Smoke detected on Indian Navy submarine INS Sindhuratna off Mumbai coast.

                                  INS Sindhuratna ( File Pic.)

 Mumbai:  An Indian Navy submarine is headed back to the Mumbai shore after it was forced to surface when smoke was detected on board. Reports said four or five sailors fell unconscious from suffocation and have been airlifted to a Mumbai hospital.

The INS Sindhuratna was being sea tested after a refit, about 40 to 50 km off the Mumbai coast when the smoke was detected. The senior-most submarine officer of the Western Naval Command was on board.

2nd Nuclear Submarine Lease likely to highlight in Indo-Russian Summit

At least half a dozen bilateral agreements, including a big ticket deal on the lease of a nuclear submarine are expected to be signed at the 14th Indo-Russian annual summit in Moscow on October 21, key officials involved in the negotiations (which are still going on) said.

India has been looking to take a second nuclear submarine on lease from Russia and talks are believed to have progressed well. The two sides are keeping budget-level secrecy on this subject. The issue is likely to dominate discussions between Singh and Putin during a restricted meeting where the two principals meet with select aides.

First Scorpene submarine to be delivered in 2014

        After hitting rough waters for several years with bribery allegations, the first of the six Scorpene submarines, ordered by the Indian Navy as part of technology transfer from France, is to be delivered in 2014, French ambassador Francois Richier said on Saturday. The rest five submarines are to be delivered every year.
         "The first submarine would be ready by 2014, heralding an important and strategic tie-up between both the nations on the defence front", said Richier told mediapersons on board French naval destroyer FNS Montcalm, anchored at Goa's Mormugao harbour for a naval exercise. 'Project-75' is under way at Mazagon Docks Ltd (MDL) in cooperation with French company DCNS.
          "It is a full transfer of technology, something we don't do with everybody. Defence component of India-French relations is very important to us," said Richier. 
            The Scorpene deal has been under a cloud of controversy with the government conducting an inquiry into financial irregularities committed by a former director in-charge of the whopping Rs 23,562-crore project, which has been dogged by huge time and cost overruns. Defence minister AK Antony told the Lok Sabha last month that a complaint was received alleging financial irregularities against the then director in-charge of the Scorpene submarine project in a defence shipyard (MDL) and the complaint is under inquiry.

Indian Navy submarine force to be weakest by 2015

      The Indian Navy's submarine force levels will be lowest in the history by 2015 as per a confidential defence ministry report.
    While China is scaling up its underwater capabilities by introduction of more submarines, the Indian Navy is speculated to have merely six or seven submarines in 2015 including the indigenous nuclear powered, nuclear armed ballistic missile submarine, INS Arihant as it will start phasing out the the Russian Kilo class and German HDW Type 209 class submarines.
   The Indian Navy currently operates 14 submarines in the above submarine classes and also a single nuclear powered attack submarine leased from Russia, INS Chakra while China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) operates close to 45 submarines including nuclear powered attack and ballistic missile submarines. It also has plans to construct 14 Yuan class diesel electric submarines probably with Air Independent Propulsion (AIP).
     On the other hand, the six French Scorpene submarines (Project 75) currently under construction in Marzagon Dock limited at a cost of 23,562 crores will not be launched until 2016-17.