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India To Get Two Russian Nuclear Submarines
By our India correspondent
New Delhi, Jan. 30 (IslamOnline) - India may soon add two nuclear-powered submarines to its existing fleet of 16 conventional diesel-electric submarines in another couple of years, reported the Indian daily newspaper, Times of India, today. While defense ministry officials here are tight-lipped about any proposal to lease two nuclear submarines from Russia, reports from Moscow say this is a distinct possibility in the near future.
Reports from Moscow say two Russian ‘‘Project-971’’ Shchuka-B (Bars) class multi-role nuclear submarines may well join the Indian Navy by 2004 for a period of five years if the Indian government gives the financial go-ahead. Incidentally, ‘‘Project-971’’ was frozen by the Russians sometime ago due to financial problems.
Though Navy chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh, says he will ‘‘neither confirm nor deny’’ any Indian proposal to lease Russian nuclear submarines, reliable sources say that talks on these lines have been underway for quite some time now, Times of India reported.
According to Admiral Singh, it would take two-and-a-half years to train personnel for a nuclear submarine, which is a highly complex system to operate, if the Navy gets one. As opposed to conventional ones, nuclear submarines can operate at higher speeds and at practically unlimited ranges, and carry a much larger arsenal of weapons.
It may be recalled that India had leased a ‘‘Charlie-I’’ or ‘‘Skat’’ class guided missile nuclear submarine from Russia from 1988 to 1991 to give the Navy first-hand experience in nuclear submarine operations and maintenance.
The Navy was quite satisfied with the performance of that submarine, which had been renamed as INS Chakra, but the U.S. succeeded in pressurizing Moscow into not renewing the lease or selling it to India.
Now, with the indigenous Advanced Technology Vessel program to build a nuclear submarine based on Russian designs dogged by delays, the Indian Navy is keen to lease another Russian nuclear submarine to effectively counter the heavy military presence in the Indian Ocean region, especially of the Chinese Navy, said Times of India.
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