Tribute to INS Sindhurakshak: Sailing in a Submarine

(Between 2004 & 2006, I was living a military junkie’s dream. We had unprecedented access to life along India’s frontiers for my show ‘Line of Duty’ on Times Now. Among many firsts, we were onboard a submarine to film sub-surface warfare exercises at sea. What follows is the story of what it was like to be in the company of submariners – men who may not flaunt the glamour of fighter pilots or commandoes, but do no less confront death every time they sail out to sea.)

INS Sindhurakshak. Protector of the Sea. Will no longer be in operation. 18 submariners martyred in the Line of Duty.

I can’t help but go back in time to the 3 days I had spent in a similar Kilo class Russian diesel-electric submarine. My team and I were filming the lives of submariners deployed at sea. I distinctly remember my first impressions - you have to be insane to sign up for this 24X7 claustrophobia where days and nights can often merge for weeks in a painfully constricting capsule.

That’s not all. You are sailing ‘20,000 leagues under the sea’ in a ‘bomb-shop’, locked in with deadly missiles and torpedoes. God forbid, if something went wrong, the end maybe a violently painful one. Who, in their right minds would volunteer? (Yes, we discovered submarine appointments are only by choice!) Then again, the joke among submariners is that they’re all a little mad. As one of them candidly revealed, "It’s the freedom I have in a confined space that I miss the most when I'm not on a sub". Ironic, huh? 

For most of us, submarines are creatures of mystery. Whether it was Captain Nemo and his secret submarine created by Jules Verne, the WW2 stories of Navies and their U-Boats, or even the Cold War, where these weapons of stealth played cat and mouse games under the sea. Honestly, in the world of operational subs, the rules of the game haven’t changed very much. Even today, submarine warfare is as classified as before. Because there is only rule – stay hidden to stay alive. 

You’re lethal only as long as your location is a secret under the sea. If that’s out, you are a sitting duck. It’s like playing a game of 3 dimensional chess with blindfolds on – your sonar has to track and trap the enemy before the enemy can trap and destroy you!

So, Navies go to a great extent to hide their submarines, even during peacetime drills. We were told that when an Indian submarine sets out, her mission is a closely guarded secret. Not even the Captain is detailed about the assignment. The brief lies sealed in an envelope in his cabin, and he opens it when his boat is well away from harbour. At sea, there is no contact with anyone on shore. The only sign that a submarine is safe is a designated signal sent out to a pre-determined place. Sounds straight out of a Robert Ludlum novel, doesn’t it?

We were lucky enough to get on board a sub as it sailed out for a mission. Day 1 was all about loading the boat – stocking up the larder, the logistics and arming her for combat. As she may not touch land for up to 45 days, tonnes of ration went into her belly… from fresh fruits and vegetables to canned rations and tetra-packs that last longer.

As we slid down the monkey ladder and explored the sub, compartment-by-compartment, I felt as if I was in the belly of a giant machine – the whole place is wired up, there are just too many valves and switches and everything seems to have multiple connections. And if you are bigger or taller than average, then get ready for a few bruises and a permanent hunch :)

 The man responsible for all this wiring is the Electrical Officer. He described the submarine as an “animal under the sea controlled by man – it has blood in the form of hydraulics, sensors as brains, and torpedoes to attack & defend”. I couldn’t think of a more apt metaphor.

We did manage to get access to the torpedo room - this really is the business end of the sub! Because at the end of the day, she is a weapons platform and her job is to neutralize targets. We got to film the loading of these deadly torpedoes as they were guided into tubes – I was surprised to see that it takes about 4 to 6 submariners to load the weapon and one of them actually crawls through the length of the tube to bring it in. It’s like squeezing through a wormhole between war and peace. 

Although, a fairly routine operation every time the submarine sails out, this is a high precision job. And you can almost hear a collective sigh of relief, every time a torpedo is successfully loaded. As the Captain of the sub told us, “For a man in uniform, there is no peace ever. There is either war or preparation for war!” 

