Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: INS Vagir

Mains level: Not Much

ins vagir

The fifth Scorpene class conventional submarine was commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Vagir.

INS Vagir

The latest submarine gets its name from the erstwhile Vagir, a submarine that served the Navy between 1973 and 2001 and undertook numerous operational missions.
The construction of the new Vagir began in 2009 and it took its maiden sea sortie in February last year.
Also known as Sand Shark, the submarine was delivered to the Indian Navy in December 2022.

Class: Kalvari

In maritime parlance, a class of ships is a group of vessels which have the same make, purpose and displacement.
Vagir is a Kalvari-class submarine, which includes other vessels, such as the INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Karanj, INS Vela and INS Vagsheer.
Of these, Kalvari and Khanderi were commissioned in 2017 and 2019, and Vela and Karanj were inducted in 2021.
Vagir has now been commissioned and Vagsheer was launched in 2022 and is expected to be inducted next year.
The submarines in the current Kalvari-class take their names from erstwhile decommissioned classes of submarines named Kalvari, which included Kalvari, Khanderi, Karanj and Vela classes — comprising Vela, Vagir, Vagshir.

Capabilities and technical details of INS Vagir

The Kalavari class of submarines have an estimated endurance of approximately 50 days.
They also have the capability of operating in a wide range of Naval combat including anti-warship and anti-submarine operations, intelligence gathering and surveillance and naval mine laying.
These submarines are around 220 feet long and have a height of 40 feet. It can reach the highest speeds of 11 knots (20 km/h) when surfaced and 20 knots (37 km/h) when submerged.
The modern variants of the Scorpene class of submarines have what is called Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) which enables non-nuclear submarines to operate for a long time without access to surface oxygen.

Currently, India has less number of submarines than what is required with some more of those from both types being at various stages of construction.
India operates one submarine in the nuclear-powered class of Chakra and two other nuclear-powered vessels in Arihant.
There are in addition to submarines belonging to three classes of Diesel Electric category — Kalvari, Shishumar and Sindhughosh, some of which are ageing.
The nuclear-powered and diesel-electric submarines have their designated roles in the Carrier Battle Groups, which are formations of ships and submarines with Aircraft Carriers in the lead role.
As per the basic principles of submarine deployment and minimum requirement for India to create a strategic deterrence, there is a specific number of submarines of both types that India needs to have in active service.