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India planning to lease Russian SSN
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| 20 December 2000 |
RAHUL BEDI JDW Correspondent
New Delhi
India is examining the possibility of leasing a Russian nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) to help bolster the development of its Advanced Technology Vessel intended to form a key component of its nuclear deterrent.
Official sources said the Indian Navy (IN) also wanted a Russian SSN to "keep alive" the training it acquired on INS Chakra, the Soviet Charlie I class submarine it leased in 1988 for three years. IN officers were unwilling to comment on the proposed lease, saying the matter was with the government, but suggested that such a deal would be "beneficial".
"All navies have aspirations [to operate nuclear submarines] and so do we," Chief of Naval Staff Adm Sushil Kumar told reporters in New Delhi before Navy Day celebrations on 5 December.
Defence officials are cautious about the success of leasing a SSN which they said would be strongly opposed by a US government anxious to avoid an arms race in the region. They noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had defied the global nuclear blockade against India by agreeing to provide it low-enriched uranium for the US-built Tarapur atomic power station near Bombay and may agree to lease India a SSN.
The contract for 58 tonnes of Russian fuel for Tarapur's twin-reactor was part of a little publicised agreement on bilateral co-operation on peaceful applications of nuclear energy. Russia is also building two 1,000MW nuclear power reactors in southern Tamil Nadu state for $2.6 billion and is seeking to build more plants. The plants' enriched uranium would be supplied by Moscow while India would reprocess the spent fuel and keep it under safeguards.
Over the past 30 years, India has built 10 power stations, four research reactors, six heavy water plants and a host of nuclear related facilities. Indian officials said Russia could sell more reactors to India provided it quits the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) of which it is a founder member. It can also so do if India is recognised as a nuclear weapon state or NSG guidelines are relaxed.