When Will Thailand's First China Submarine Arrive?

Prashanth Parameswaran, The Diplomat
31 January 2017 

In June 2015, the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) elected to buy three submarines from China in what would be one of the most expensive single acquisitions in the country’s history (See: “How Did China Just Win Thailand’s New Submarine Bid?”). However, since then, the proposed purchase has been repeatedly delayed, leaving observers to wonder if the country’s long-held dream of acquiring the capability may once again be deferred.
But as I observed in a recent piece, indications are that we may be finally seeing progress on this front in 2017 (See: “When Are China’s Submarines Coming to Thailand?”). The RTN has released a reference price document detailing specifications about the purchase of the first of three submarines, paving the way for a government-to-government deal between Bangkok and Beijing later this year. The submarine purchase is also being linked to the RTN’s broader procurement plans, which is important for funding considerations.
On January 24, Thailand’s Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan confirmed that the government had approved 13.5 billion baht ($383 million) in funding to support the RTN’s purchase of the first of the three submarines, with the total cost of the three boats being 36 billion baht ($1 billion). Local media outlets quoted Prawit as saying that the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) had already approved funding to buy the first vessel, which had been the understanding of close observers of the acquisition.
Meanwhile, RTN spokesman Chumpon Lumpikanon told Reuters that though negotiations were still ongoing over things like the equipment to be installed on the submarine, “this year there will definitely be a signing agreement as we have the budget.” While Prawit indicated that Thailand’s cabinet would have to approve the final plan – previous plans have been floated but put on hold – Chumpon said that the plan was already in line with the regulations set forth by the Prime Minister’s Office. That suggests there are few remaining obstacles to a deal in 2017.
Chumphon added that China would take six years to build the submarine, and the budget had been earmarked to pay for the submarine over those six years. If that is indeed the case, it would be in line with the previous estimates that the first submarine will likely be delivered to Thailand by the early 2020s.
As I noted in a previous piece, while these specifics suggest that there continues to be political will to see this purchase through, for those familiar with Thailand’s decades-long quest for submarines, that also still leaves plenty of time for even more hiccups further down the line.

Northrop Grumman Gets Contract Mod For Common Missile Compartment

Ryan Maass, UPI
27 January 2017    

Northrop Grumman has received a $22.7 million contract modification to provide engineering and design services for the U.S. Navy's Common Missile Compartment.
The modification is the latest adjustment for the Common Missile Compartment project, a device slated for use aboard the Columbia-class submarines under development. The company received its last modification for the program in March 2016.
Northrop Grumman's contract with the U.S. Navy includes options which, if exercised, have the potential to bring the total contract value to $198 million.
Under the new modification, the company is tasked with providing additional technical engineering, design and development engineering, component and full-scale test and evaluation, and tactical underwater launch hardware production.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the work will be performed at a number of locations including Sunnyvale, Calif.; Ridgecrest, Calif.; Cape Canaveral, Fla.; and others. The work is expected to be complete by September 2020.
Northrop Grumman received all funding at the time of the modification award. The Strategic Systems Programs in Washington, D.C., is listed as the contracting activity.
The Common Missile Compartment is being designed to hold the weapons to be used by Colombia-class submarines, formerly referred to as Ohio Replacement vessels. Once completed, the submarines will be armed with Trident D5 missiles.

Guest Commentary: Creating A Pipeline Of U.S. Submarine Builders To Meet Nation’s Need

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, The Westerly Sun
31 January 2017 

