Project Varsha

Slowly but steadily, India’s new futuristic naval base is beginning to take concrete shape on the eastern coast.
With an eye firmly on China, the strategic base will also have underground pens or bunkers to protect nuclear submarines both from spy satellites and enemy air attacks. Sources said a flurry of discussions and meetings have been held at the PMO and defence ministry over the last couple of months to firm up the expansion plans for the base near Rambilli on the Andhra coast — just about 50 km from the Eastern Naval Command headquarters at Visakhapatnam — over the next decade.
Though development work on the base under the secretive ‘Project Varsha’ began a few years ago, it is now taking off in a major way. “Further land acquisitions for the sprawling base to be spread over 20 sq km are now underway, with long-term budget allocations being finalized,” said a source.
The project dovetails into the overall policy to bolster force-levels on the eastern seaboard, with new warships, aircraft and spy drones as well as forward-operating and operational turnaround bases, to counter China’s expanding footprint in the entire Indian Ocean Region.
Some even bill Project Varsha as an answer to China’s massive underground nuclear submarine base at Yalong on the Hainan Island, which houses its new Shang-class SSNs (nuclear-powered attack submarines) and the Jinclass SSBNs (nuclear-powered submarines with long range nuclear missiles).
India’s own SSBN programme is also poised to turn the corner with sea trials of the 6,000-tonne INS Arihant slated to begin soon off Visakhapatnam. INS Arihant and its three “follow-on’’ SSBNs, which will complete India’s elusive nuclear weapon triad, as well as other frontline warships will be housed at the new base.
The navy plans to operate at least three SSBNs and six SSNs in the long run for effective nuclear deterrence. Moreover, after inducting the 8,140-tonne INS Chakra submarine on a 10-year lease from Russia last year, India is now negotiating the lease of another such nuclear-powered Akula-II class submarine.