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INS Mysore in New York: A Photo Exclusive
Mrityunjoy Mazumdar
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INS
Mysore, the Indian Navy's newest destroyer,
had recently been making the rounds in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East after a
rather historic flag showing visit to New York City to attend the INR 2000 as part of the
American Independence Day celebrations on the fourth of July. This move clearly signals a
thawing of military relations between the US and India since the Indian nuclear blasts in
May 1998.
INS Mysore
enters New York
Her voyage included stops and port visits to a number of North African, European
counties, and visits to Norfolk naval base and Boston in the eastern seaboard of the United
States. In America, and in Western Europe, she was the object of much curiosity as she is
one of the few hybrid warships in the world with a mix of Russian, Western and Indian
weapons systems, equipment and machinery. In addition, the Mysore
was a showcase for
Indian achievements in warship construction.
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Our Asia Pacific correspondent, Mrityunjoy
Mazumdar, was there in New York and he filed this report on India's most powerful warship.
INS Mysore is the second
warship to bear that name in the
IN. The first was the old WW2
British Fiji class cruiser, HMS
Nigeria, that served the IN ably
from 1957 to 1985. In fact, the
writer's father served on the
former Mysore.
The
new Mysore is the second in a series of
three 6700+ tonne, Indian built, Project
15 Delhi Class multi-purpose destroyers
performing anti-ship, anti-air and
anti-submarine roles. With a length of
534.8 feet, a beam of 55.8 feet and a
draught of 21.3 feet, these are the most
powerful surface combatants to fly the
Indian Naval ensign and are well suited
for power projection roles in the Indian
Ocean Region. Fully fitted with flag
facilities, the Mysore and her sister
ships primarily act as command and
control platforms for task groups and as
screening escorts for the aircraft
carrier INS Viraat.
Project 15 History
This project has its roots in the early 1980s when
the IN launched plans to build a series of three indigenous destroyers for induction in
the early 1990s. As a result of the their positive experience operating the capable
Russian built Project 61ME Mod. Kashin Class destroyers, the Project 15 ships were to be
designed by the Indian Navy's Design Bureau with considerable technical assistance from
the Russian Severnoye Design Bureau (SDB), designers of the Kashin and other major Russian
warships. SDB has been Russia’s leading designer of major surface combatants for the
past 50 years. Thus, the new destroyers were to be hybrids of Western and Russian
technology - incorporating elements of the SDB designed Project 956
'Sovremenny' Class
destroyers and the Project 61ME Kashin Class destroyers with the locally designed Project
16 Godavari Class frigate, including the most unique aspect of the Godavari
Class frigate,
namely the large dual helicopter hangar for two Sea King helicopters.
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A stunning
bow shot |
Orders for the three P15 ships were placed with
Mazagon Docks Limited in 1985, with fabrication of the first unit beginning in November
1987. This unit was launched in February 1991 as the Delhi and
she was commissioned in
November 1997. The keel of the Mysore was laid down on February 1991 and launched on
04 June 1993. The ship began her sea trails in the Arabian Sea in March last year and was
commissioned on 02 June 1999. The Mumbai, the third unit will commission later this year
or early next year.
Originally, plans called for equipping the ships with the supersonic
Raduga 3M80 'Moskit' (NATO: SS-N-22 Sunburn) missiles but the implosion of the Soviet Union
in 1991, with the consequent breakdown of the centralised arms procurement agencies threw
the entire program into severe disarray. The non-availability of critical components saw
the P15 program delayed by nearly four years. Changes to the missile armament were also
necessary as the cost of the Sunburn missile reportedly exceeded the cost of the entire
ship. Instead, the cost effective Harpoon clone, the 3M24E 'Uran' subsonic missile system
was selected. |
Mysore, along with the Delhi, is part of the
Indian Navy's Western Fleet based in Mumbai. It has a normal complement of 360 men
including 40 officers, but on this particular deployment, over 400 persons including a
large music band, were aboard. Her CO, Captain Rajiv
Dhamdhere, an expert on naval
tactics, is also her commissioning CO. Her XO is Commander Sunil David, a long range
gunnery expert and a diver. Mention must also be made of the excellent quality of food,
wine and entertainment served up by her crew on the large helo deck. Like her predecessor,
the ship carries the name of one of the erstwhile princely states in Southern India and
her crest bears the double-headed Romanoff eagle, from the coat of arms of that state.
