(Above Photo: Courtesy Of Dawn.com)Anuj Chopra, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: July 26. 2009 10:36PM UAE
July 26. 2009 6:36PM GMT
Courtesy Of The National
MUMBAI // In a display of its fast-growing military prowess, India launched its first indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine yesterday.
The 6,000-tonne submarine, which will be commissioned in the Indian navy as INS Arihant – or “Destroyer of Enemies” – was kept in a dry dock in the southern Indian port city of Vishakhapatnam. It was flooded with water, marking its launch in a ceremony attended by Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister.
The launch came as India marked the 10th anniversary of the conflict with Pakistan-based infiltrators in 1999 on the icy frontier of Kargil in the disputed Kashmir region.
Mr Singh called the launch of the submarine a “historic milestone in the country’s defence preparedness”, but said the intention of the launch was in no way belligerent.
“We don’t have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone,” he said.
This is the first of three such submarines the country proposes to build in the coming years. The launch allows India to rub shoulders with an elite group of five countries – the US, Britain, Russia, China, and France – that currently builds -nuclear-powered submarines.
“This is a significant psychological milestone,” Uday Bhaskar, the director of the National Maritime Foundation, a New Delhi-based defence think tank, said. “It enhances India’s military strategic profile on the world stage.”
The sea is a growing security concern for India, and launching this kind of a deterrent at sea is crucial to the country’s safety, Mr Bhaskar said.
But it is not expected to immediately augment India’s military might. The vessel will undergo a series of extensive and lengthy sea trials in the Bay of Bengal, the Indian navy said, indicating it was still two years away from active service.
After the tests are completed, and the submarine is eventually deployed, it will be able to carry 100 sailors. It will have the potential to remain submerged for prolonged periods. That makes this submarine significantly removed from India’s current ageing fleet of diesel-powered submarines, which cannot remain underwater for long periods.
“This is a big strategic advancement of India’s nuclear capabilities, but it has a slew of limitations,” said Ashok Mehta, a retired Indian army general and a defence expert based in New Delhi.
The most pressing drawback, Mr Mehta points out, is that this submarine will be able to launch 12 nuclear missiles with a limited target range of 700km.
“If the missile range is poor, it implies that the submarine has to get perilously close to the target in order to strike,” he explained. “What we need is a missile with a range of up to 3,500km, so it can strike into the heart of a country that attacks India.”
Stunned by last year’s terrorist attack on Mumbai – terrorists breached India’s borders via the sea route – India announced it would hike its defence spending for 2009-2010 to US$29.39 billion (Dh108bn), an increase of nearly 25 per cent. The money will be used to upgrade its largely Soviet-era weapons systems and overhaul its security forces.
An additional $562 million will be used to boost its border security.
Beyond the defence spending to bolster security, a submarine with enormous nuclear firepower was vital as a powerful deterrent to prevent any future attacks, Mr Mehta said.
“It is significant to project this submarine as a deterrent with second strike capability,” he said, pointing out that India currently adheres to a no-first-use policy.
Although the prime minister said that India’s intentions were not aggressive, the country is acutely worried of the tenuous security situation in its neighbourhood, he said.
There are concerns of Pakistan descending into the throes of a civil war. India is also increasingly suspicious about China’s growing presence in its neighbourhood.
Both India and China, two Asian behemoths widely touted as future global superpowers, are engaged in a competition for supremacy in South Asia.
India’s chief for the air force, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, last month called China, which has a significant naval presence in the region, a “bigger threat than Pakistan”.
“Today’s launch does not add to India’s military might right away,” Mr Bhaskar said, “but it reflects the strategic direction India is headed in.”
achopra@thenational.ae
No comments:
Post a Comment