Icing on Gorshkov cake for India: a nuclear submarine

Icing on Gorshkov cake for India: a nuclear submarine RUSSIAN DEAL | Under wraps is three-year lease of Akula II class nuclear sub with 300-km range missiles
Jyoti Malhotra

Moscow, December 1 India’s relationship with Russia is taking a quantum leap forward with the recent finalisation of an arms package that not only includes the sale of the aircraft carrier, Admiral Gorshkov, but also a three-year controversial lease of a nuclear submarine.

Significantly, the Akula II class nuclear submarine, a highly sophisticated underwater boat that displaces 10,700 tonnes of water, will carry ‘‘nuclear-capable’’ 300-km range Klub class Cruise missiles that are fired from torpedo tubes.

According to highly-placed sources in the military-industrial complex in Moscow, the highly sensitive nature of the submarine lease, as part of the much-touted Admiral Gorshkov package, has been deliberately kept under wraps by both the Indian and Russian establishments for fear of pressure from western governments.

Analysts in New Delhi said the presence of such a fighter submarine as well as its attendant nuclear missiles in the Indian Navy effectively meant that the country was now enabled with a ‘‘sea-based nuclear deterrent’’. This would lead to a much more sophisticated nuclear arsenal, the analysts added, ‘‘with a full-fledged triad of nuclear weapons.’’

Already, as it polices sea-lanes, from the Indian Ocean to the Malacca Straits — in fact, only this summer, the Navy escorted US naval vessels en route to the Persian Gulf from the Pacific — the Navy is beginning to take on the much-higher profile of a ‘‘sea-guardian’’, the analysts said.

The lease has been in the air for a while, the Russian sources said, and insisted that it does not violate the tough provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). They pointed out that although the NPT prohibits the transfer of nuclear weapons technology, it does not ban international cooperation in the field of military nuclear submarines.

The Russian sources confirmed that the final price negotiations for the Admiral Gorshkov package — which includes 310 T-90 tanks, 30-odd Sukhoi MKI fighter aircraft, the aircraft carrier itself as well as the submarine lease — took place some 10 days ago during the visit of the Russian deputy prime minister, Ilya Klebanov, to New Delhi.

While Moscow was giving away the aircraft carrier for free, arduous negotiations took place over refitting of the carrier with top-of-the-line bombers and avionics. It is now believed that the price of the package has been hammered down to $500-600 million.

The deal, however, will not be signed during the current visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India, precisely because neither side wants to talk about the finer details of the agreement. Both sides are happy to wait for a later, more innocuous date.

This is not the first time India is leasing a nuclear submarine from Russia. In December 1988, when Soviet Union still existed, India under Rajiv Gandhi leased the Charlie II class nuclear submarine, which it called INS Chakra and which it returned in January 1991.

But analysts point out that there is a ‘‘world of difference’’ between INS Chakra and the current Akula II class submarine coming on board. Though a nuclear-powered motor drives both submarines, the latter features an Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) which enables it to remain underwater for three months.

The Russian lease is said to be ‘‘invaluable’’ to Indian nuclear engineers and scientists working over the last many years on an indigenous Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), a euphemism for India’s own nuclear-submarine programme. The Indian analysts pointed out that experience was gained on INS Chakra so long ago that it has ‘‘practically withered away.’’

Russia is also said to be providing critical inputs into the design and integration of the ATV reactor. The ATV is expected to become operational by 2007 AD by which time India would have spent $ 1 billion on the project.