Interestingly, the Mysore Lancers of the Indian Army also use the same coat of arms.
Ship Characteristics
Built by the state-owned shipyard Mazagon Docks
Ltd (MDL), Mumbai at a cost of approximately $250-300
million each, the three ships are the
largest indigenously built surface combatants. The costs for similar warships built
elsewhere would easily exceed $500 million a unit. The most unique
feature of these hybrid vessels is the integration of Russian, Western and Indian weapons systems
& equipment.
Featuring an indigenous component of roughly 60%, their armament and propulsion
system is largely of Russian or Ukrainian origin while most of the sensors, electronics
and other equipment are of Western or Indian origin. Keeping in mind that the basic design
dates from the early 1980s, stealth features are minimal.
INS Mysore has some differences
from INS Delhi. Most noticeably, the massive blast shields behind the missile launchers
are gone and there are minor improvements over INS Delhi. The Russian influence is very
evident as the ship bristles with all manner of sensors, armament and missile launchers in
atypically Russian fashion. One wonders if mutual electronic interference is a problem
when all these sensors are operating simultaneously.
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A side
view |
Amongst the most prominent features of the ship
are its impressive battery of 16 Russian Zvezda-Strela Kh-35
'Uran' (3M24E) anti ship
missiles (AShM), twice as many as carried by most Western warships apart from the VLS
equipped USN ships and the Japanese Kongo Class.
The missiles are housed in four
quadruple KT-184 launchers angled at 30 degrees, two on either side of the bridge
superstructure. All 16 subsonic sea-skimming Urans can be ripple-fired in 2-3 second
intervals and have a maximum range of 130 km. At least six have been test fired from the
Mysore during her trials. |
These missiles are controlled by the
Garpun-Bal FC radar,
mounted atop the bridge. This radar, unlike most fire control or search radars, combines
active and passive channels. In the active target designation mode, it operates in X-band
(I/J-band) and can handle up to 150 targets at ranges between
35-45 km although it is
possible to obtain ranges of more than 180 km in wave-guide propagation conditions. The
passive channel operates in the ESM mode searching for pulse and CW signals, and
accurately identifying the bearing of hostile emitters from a built-in classification
library of up to 1000 signatures. The maximum range of the passive channel is over 100 km
depending on frequency.
For area anti-air
defence, the Mysore is armed
with 48 Russian Altair 9M38 'Cashmere' (NATO: SA-N-7 Gadfly) medium range surface to air
missiles, similar to older versions of the US Standard missile. However, it is possible
that these missiles are the more advanced SA-N-17 Grizzly
variant. The missiles are stored in two
magazines of 24 missiles each, stored under the two single-arm ZiF launchers, one forward
of the bridge on and the other atop the helo hangar in a manner that is similar to the
Italian destroyer Luigi Durand de la Penne. Target tracking data for the
SAMs is provided
by the Russian MR-755 Fregat MAE (NATO: Half Plate) planar array radar. The system can
engage up to 12 targets at ranges of 32 km. Target illumination and guidance for the
missiles is provided by six MR90 'Orekh' (NATO: Front
Dome) illuminators, four mounted
forward and two aft.
Anti-submarine armament comprises two 12
bareled
RBU 6000 AS rocket launchers mounted in front of the bridge, just behind the forward SAM
launcher and 533mm heavy weight torpedoes fired from a quintuple PTA 53 launcher
amidships, as in the Kashin Class. These ASW weapons are controlled by the Purga ASW fire
control system. The RBU 6000 fires RGB 60 depth charge rockets to engage submarines at
depths of 500 metres at a maximum range of 6000 metres. The system may carry
up to 192 rockets. The PTA
533 launcher is of modular construction and can fire different types of heavyweight
torpedoes such as wire guided or wake homing types. The sonar suite comprises the
indigenously built APSOH medium frequency hull mounted sonar and the HUMVAAD variable
depth sonar that is mounted in a Canadian Indal designed 'fish' deployed from a ramp in
the transom.
