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INS Varsha

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INS Varsha
Rambilli, Andhra Pradesh
Sarada River joining the Bay of Bengal near Rambilli
TypeNaval station
Site information
Controlled byIndian Navy
ConditionUnder construction
Garrison information
OccupantsEastern Naval Command

INS Varsha is a new naval base being developed under Project Varsha for the Indian Navy. This base will be the home of the navy's new fleet of nuclear submarines and ships. It was planned to be located within a radius of approximately 200 kilometres (124.27 statute miles) from Visakhapatnam, the headquarters of the navy's Eastern Naval Command.[1] Previous news reports suggested that Gangavaram had been the initial site for the new base.[2] The base is now being developed at Rambilli, which is 50 km from Visakhapatnam.[3][4]

Construction

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INS Varsha would de-congest the Visakhapatnam Port, which is used by both the navy and the civilian Ministry of Shipping. The navy's dockyards at Vizag are facing shortage of berthing space due to the rapid expansion of the Eastern fleet, which grew from 15 major warships in 2006 to 46 in 2012, and is still expanding. Varsha will have a large near-by facility of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), and will include modern nuclear engineering support facilities and extensive crew accommodation. It is designed to support the fleet of 8-12 nuclear-powered ballistic missile and attack submarines to be built for the Indian Navy. It will also have underground pens to hide the submarines from spy satellites and protect them from enemy air attacks. The navy is seeking foreign technical assistance pertaining to nuclear safety features for the base.[5] While designed principally as a nuclear submarine support facility, the new base can accommodate other surface naval vessels because of the Indian Navy's expansion. This facility has been compared to the top-secret Hainan nuclear submarine base of the Chinese PLA Navy. This east coast base expansion programme by the Indian Navy was started due to India's Look East policy and the Chinese naval expansion into the region.[1][3][6]

In addition to Project Varsha, in late 2009, the Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), located at Visakhapatnam, was transferred from the Ministry of Shipping to the Ministry of Defence in order to support the Arihant-class nuclear submarine construction programme. These new vessels will be based at INS Varsha.[1][7]

₹160 crore (equivalent to ₹330 crore or US$40 million in 2023) were sanctioned for the project in the 2011-12 budget, of which ₹58 crore (equivalent to ₹120 crore or US$14 million in 2023) were for civil works and the balance ₹100 crore (equivalent to ₹206 crore or US$25 million in 2023) were for setting up a VLF communication system.[8]

It was reported in January 2018 that the Central government has diverged 670 hectares of forest land in Rambilli, Andhra Pradesh to Project Varsha which was needed to house a strategic technical area and a command and control centre. This was required for the Phase-II of the project. Construction of Phase-I was reported to be on full swing. It was also reported that the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is constructing a research and development complex just 20 km away from the Project Varsha site at Atchutapuram that will support the submarine base. About 845 hectares had already been handed over to BARC for the new facility.[9]

Phase-I of the project was planned to be completed by 2022.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Sharma, Suman (12 June 2010). "Navy creating a new base for nuke submarines". Daily News & Analysis. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  2. ^ Sudha Ramachandran (17 October 2006). "India navy drops another anchor". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 18 October 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ a b "India readies hi-tech naval base to keep eye on China". The Times of India. 26 March 2013. Archived from the original on 27 March 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Navy to have second base near Vizag". The Hindu. 17 September 2006. Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  5. ^ "India's Secret warship base commissioned to protect assets in South China Sea". Telegraph India. Strat risks. 9 December 2012. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  6. ^ Vivek Raghuvanshi (8 December 2010). "Eying China, India Plans New East Coast Navy Bases". Home. DefenseNews. Retrieved 16 December 2010.[dead link]
  7. ^ "On national security interests, Govt moves Hindustan Shipyard to Defence ministry". The Times of India. PTI. 24 December 2009. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  8. ^ Malhotra, Jyoti (12 August 2013). "How India's pride INS Arihant was built". Business Standard. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  9. ^ Vishnoi, Anubhuti; Pubby, Manu (10 January 2018). "Big Boost for India's secret nuclear submarine base". The Print. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  10. ^ Unnithan, Sandeep (10 December 2017). "A peek into India's top secret and costliest defence project, nuclear submarines". India Today. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
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