NSL Update 12-20-01
NAVINT Articles from 15 Dec issue
INDIAN NAVY GETS ITS SSN AT LAST
The Indian Defence Ministry has signed an agreement with the Russian arms export
agency Rosoboronexport for a three-year lease of a Project 671RTMK "Victor III"
(Schuka-B) type nuclear attack submarine (SSN) The cost will be US25 million a
year.
No name has been announced for the new SSN, but this may become public when she
arrives at the Vishakpatnam base in January next year. Her crew is undergoing
training in Russia, and has already carried out a number of long submerged runs
and dummy weapon-launches.
The armament includes Raduga 300km range Granat (SS-N-21
"Sampson") cruise missiles as well as torpedoes. According to Jane's Fighting
Ships, one of the class, K.255, is also armed with the Novator Alfa (SS-N-27),
while the others have the Novator Tsakra (SS-N-15) anti-submarine missile. Only
six units survive: K.255, K.388, K.502, K.507, K.524 and K.527.
The Indian Navy leased a Project 670A Skat ("Charlie I") cruise missile-armed
nuclear boat (SSGN) from the Soviet Navy for three years in 1988 and named her
Chakra. She proved very unreliable, and a rumoured lease of a second, to be
named Chitra, never materialised.
The failure of India and Russia to conclude a US$3 billion arms deal during the
recent "summit" meeting in Moscow attended by Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee marks a change in the hitherto warm relationship between India and
Russia. The official arms export agency Rosboronexport notes that India is no
longer regarded as an "easy" market.
The items on the Indian Navy's "shopping list" include the completion of the
deal to acquire the redundant Russian Project 1143.4 hybrid cruiser-STOVL
carrier Admiral of the Soviet Fleet Sergei Gorshkov. After the protracted
negotiations, cancellation of the purchase would be a disaster for the Indian
Navy's naval air arm.
The other major items are anti-ship and air defence missiles,
but as the years have passed India has come to rely less on Russia for weaponry.
The new anti-air warfare destroyers, the Project 17 Talwar class, are too
advanced to be cancelled, and the first three will be delivered during the next
two years. The delivery of the "Victor III" type nuclear attack submarine has
also escaped any embargo see elsewhere in this issue).
The United States is poised to fill the vacuum, and all the signs suggest that
India's nuclear capability is no longer a barrier to defence sales. On 28
November Adm Dennis C Blair USN, Chief of the Pacific Command, met senior Indian
politicians and representatives of the indigenous defence industry in New Delhi.
According to a spokesman of the External Affairs Ministry, Adm
Blair's visit reflects the friendly atmosphere following a Washington meeting
between Prime Minister Vajpayee and senior officials of the Bush Administration,
and points the way to close military-to-military ties.
The admiral's visit is connected with a recent visit by Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, and will be followed by a visit from Under Secretary for Defense
Douglas Feith. The Indian Government received a promise from, former President
Clinton to blacklist Pakistan as a terrorist-state, but the Clinton
Administration did not keep its promise.
The Indian Army loses an average of two soldiers a day to Pakistani terrorists,
and in the words of a retired Indian officer, "Only when the murders reach 20 a
day does it rate a mention in the media".
Reactivation of Indian-US military contacts may well be an insurance policy
against a collapse of Pakistan's support for the offensive against terrorism.
President Clinton's reluctance to help India may well reflect his alleged close
links with Communist China, the main backer of Pakistan.
Happy Holidays to and your families!
C.J. Ihrig
President, Capitol Chapter