India to airlift critical search system to locate missing Indonesian submarine

India is set to fly critical search equipment to Indonesia on Saturday to locate a submarine that went missing on April 21 with a crew of 53 personnel, people familiar with the development said. The submarine Nanggala went missing in the waters north of Bali on Wednesday.

“Intervention system of the second deep submergence rescue vessel (DSRV) will be airlifted to Indonesia by the Indian Air Force on Saturday. This system can be used to locate the submarine,” said one of the officials cited above.

The Indian Navy on Thursday dispatched a DSRV by sea to help the Indonesian Navy with its search and rescue efforts. The Indian DSRV, being ferried by offshore supply vessel Sabarmati, could take almost a week to reach the location which is 2,500 nautical miles away.

The Indonesian Navy said on Thursday that the missing German-built submarine has enough oxygen for 72 hours during a power blackout.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asked the IAF to examine the feasibility of induction of the DSRV intervention system by air. The Indian Navy’s DSRV system can locate a submarine up to 1,000 metres underwater.

The Indian Navy inducted its first DSRV in 2018 and the second one the following year. The vessels were delivered under a £193-million contract awarded to JFD, a leading underwater capability provider, in March 2016.