Earlier this month, Electric Boat President Jeff Geiger told a packed room of elected officials and regional stakeholders that the company is once again forecasting a strong year of hiring. The expectation is that the shipyards will need more than 1,300 new employees to keep up with attrition and to fill new positions that are a result of increased submarine construction.
In my role as the ranking member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee in Congress, I have been a strong advocate for our submarine force. Demand for submarine capacity has steadily grown over the past decade, but recent global developments have made calls for submarine investment all the more urgent. Our top military leaders in both Europe and Asia have made it clear, through their testimony before my subcommittee, that we need
additional submarines to meet the threats posed by a resurgent Russia and an increasingly aggressive China.
The same need for additional ships is true across our entire naval fleet. Between increased deployments and maintenance work that is struggling to keep pace, the simple truth is that we need a larger Navy to meet the demands of today and the future. That is why the Navy under the Obama Administration conducted a nearly year-long review to determine the requisite number of ships to meet these demands.
The results, which were released last month, are good news for our region. Not only does the review recommend increasing the total number of ships from 308 to 355, it boosts the requirement for attack submarines from 48 to 66. Submarines were given a larger boost than any other part of our fleet, reflecting their unrivaled value in our nation’s defense.
Even before these developments, Electric Boat was poised for significant growth. With the serial production of two Virginia-class submarines each year that was initiated during my first term, there are 15 new submarines under contract now with 11 in various stages of construction. In addition, the yard has been named as the prime contractor for the new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, the construction of which demand nearly two and a half times the workload of a Virginia-class submarine.
Even with all of this good news, we should not forget that serious challenges lay ahead. We will need to protect the gains already made and work across partisan lines in Washington to secure the funding necessary to maintain strong build rates. This means ensuring the industrial base in Connecticut can provide the skilled labor both the shipyard and its suppliers will need to get the job done.
We need an all-hands-on deck effort to ensure that we are training enough skilled workers from right here in Connecticut to fill these shipbuilding jobs over the next two decades. We are off to a great start. With the strong backing of former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, I helped secure $6 million in federal funding to start a manufacturing pipeline in eastern Connecticut. This highly successful initiative brings together workforce development leaders, community colleges, and employers from across the region to train workers for high-skilled, high-paying jobs at Electric Boat and its suppliers. Other efforts, such as using federal funding to restart a long-dormant union-led apprenticeship program at the yard to train existing workers, will further contribute to the goal of filling these jobs with local talent.
While eastern Connecticut is up to the task, it remains to be seen whether similar domestic investments will be a priority for the new administration. I believe that many of my colleagues in Congress, on a bipartisan level, support a strong investment in our workforce development needs. I will work with them to sustain these critical programs. It is also important that we develop other ways to support our developmental programs on the state and regional level.
While the nation will not know the exact details of the Navy’s new build-up plan for some time, one thing is clear; the ability of our shipyard to meet the workforce demands in the years ahead will make or break their plans. Eastern Connecticut has found a model that works. Moving forward, it is critical that we do all that we can to sustain it. The continued growth of our region’s economy and the ability to meet the demands of our nation depend on it.

Royal Thai Navy Secures Funding For First S26T Submarine From China

Bilal Khan, QUWA.org
26 January 2017

The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) recently secured USD $383.4 million for the first of three S26T air-independent propulsion submarines (SSP) it intends to procure from the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), the Bangkok Post reports.
As per the Bangkok Post: The funding was allocated in the national budget for 2017, which was approved by Thailand’s parliament. Upon approval from the cabinet, Thailand will order the submarine under a government-to-government deal.
As the lead ship will absorb the required logistics, maintenance, training and weapon (munition?) costs, the unit costs of the remaining two S26Ts will be less than the first.
The total cost of the S26T submarine program will be USD $1.02 billion.
The Bangkok Post reports that the S26T “has a submerged displacement of 2,600 tons and is equipped with an air-independent propulsion [AIP] system.”
Thailand is seeking the S26Ts as part of its comprehensive naval modernization efforts, which also include the procurement of new surface warships, such as its recently launched 3,650-ton frigate.

Trump Says He Wants To Cut Navy Submarines' Price: Fox News Interview

Eric Beech, Reuters
26 January 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States needs more submarines but he wants to buy them at a lower cost, resuming his push to get defense contractors to cut the prices they charge the Pentagon.
"We're lacking submarines and we're going to build new submarines but the price is too high so I'm cutting the prices way down," Trump said in an interview on Fox News to be broadcast later on Thursday.
Two U.S.-based companies, General Dynamics Corp's Electric Boat division and Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding, build the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines.
Neither General Dynamics nor Huntington Ingalls immediately responded to a request for comment.
"We are working hard to drive down cost and are seeing the fruits of that labor," a senior U.S. Navy official said in response to the Trump comments.
"We have the most advanced submarines in the world - the more we buy, the more we will bring down the price," the official said.
Trump, who took office on Friday, has vowed to build up the military, which he says has become dangerously depleted.
Since winning the November election, he has pressured U.S. defense contractors to reduce the cost of the products they sell to the Pentagon.
In December, Trump received a pledge from the chief executive of Lockheed Martin to cut the cost of the F-35 fighter jet after Trump complained in a tweet about the plane's price tag and said he would ask Boeing to offer a cheaper alternative.

