INS Karanj – The Killer Shark Inducted.

INS Karanj – The Killer Shark Inducted.

–Subodh Sharma

The third scorpene class submarine inducted in active service of Indian Navy earlier today (10th March 2021). Earlier, As a part of its expanding submarine fleet, the Indian Navy on 15th February, 2021 received the third Kalvari class submarine as INS Karanj at Mumbai, India. Retd. Vice Admiral Narayan Prasad, CMD of MDL and Rear Admiral B Sivakumar, Chief of Staff Officer (Tech) of the Western Naval Command signed the acceptance document.

Today on 10th March the hunter-killer officially enters the service of the Indian Navy. The Indian Navy welcomed the submarine with a video posted by the Navy spokesperson on Twitter.

INS Karanj Specifications

It is the 3rd submarine in the series production of Kalvari Class. Hence it has the same specifications as that of INS Kalvari.

• Displacement : 1615 T (Surfaced) , 1775 T (Submerged)
• Length : 67.5 m
• Beam : 6.2 m
• Height : 12.3 m
• Draught : 5.8 m
• Propulsion : 4 x MTU 12V 396 SE84 Diesel Engines, 360 x Battery Cells
• Speed : 11 kn (Surfaced), 20 kn (Submerged)
• Range : 12000 km @ 8 kn (Surfaced) , 1020 km @ 4 kn (submerged)
• Endurance : 50 days
• Test Depth : 350 m
• Complement : 8 officers, 35 sailors

Electronic Warfare and Decoys used in INS Karanj

C303/S ATCM

The C303/S is an anti-torpedo countermeasure system. Leonardo, a defence firm based in Italy develops this system. This system is designed to counter the attacks of acoustic homing torpedoes which includes both active and passive as well as wire and non-wire guided torpedoes. It is formed by a 12 barrel launching network.

The C303/S consists of:

• The Effectors: Mobile Target Emulators and Stationary Jammers
• Launching System is mounted externally on the submarine pressure hull and also below the submarine superstructure.
• Control Computer which is fitted with a Man-Machine Interface. It is connected with the torpedo detection system as well as with the Combat Management System which controls the launch of the countermeasures.

Effectors

The Jammer has a highly efficient transducer that covers the entire receiving bandwidth of any torpedo as well as a switching power amplifier. It also has a high energy density thermal battery. The Jammer generates a very high amount of energy spread over the entire reception band of the acoustic head of the torpedo. Therefore, by emitting a high intensity broadband noise, the Jammer masks the target echo as well as the target radiated noise, preventing target acquisition by the torpedo.

The Mobile Target Emulators (MTE) produces reliable echoes for any type of torpedo acoustic transmission, by means of wide band signal processing
and separate acoustic receiver and transmitter. A sophisticated transponder simulates a real target. Therefore, it generates acoustic echoes of a pre determined target strength in real time to any multi-frequency coded pulse emitted by the torpedo. As a result, it achieves a deception effect.

Because of this, the echo structure is identical to that of the real target. Similarly, the MTE radiates noise during its underwater run. As a result, it simulates a moving target. The echo emulation function carries out this noise radiation independently.

Launching System

A dedicated launching system deploys the countermeasures, one for each side of the submarine, including a multi-barrelled module fitted externally to the pressure hull. Although the standard configuration foresees two modules with twelve barrels each, capable to counter six torpedo engagements, the number of barrels per module and the number of modules can be tailored to meet specific submarine constraints and customer requirements.

Control Computers

The system is controlled by a Control Computer normally located in the operations room. It displays the status of the launchers and countermeasures which the system operates automatically via a link with the torpedo alert system. The submarine SONAR provides threat detection and bearing as well as the alarm signals which are continuously fed to the system which remains in constant stand-by, ready to respond to any alert.

As a result, this assures ejection at suitable countermeasures distance which can represent dummy MTE (mobile targets). When mobile decoys are combined with jammers, the enemy torpedoes get directed to the dummy targets. As a result INS karanj can perform an evasive countermeasure.

Armaments

AEG SUT 264 Torpedo

The AEG SUT 264 is a German 21 in. heavyweight torpedo. SUT means surface and underwater target. Atlas Elektronik manufactures this torpedo. INS Karanj has six 533 mm Torpedo launch tubes and it can launch 18 AEG SUT 264 torpedos.

This torpedo is wire guided with active/ passive onboard terminal guidance. It has a range of 28 km @ 23 knots and 12 km @ 35 knots. It is capable of achieveing speeds excess of 35 knots. The warhead is usually 250 kg RDX. Magnetic Field or contact initiates the warhead.

SM39 Exocet

MBDA SM.39 Exocet is an anti-ship missile. It has inertial guidance, active radar homing and GPS guidance. It’s specifications are as below:

• Mass : 780 kg
• Length : 6 m
• Diameter : 34.8 cm
• Warhead : 165 kg
• Engine : Solid Propellant Engine turbojet (MM40 Block 3 Version)
• Wingspan : 1.35 m
• Range : 70 – 180 km
• Sea Skimming
• Max Speed : Mach 0.93

INS Karanj can carry 30 mines instead of the torpedoes. As a result, INS Karanj will have the mine warfare capability.

The Kalvari class submarines thus possess such a wide variety of capabilities. Hence its timely inductions improve the overall lethality of the Indian Navy. It is not only helping India attain the goal of Atma-Nirbhar Bharat but also rapidly modernizing the Indian ship-building industry.

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