Once the submarine leaves the harbour, it’s time for her to disappear. And when she dives, it’s a state of high alert within the boat. Her nerve centre is the Control Room where she requires everyone’s undivided attention. As the ballast tanks let the water in, you can almost hear her squeak and moan. A small mistake and things can pop…  water can rush it, and God forbid if she ever sinks below her maximum permissible depth, the pressure can crush her. She can go off like a bomb! It’s a chilling experience for anyone on board the first time. Yet, for submariners this is routine - just like a cup of tea in the morning!

Routine in a sub is also about living life in 3 hour cycles - watch shifts, maintenance shifts, emergency drills and a few winks. And making the most of confined spaces. What do you do if there are 30 bunks for 70 men? You hot-bunk! Grab a quick nap between shifts and while you’re away, let someone else take over your bed. We realised that submariners have actually made a habit of multi-tasking. For instance, the Officer’s Mess doubles up as a Home Theatre, triples up as a cabin with bunk beds and is also equipped to turn into an Operation Theatre during a medical emergency! 

Also have to admit that we had the most delicious food in the submarine – alu-pooris and hot gulab jamuns. But when we went to film the kitchen, we were shocked by its size. There is barely enough space for 2 people to stand, and yet, this is where 3 meals for almost 70 people are prepared everyday. This is space and design innovation at its best! 

In this world of uniformed men and their hierarchy, I discovered that submariners have another quirk. No submariner wears his rank at sea. All of them change into medicated disposables – a use and throw cotton uniform that’s the same for everyone. Quite a leveler, don’t you think? 

Well, 3 days was barely enough to do justice to the life of a submariner. But it was enough for us to get claustrophobic. Yet, it felt as if the sea morphs into some kind of a seductive mistress for these submariners. Despite the danger and the drawbacks, they crave to go back to her again and again. Why, you may ask?   Well, I think I’d like to believe what the Captain said about his men, “We’re all here to train harder than the enemy will fight, only then we will fight harder than the enemy has trained.”

Seven Days with Fighter Pilots of the Sukhoi Squadron

(Between 2004 & 2006,  I was living a military junkie's dream.  We had unprecedented access to life along India's frontiers for my show 'Line of Duty' on Times Now. Among many firsts, we were the  only ones ever to film air-combat exercises with the Sukhoi - 30MKI squadron. What follows below is a story of what it's like to be in the company of India's best fighter pilots) 

You don’t walk into a Sukhoi squadron everyday. Even if you do, you don’t get to fly one.

Even if you get to fly one by being the Indian President or Sachin Tendulkar, you don’t get to experience a two-and-a-half hour combat Sukhoi-30MKI sortie. Like we did.

You don’t get to watch Top Gun come alive in the skies from your cockpit. You don’t get to experience an aircraft tumble, roll, climb vertically up and slide down to get a target lock. You don’t get to fly supersonic speeds and pull almost 4G… you don’t feel disoriented and four times heavier than you are… You just don’t!

But we did! For the very first time on Indian television, we had captured never-seen-before unique Sukhoi aerial maneuvers in air from every conceivable angle.

Whether it's the pilot’s point of view as he chases a target. Or the very F1-like pilot’s helmet-in-frame where the sun and clouds dance a merry chase every time the Sukhoi does a double somersault.  Or the crackle of their radios as 5 aircraft peel off from their formation. Or a top cross when 2 aircraft are simultaneously re-fuelled by an IL78 in mid-air. This could challenge a Hollywood thriller any day.

The Sukhoi - 30MKI is every pilot’s dream machine. With the ruggedness of the Russian airframe and the finesse of Western avionics, this near fifth-generation aircraft has been specially customised for India. Only the crème de la crème of fighter pilots are handpicked to fly this multi-crore aircraft.

And I’m glad we were allowed to spend 7 days in the company of these elite air warriors. Thankfully, we had unprecedented access. The only condition the Ministry of Defence placed on us was that we script every detail  so that our stories got dovetailed onto regular training sorties.

This meant extensive research and hours of thorough planning with Air Headquarters in Delhi's South Bloc and the Sukhoi Squadron in Pune. So much so, that they turned us into aviation enthusiasts and we turned them into enthusiastic video journalists. It meant sitting on detailed briefing sessions with the Squadron, before they flew out at dawn every morning. It meant getting familiar with jargon you had always heard of, but never knew much about. It meant getting to professionally interact with some of the best air warriors in the world.