Exclusive: An Indian Submarine, Its Crew, And Its Top Secret Mission

Vishnu Som, NDTV
26 January 2017

As I write this, the young crew of an Indian Kilo-class submarine, among the oldest operational submarines in the Navy, is preparing for their next mission. Massive batteries, each weighing 900 kilos, that power all the systems onboard are being installed, food and supplies are being stocked, mechanical repairs are being carried out.
Within days, the INS Sindhukirti, based in Visakhapatnam will conduct its next sortie. No one, not even the Captain, knows where. Deployment orders are top secret. They come in an envelope which the Captain isn't allowed to open until he is already out at sea. All the crew can do is guess the duration of their next mission based on the quantity of food and supplies they are stocking in their submarine. For the next several weeks, perhaps even more than a month, the Sindhukirti will be prowling the depths of the Bay of Bengal, its crew entirely cut off from the outside world, other than listening to the occasional news report which the submarine is equipped to receive even while operating underwater. For more than a month, the 67 officers and sailors onboard will have no contact with their families. ''Once the last lines have been cast off from alongside, you are nowhere and no longer attached to your family. Whatever happens there, whatever happens to you, you are absolutely in two different worlds," said Captain GS Reedy, the 39-year-old Commanding Officer of the Sindhukirti.
On board the submarine, preparations are hectic. Constant drills to keep the men on their toes. Attack runs simulated in the Operations Room, the nerve-centre of the submarine, a small room flanked with electronic displays, old analogue systems and two periscopes. Instructions are shouted out by Captain Reedy, and officers and crew members respond, often simultaneously. It's controlled chaos but everyone knows what to do. The ultimate goal, had this been a real life situation, would have been to fire either a missile or a torpedo. "The process is special because first of all, when an enemy submarine is detected, we don't have anything to actually see. The only sense that we rely upon in acquiring the initial targeting information is a sonar," says Lt Commander Ankush Vyas, the Executive Officer of the Sindhukirti. "Sonar is totally passive. We work out the target motion parameters of the target, what direction he is heading to, what speed he is doing and what is the approximate range of the target. After doing that, we feed the solution to the fire control system.  The fire control system not only generates its solution, but also prepares the torpedo tubes and feeds the targeting data to the torpedoes. When the order is received from the Captain, we fire the torpedo on the target."
Elsewhere on the submarine, a crew of men head to the rest area. Their shift is over. It's time to hot-bunk: berths as beds are rotated. "At times, we even play around with the body clock of the men on board," said Captain Anurag Srivastava, the Director of Submarine Operations at the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. "When we are out for extended deployments and we are close to the enemy course, we have to change the body clock so that we are more alert during the night time. All our activities take place during the night time like charging of the batteries and all."
India has nine of these submarines, acquired from Russia in the 80s, in addition to four German designed Type-1500 submarines of nearly the same vintage. Powered by batteries which are charged by a set of diesel engine, they have limited endurance. Though missions can last up to 40 days, the submarine has to ascend once every 24 hours to what is known as snorkeling depth. As it hovers just short of the surface of the sea, fumes from its diesel engines are "snorted" out, and stale air onboard the submarine is replaced with fresh air from outside. It is during this period that a submarine like the Sindhukirti is most vulnerable: the loud "snorting" and the proximity to the surface means the submarine can potentially be detected by enemy aircraft, warships or other submarines. The kilo-class submarine is also slow and cannot sail at more than 31 kilometres per hour underwater. Nuclear-powered submarines, like the INS Chakra, which India has leased from Russia, and the INS Arihant, a home-grown nuclear ballistic missile submarine, are significantly faster and do not need to ascend close to the surface of the sea where they are vulnerable to detection. Neither do they need to refuel since their nuclear reactors are designed to run through the course of the life of the submarine.  
The Sindhukirti is not an easy work space. Every inch of space is occupied by an essential piece of machinery. Moving around the boat, its many ladders and water-tight hatches, is not comfortable. But this submarine doesn't aim for that. During the Soviet times when she was built, crew comfort was an afterthought. Newer submarines, like the French-designed Scorpene class submarines being assembled at Mazgaon Docks in Mumbai, are like a luxury-liner for sailors used to operating old submarines like this. On the Sindhukirti, there is one toilet for the nearly 70 people on board. There are no showers, and the crew of the submarine dispense with their starched uniforms for light-blue coloured disposable gowns not unlike the scrubs worn by doctors in operating theatres. Each set of clothes is worn for three days and then thrown away.  
Master Chief Petty Officer NP Mahto is the COXSWAIN or senior-most enlisted man onboard. A veteran submariner, he is the eyes and the ears of the Captain. When he isn't personally at the helm of the submarine controlling its movement, Mahto has to work to keep up the morale of the sailors onboard. "I tell them `See I'm an old man, but I'm running from fore to aft. So by listening to this, their courage comes up. And they do whatever we require," he said.
Part of the process of keeping the men onboard motivated involves feeding them with fresh meals. Cooked in a tiny galley. The chefs onboard have a huge responsibility - the Navy takes its cuisine very seriously; the meals produced, vegetarian and non-vegetarian, are delicious by any measure. Everyone eats the same food - there is no preference or special meal for officers onboard. "We have a lot of activities planned for the sailors to bring them together. We try to
occasionally break a part of our routine by having healthy competitions between them. Sailors come out with a number of humorous anecdotes while they are serving which we occasionally broadcast for everybody to enjoy," said the Captain.
Being a submariner is a dangerous business. A build-up of hydrogen and other gases in the battery pits can potentially be lethal. A small spark can trigger an explosion that can destroy the boat and weaponry - missiles, torpedoes and mines - have to be handled with kid gloves. Safety is the key buzzword here. These men won't talk about it, but they know how things can go disastrously wrong. 18 sailors were killed in an explosion in the weapons compartment of the INS Sindhurakshak in Mumbai in 2013, a submarine identical to this boat. A year later, two officers lost their lives on a sister submarine, INS Sindhuratna, while trying to put out a fire very close to the battery pit. The accidents prompted then Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi to resign from service.
Wary of China's increasing undersea prowess, India has committed to speeding up its plans to modernize its navy, especially since Beijing has made clear its determination to dominate the Indian Ocean, though which crucial oil and other imports are routed.   
 India presently operates only a single nuclear-attack submarine leased from Russia in 2012. The INS Arihant , the country's first indigenously built nuclear submarine - loaded with nuclear-tipped missiles -has also completed lengthy trials in the Bay of Bengal.  In addition to this, India operates 13 Russian and German-designed diesel-electric submarines. Six French-designed "Scorpene" class submarines are being assembled at Mumbai, but China, which has at least 12 nuclear-powered submarines either in service or under construction, is way ahead with another 56 conventional diesel-electric submarines, making it the world's second-largest operator of submarines behind America.

