India’s Shishumar Class Submarines (HDW Type 209) Upgrade Program & Class review
Upgrade Programs
As part of India’s upgrade program fot its 4 Shishumar class submarines, India contracted Germany’s TKMS for Indian submarine INS Shishumar (Type 209) upgrades on September 28, 2018— The contract is for a mid life refit and life certification (MRLC) of the 32-year-old submarine.
The contract includes new equipment delivery, maintenance of systems & components, on-site technical support & logistical services in form of documentation, training and spare parts. It will also provide life certification warranty of the INS Shishumar’s pressure hull for the next decade. The upgrade will extend the operational life of the submarine by 10 years.
The contract period will start on October 2018 and the upgrade is expected to be completed by 2021, the company said.
This contract is just the latest in a series of upgrade contracts for the Shishumar class submarines.
The Indian Navy had already awarded a $151mn contract for mid-life upgrade and certification of INS Shishumar, the refit is being carried out by Mazagon Dock, Mumbai with technical cooperation from HDW (Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft) of Germany and is expected to be completed by 2021 with a similar upgrade for another vessel of Shishumar class to follow.
TKMS also worked on the retrofitting of Harpoon missile systems on two other submarines of the same class in 2016: the INS Shalki and the INS Shalkul, under a $ 38.4 million contract with the Indian Navy on June 29, 2016. That upgrade also extended their operational life for ten years. The upgrade is also being carried out by Mazagon Dock, Mumbai. The upgrade is backed by a training package to support and operate the new weapons system.
Under this upgrade, the boats are being fitted with a Boeing weapons suite of UGM-84L Harpoon Block encapsulated anti-ship missile systems.
The new weapons package includes 12 UGM-84L Harpoon Block II Encapsulated Missiles, 10 UTM-84L Harpoon Encapsulated Training missiles, and 2 Encapsulated Harpoon certification training vehicles.
The retrofitting of the new weapon suite will be carried out only on INS Shankush and INS Shalki due to technical limitations in the two earlier boats of the class.
Additionally, Atlas Elektronik is currently modernizing the combat and sensor systems of these submarines.
The Shishumar class boats already underwent a midlife refit from 1999 to 2005. Some of the improvements included a retrofit of the French Eledone sonar and an Indian action data system.
The ongoing refit programs for 4 Shishumar class subs & 9 Kilo class subs, means that 13 badly needed subs will stay around for many more years, while the new Scorpenes are starting to come online, which are expected to be 6 to 9 subs. Project 75I is meanwhile progressing. Overall, that’ll be a decent number of SSK subs for India for now.
Highlights of the Shishumar Class / HDW Type 209–1500 Submarines
The 4 Shishumar class SSKs form the Indian Navy’s 10th submarine squadron based in Mumbai. 2 Shishumar class submarines were assembled at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) at Kiel in Germany, while the third and fourth vessels of the class were license-built at Mumbai’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited with the supply of knocked-down kits for assembly. These were the first submarines ever to be built in India.
The 4 boats of the Shishumar class are based on the HDW Class 209, variant 1500, however, it includes some customized features including a larger diameter of the pressure hull, a pressure-resistant bulkhead, as well as a IKL-designed integrated escape system. The escape sphere has accommodations for the entire 40 men crew with an eight-hour air supply. This sphere can withstand the same pressure as the hull, and is outfitted for short term survival and communications.
The 4 boats of the Shishumar class are:
S44 INS Shishumar, commissioned on 1986
S45 INS Shankush, commissioned on 1986
S46 INS Shakti, commissioned on 1992
S47 INS Shankul, commissioned on 1994
The Shishumar class submarines have a displacement of 1700 tons when surfaced and 1850 tons when submerged.
They have a submerged speed of 22 knots (41 km/h) and a speed of 11 Knots (20 km/h) when surfaced.
Diving Depth is 300m and maximum depth is 500 meters.
Endurance is 50 days.
Range (surface) is 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) at 10 knots (20 km/h). Range (snorkel) is 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 10 knots (20 km/h). Range (submerged) is 400 nmi (700 km) at 4 knots (7 km/h)
They have a complement of 40 including eight officers.
Size is 65m x 8m beam x 6m draft.
The Type 209 submarine was designed in the late 1960s exclusively for export by HDW (Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft) of Germany. The design is single hulled and allows the commanding officer to see the entire submarine from the bow to stern while standing at the periscope. Four 120-cell batteries are located forward and aft of the command center in the lower deck and make up about 25% of the boat’s displacement.
Two main ballast tanks with forward and aft trim tanks allow the boat to dive.
Propulsion consist of 4 × MTU 12V 493 AZ80 GA31L diesel-electric motors of 2,400 HP (1,790 kW) each, 1 Siemens motor of 4,600 HP (3,430 kW), 4 AEG alternators of 1.8 MW and 1 shaft. The AEG electric motor is attached directly to a five- or seven-bladed propeller.
The Shishumar class submarines are armed with 8 bow 533 mm torpedo tubes and 14 torpedoes. The Shishumar class carries the AEG-SUT Mod 1 wire-guided active/passive torpedoes German torpedo. The torpedo carries a 250-kt (551-lb) HE warhead. The max speed of the torpedo is 35 kts and its range is 28 km (17.4 miles) at 23 kts and 12 km (7.5 miles) at 35 kts.
The 533 mm torpedo tubes can also carry and launch Harpoon anti ship missiles. The 3rd and 4th boats of the class, S46 INS Shakti and S47 INS Shankul, received an upgrade in 2016 by to be fitted with Harpoon missiles. Its believed that only those 2 boats area able to receive such refit.
Shishumar class submarines can also carry 24 external strap-on mines.
Original sensors include an Atlas Elektronik CSU 83 active/passive sonar, a Thomson Sintra DUUX-5 passive sonar and a Thomson-CSF Calypso surface search radar.
Video: Germany To Upgrade Two Shishumar-Class Submarines of Indian Navy, by DefenceExclusive, Published on Jul 14, 2016
Published at Medium on November 1, 2018
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The author is a European man based in Da Nang, Vietnam. He is Interested in the geostrategy & military balance of power between China and its opponents in the Indo-Pacific and likes to study and comment on those subjects.