We were fortunate enough to capture a Sukhoi pilot’s first training sortie. Two young pilots had just been inducted into this Squadron and we chose to go the paces with them. We wanted to capture everything about their first experience with these awe-inspiring birds.  But before the two were allowed onto their aircraft, they had to clear a basic familiarization test, better known as ‘blindfold checks’. This was where they had to prove that even with their eyes closed, they were completely familiar with all the cockpit controls. 

With the ground formalities out of the way,  it was time to take off. Their maiden flight on their dream bird. The wait on the tarmac was perhaps the longest wait ever. They had probably done it several times over in their heads…but this was the real thing. 

Once airborne, it was all about nurturing an intensely personal relationship with this breathtakingly beautiful and powerful bird. She was like a stunning woman - she kept you in awe with her mysterious & wild ways. You had to explore her... gain her trust, before she let you truly take command. From low level aerobatic tumbles and turns to loops & barrel rolls, it was all about  intuitively flying her at the limits of her envelope.  After almost an hour in paradise, it was time for the two pilots to come back to earth.

'Anchored' - Maroof Raza

The next day we were up at 4 in the morning. Even before dawn broke over the Pune sky, the flight engineers and the airmen of this Sukhoi Squadron were at work. A combat sortie with a bombing exercise had been planned for the day. These men had been tasked to prepare the aircraft for a multi-role mission. They had a lot on their mind - from fueling to nitrogen replenishment to weapons loading. It is said that it takes about 50 to 70 man hours to prepare an aircraft for a fully loaded operational mission. This is precise engineering at work and flight engineers are often the unsung heroes of an air battle. 

While the aircraft were dressed for combat, the pilots took a final look at their simulated flight plan. It’s a software that aids mission planning by correlating all available co-ordinates, factors and pre planned maneuvers onto a tangible flight path – almost like a pre-emptive 3d visualization of the planned sortie.  

As the sun hit the midday sky, the aircraft roll out. While some of them are designated as friendly forces, the others turn into potential interceptors defending simulated enemy’s targets. As soon as all the aircraft are airborne, the battle begins. I was told that a fighter pilot has to simultaneously process an average of 63 conscious and subconscious inputs while flying. Just to put it in context, we manage only 4 while driving a car - steering control, clutch, brake & the accelerator. 

This is perhaps why there are 2 pilots who fly the Sukhoi - the front pilot flies and the rear pilot fires. It’s a twin cockpit philosophy that needs a little getting used to, especially if pilots have been comfortable in the loneliness of single cockpit MiGs. This division of labour also substantially enhances the Sukhoi's reach, as she can stay airborne longer.

The Sukhoi also has unique super-maneuvering and thrust vectoring abilities. It’s a concept where the maneuverability of the aircraft is enhanced dramatically at low speeds and low power margins. For instance if attacked from the rear, the aircraft can quickly slow down, turn about and face the attacker in about 6 to 8 seconds. She can climb vertically, stop, slide down and resume normal flight. You will never see something like this in a conventional fighter, especially at low speeds and low power margins. 

Many flares and maneuvers later, the combat comes to an end. The detailed debriefs at the end of the grueling exercise are an eye opener. Frank, brutally honest and a great leveler. A healthy form of peer evaluation where hierarchy is tossed aside and everyone - from the Commanding Officer to the youngest Flying Officer are hauled up if at fault 

I will always be indebted to the Lightnings (the Sukhoi Squadron we filmed with) in Pune.  If it had not been for their ground engineers, our cameras would never have been rigged onto the aircraft. If it not been for the Squadron’s amateur photographers, we would have never got the multi-camera feel of filming the combat sortie from every possible angle. If it not been for their almost childlike enthusiasm for retakes, we would not have captured what it’s like to truly be the best of the best.

It felt like a different world for those few days at Lohegaon, Pune. The discipline and the commitment ethos were perhaps infectious. How else would you explain waking up at 5 every morning to catch the magic hour, filming through the day and into the night, only to hit our sacks close to midnight, and not feel fatigued?

You don’t get to be a part of something like this often.  I'm just glad we were!

Su-30 MKI - Mid-air refueling
A Sukhoi Pilot's first sortie