With the Navy grappling with fast depleting submarine fleet, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will explore the possibility of acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine from Russia during his visit there next week. India already has one Russian submarine on lease and the Government is inclined towards having the second such submarine at the earliest.
Preliminary talks on this strategically project are on between the two countries and Parrikar’s talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu will give a push to it. If everything goes well, the crucial deal will be announced during summit level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in December.
Disclosing this on Sunday, officials said the Government is keen to address the shortage of submarines and has more or less agreed with the Navy’s proposal to go in for the second Russian nuclear-powered submarine. Once the contract is signed for a ten-year lease, the submarine will take at least two to three years of refit according to Indian specifications before induction into service, they said.
The Navy is now operating 15 submarines including one nuclear powered and 14 conventional. Nearly half of conventional submarines are in the last phase of their operational life and at any given time, two to three submarines may undergo midlife upgrades. This severely tests the operational capability of the Navy and the next few years are critical as the ongoing submarine building projects are running much behind schedule, they said.
The indigenously designed and built first nuclear-powered submarine Arihant is yet to go through the mandatory weapon firing schedule and other related exercises. Sources said the first Arihant will join service after two years while the remaining three will take some more years thereby straining the Navy’s resources.
India inducted the Russian made nuclear-powered submarine INS Chakra three years back. Operating on such a complex and sophisticated platform will help the Indian officers to handle Arihant once it is ready for induction, they said. Incidentally, India had leased a Russian nuclear submarine for ten years in the early 80s.
Stressing the urgency for leasing the second submarine from Russia, sources said even though the Government in February this year cleared the ambitious project to build six nuclear powered submarines in India, it is yet to take off.
Given the complex nature of building nuclear-powered submarines, the indigenous submarines will take more than ten years before they are ready for induction into the Navy. These submarines are likely to be built at a secret facility in Visakhapatnam.
Elaborating upon the preference for leasing a Russian submarine, officials said the two countries have time tested defence and strategic ties for last 45 years. Russia has always provided its best weaponry to India and at present 70 per cent of inventory in the Indian armed forces is of erstwhile Soviet and Russian origin.
As regards the conventional diesel-powered submarines, the first Scorpene submarine now under construction at Mazagon Docks limited (MDl), Mumbai is not likely to join service till the end of next year. The submarine project for six submarines with French collaboration is already behind schedule by more than five years.
Similarly, the follow on project for building six more conventional submarines as part of ‘Make in India’ has not got rolling. The NDA Government cleared the project worth over Rs50,000 crore last year. The Defence ministry then formed a committee headed by a senior Navy officer to conduct feasibility study of all the public and private sector shipyards in India. The committee recently submitted its report about the capabilities of the shipyards. The Government has planned to place the order with one shipyard, be it private or public and the selected shipyard will tie up with foreign submarine builders.