navy as well as of Indian shipyards, with much July, with the theme of Sailing the industry. A write-up of the less capital investments on ship- Towards Self-Reliance . The seminar is included in this issue. building infrastructure. preamble of the seminar stated, The Navy has also been Sailing forward on the same Ò Innovation in an organisation busy with Operation Rahat for theme, Admiral R.K. Dhowan, is the key to its performance in evacuation of Indians struck in JAYANT BARANWAL Chief of Naval Staff, stated in the field of technology and aids war-torn Yemen, carrying out Publisher & Editor-in-Chief optimised and then replicated in large been a focus area of design with signifi- directorate, the ship designs have also been organisation, planning/production con- numbers, warship building involves smaller cant improvements made in Shivalik class significantly upgraded in their capabilities, trol, supply chain management, process numbers, concurrent evolution of design, designs with attention to reduction of features with incorporation of niche tech- engineering, human resource management, and management of many uncertainties radar cross section, infrared signature and nologies. Considering the impressive lin- work culture, vendor development, etc. that emerge during construction period. acoustic signatures. In future these designs eage, the nation had reposed its trust on One of the means to bring about the Despite these complexities, it was the wis- would be further improved upon. DND (SSG) and tasked it to design one of process engineering change is to imple- dom, vision, confidence of the Indian Navy One of the most important strategies in India’s most ambitious and challenging war- ment integrated construction (IC) meth- (IN), backed fully by the Government of build-up of the indigenous warship design ships ever, the indigenous aircraft carrier. odology at our shipyards. This method- India and the defence public sector ship- is the human resource strength of DND ology, aims at achieving higher extent of yards that enabled the realisation of self- (SSG). The DND has derived its strength SP’s: Until the recent times all of indige- pre-outfitting at block stage, rather than reliance in ship design and construction. from the institutionalised and systemic nous warships construction was through at the post-launch stage, thereby affording Decision to go ahead with indigenous ship capabilities built up over the years. These the system of nomination of the pub- significant savings on timelines and man- design and construction was a bold act of capabilities have been sharpened by way lic sector defence shipyards. From the hour costs. The advancement of outfitting faith on the part of IN. It reflected the con- of the rich and diverse experience of its Design Bureau’s perspective how would to earlier stages can result in these savings fidence the IN had in its designers and the officers and drawing office staff in execu- you like to analyse the experiences of because of improved access for personnel/ growing capability of Indian shipyards. tion of large number of projects. The main indigenous shipbuilding by the defence material handling equipment, improved The Indian Navy made a modest begin- challenge however is in skill-sets retention, shipyards over the past 50 years? working conditions, avoiding of bunch- ning in 1962 in the field of indigenous besides time and effort required in build- DGND-SSG: Till about middle of last ing of work. The implementation of these warship design and construction with the ing of the capabilities with new personnel decade, defence shipbuilding was mainly practices would also require early selec- establishment of a design cell in the Direc- joining the organisation. confined to four defence public sector tion of equipment, change in procurement torate of Naval Construction (DNC) which Continuous improvement in design shipyards. Orders on the defence shipyards practices, and reorganisation of the yards. later grew to become DNC’s Central Design procedures, tools and technology over the were generally placed on nomination basis Indigenous ship construction is set to take Organisation in 1965. Since then, the IN years has enabled the Indian Navy ships considering complexity and uncertain- a big step with Project 17A ships being con- design agency has steadily grown to pro- to keep up with the rapid advancements ties of complex warship building projects. structed using IC methodology to reduce duce over 19 designs to which over 85 in naval ship technology witnessed over Concept/basic design for the ships were build periods. ships have been built. The Directorate of the last two decades. Use of 3D CAD mod- largely provided by the Indian Navy and Modular construction refers to con- Naval Design (DND) has thus evolved into a elling, finite element structural analysis, the shipyards were required to undertake struction of blocks at several locations cradle of excellence in warship design over computational fluid dynamics, wind tun- only detailed design/production drawings. with assembly in one yard. It can facilitate the last five decades. IN also celebrated nel testing, EMI/EMC testing, stealth signa- Indian Navy’s experience with the partnership between capacity constrained golden jubilee last year to commemorate ture prediction software, etc, have led to defence shipyards has been very good as shipyards to collaborate and optimally uti- 50 glorious years of indigenous warship progressive refinements in design besides reflected in realisation of large number lise capacity available in other shipyards.