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INS
Mysore from astern |
The main gun armament comprises a
single-barreled
water-cooled 100mm automatic gun, the AK-100 which can engage aerial and surface targets
at a rate of fire of 30-50 rds/min. The turret can traverse through an arc of
220º. Fire control for the gun is provided by the T91E radar, a part of the MR-145
or MR-184 (NATO: Kite Screech) fire control radar system along with a turret mounted
Kondensor optical sight. As in the later Kashins, four
multi-barreled AK-630 Gatling
guns, two on either beam, provide a last ditch inner layer of defence against incoming
missiles that managed to leak through the outer layer of SAM
defences. Fire control is provided
by two MR-123 radars (NATO:
Bass Tilt) incorporating EO
sensors along with a manual backup
sight for each pair of guns. Each
gun can throw up a defensive wall
of lead at well over 2000 rds/min
out to 2.5 km. Unlike Western CIWS
like Phalanx or Goalkeeper, this
is not a closed loop system. |
The ship's Electronic Warfare system comprises the
indigenous Ajanta-II electronic warfare suite which is thought to employ equipment of
Israeli origin working in conjunction with the Russian PK-2 decoy launcher system. This
employs two ZIF-121 launchers mounted on either side of the rear funnel stack atop the
helo hanger and the Tertsiya fire control system. The PK2 is employed in the confusion and
distraction modes using chaff, IR and visual-optical decoy rounds. Confusion mode is used
to confuse incoming missiles while distraction mode is used when enemy missiles are
searching for and locking on the ship. Each launcher has 100 decoy rounds. Stern mounted
noise generating torpedo decoys are also used.
Depending on operational requirements, the
Mysore
can embark two Westland Sea King 42B anti-ship and anti-submarine helicopters, although the
HAL built Chetak or a combination of the Chetak and a Sea
King is usually embarked. The Sea King helos are equipped with a surface search radar, dunking sonar and carry two Sea
Eagle AShMs, or a combination of depth charges and A-244 anti-submarine torpedoes. The
helos can fly over 200 km around the mother ship and are equipped with a data link to
download target data to the combat information centre, based on the indigenous Bharat
'Shikari' (Hunter) combat data system in the Mysore's operations room. The combat data
system, which is a derivative of the Italian IPN series of combat data systems, integrates
Western, Russian and Indian systems, thus representing a remarkable technical achievement
in system integration skills.
As mentioned earlier, the Fregat MAE 3D planar
array radar provides air surveillance while surface surveillance is provided by the
locally assembled Bharat RAWL (Dutch Signaal LW08) radar with SRA-01 IFF equipment atop
the radar antenna. Three MR 212/201 navigation radars are mounted on the foremast as in
the Sovremenny class. Satcom equipment is standard on these ships.
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A close-up image of a quadruple KT-184
launcher, which holds four Kh-35 Uran
(NATO: SS-N-25) AShMs. |
Propulsion
comes from 2 Ukrainian Zorya
Production Association M36 GT
plants that produce over 64000 hp
to give the Mysore a top speed of
over 32 knots, with economical
speeds in the region of 14-18
knots and a range of 5000 miles.
The M36 pants comprise four DT-59
reversible GT grouped in 2 pairs,
each driving a propeller through a
RG54 gearbox. Each GT in turn
drives a turbo generator. Fresh
air for the turbines is drawn
through two large stacks, one
after the bridge superstructure,
and one aft. The large flight deck
with dual hangars has a 'Harpoon'
type helicopter haul down system
and two traversing tracks, each
leading to a hangar compartment.