India Set To Test Launch Another Nuke Missile On January 31st

Hemant Kumar Rout, The New Indian Express
23 January 2017

BHUBANESWAR – The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is readying for a fresh trial of its long range nuke-capable submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) K-4 from an underwater platform in the last week of this month.
If things go as per the programme, defence sources said the indigenously built most powerful underwater missile having a strike range of around 3,500 km will be test fired from a submerged pontoon, which is almost identical to a submarine, on January 31.
Though the missile has been designed to be launched from a depth of 50 metres, this time the scientists are planning to fire it from the undersea platform nearly 20-30 metre deep in the Bay of Bengal.
A defence official said while the preparation for the test is going on in full swing, tracking equipment has been moved in ships to be placed at test location and point of impact.
Having a length of 12 metres and diameter of 1.3 metres, K-4 missile weighs around 17 tonne and is capable of carrying a warhead of around two tonne. Basically a ballistic missile, the K-4 combines the aspects of both cruise and ballistic missile, which use multiple-stage rockets to exit the atmosphere and re-enter in a parabolic trajectory.
The country’s first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant has already been inducted in the Indian Navy and this submarine will be equipped with the K-series missiles.
Apart from the 700-km range K-15, renamed as B-05, which has been successfully test fired several times and K-4, India has one more missile in the series. SLBM K-5 having a striking capability of over 5,000 km is under development.
All the K-series missiles are faster, lighter and stealthier. The missiles are far more difficult to tackle as they skulk clandestinely undersea and manoeuvrable thus minimising the chance to be shot down by the enemy.
Apart from the K-series missiles, India has the submarine version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile in its arsenal to boost its second-strike capabilities. The DRDO is also developing the air version of K-series missiles which can be fitted with fighter aircraft.
The DRDO is expecting a successful trial of the missile as it would strengthen the country’s position in the exclusive club of six nations including Russia, USA, France, Britain and China which have the capability of firing missiles from air, land and undersea.