This is very likely the French
Samahe system. The ship is fitted
with an integrated platform
management system, possibly of
French origin. In the bridge, one
is surprised to find a joystick
for maneuvering the ship instead
of the traditional wheel at the
helmsman's station. These ships
are also capable of operating in a
NBC environment. |
The Competition
So how would the Mysore measure up against her
likely opponents such as the Chinese Sovremennys and the Luhai missile destroyers and
Pakistani Amazon class frigates? As both the Mysore and Luhai class carry 16 subsonic
SSM's of similar performance and a single 100 mm gun, the Luhai class are quite comparable
to the Delhi's except for their lack of a serious area defense SAM. But this will probably
be redressed as soon as the PLAN is able to make a VL area defense SAM. Or the SAN 7/17
from the Type 956E Sovremenny may be fitted instead. Give this a few more years. The other
advantage of the Delhi would be it's two capable Sea King helos which are far more capable
than the Luhai's Dauphin helo or the Sovremenny's Ka-28. The Luhai's superstructure is
obviously much better than the Delhi in terms of 'stealthiness' as the surfaces
appear to be much less cluterred and quite slab sided. This will be a distinct advantage
for the Luhai. Other than these, the electronics/sensor fit is quite similar as both ships
use comparable Western technologies for radars, sonars, EW,
CIC, etc.
The Mysore is very similar to the Sovrenemmy in
several respects. The Delhi Class is best described as a multi-role ship with a
significant ASW capability while the Sovremenny Class is intended primarily for the long
range anti-ship strike role with 8 very potent supersonic Sunburn missiles. Therefore it
remains a question of how effective a salvo of 16 subsonic Uran anti-ship missiles will be
against a salvo of eight supersonic anti-ship missiles missiles. Both vessels have a similar
anti-air capability, but the Sovremenny has a minimal ASW weapons and sensor suite. The
main gun armament on the Sovremenny with its two twin 130mm turrets far outclasses the
Mysore single 100mm gun. There is redundancy in having two turrets, and the Sovremenny can
bring to bear a much greater tonnage of firepower at much greater ranges. For the
Mysore,
with its single 100mm gun, this can be a disadvantage in combat especially when the gun is
damaged. However, several Western navies also have ships with just one main gun such as
the RN (and a lot of the IN’s thinking is from the RN) although the USN generally has
2 main guns on it’s destroyer sized ships. So this comes down to a question of
differing tactical philosophies.
The other significant difference is in the ASW
capabilities. One can safely surmise that the sonar systems on the Delhi class are
superior to anything the Russians have on a Sovremenny. The APSOH hull mounted sonar and
the HUMVAAD VDS sonar are based on Western and indigenous technology, which, in
combination, with the 2 Sea King ASW helos offer a potent ASW capability. It is possible
that the Chinese would upgrade the sonar systems on the Sovremenny with French systems
although the limitation then would still be the single Kamov helicopter which is inferior
to the Sea King. Insofar the Pakistani Tariq (Amazon) class frigates are concerned, they
would appear to be rather badly outclassed by the Delhi
Class destroyers. These ageing
ships, with weak hull structures, are said to be badly overloaded and top heavy. It is
unclear how much of their planned sensor and weapons modernization has actually been
carried out. Anti-air defences are provided by a single Phalanx CIWS and a sextuple
launcher for Chinese LY60 short range SAM. They lack any surface to surface missiles and
the planned Bofors torpedo launchers are yet to be seen on these ships.
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The
Mysore's sensors |
The Project 15 ships are to form the core of the
Indian Navy's future blue water fleet in the early part of the
21st century.
This year, the Indian Government approved construction of an additional three units of the
P-15A Class. To be built to a modified design, construction of the P-15A
'Bangalore' Class
ships could begin at MDL within two years. Tentative delivery of the first unit will be
five years later, and the other two at 18 month intervals. The P15A ships will possess
enhanced stealth features and land-attack capabilities in the form of Russian-built
Novator 3M54E1 'Klub' vertically launched cruise missiles. |
Photos by Mrityunjoy Mazumdar. Copyright
© Bharat Rakshak.
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