Russia ties frigate to sub
New Delhi, Dec. 21: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia on Wednesday, India's most dependable military hardware supplier has made sale of naval warships and platforms to India contingent on the lease of a second nuclear submarine.
New Delhi is still interested but the cost of refitting and upgrading the Akula II class submarine, probably called the Iribis, and the conditions that Moscow has laid down are deeply worrying.
Earlier too, Russia has linked military purchases to the sale of a strategic platform - the Indian Navy's flagship aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya. India had contracted the carrier - earlier known as the Gorshkov - in 2004 for a price of about $2.4 billion after a decade of negotiations. Russia had made the sale of the refurbished Gorshkov contingent on the purchase by India of 16 MiG29K/Kub fighter aircraft to be based on the carrier. Russia itself was not operating the aircraft at the time.
Now, Moscow has said the lease of a third nuclear submarine would shape the warships that would be sold to India, if New Delhi agrees. These ships are a follow-on order for three more Talwar (or Krivack)-class stealth frigates - taking the number of such vessels in the Indian naval fleet to nine - and two deep submergence rescue vessels (DSRVs), defence ministry sources said.
The DSRVs are a crying need for the navy - just as the lease of the second nuclear submarine is - because India's fleet of underwater boats is vastly depleted. At the same time, India is working to roll out six submarines and testing its own nuclear submarine, the Arihant SSBN.
The only nuclear submarine in service with the Indian Navy is the INS Chakra, originally the K-152 Nerpa, that was also leased from Russia in 2012 for 10 years for an estimated $900 million. The cost has never been officially confirmed. The INS Chakra is an SSN (sub-surface nuclear) attack submarine. The Arihant, being built with Russian help, is an SSBN, meaning it would be capable of firing nuclear-tipped missiles apart from being nuclear-propelled.
India first leased a nuclear submarine from Russia for three years in 1988. The Charlie-class submarine, also called the INS Chakra, was studied by Indian naval designers and nuclear scientists to fashion the Arihant.
For the Talwar-class frigates, the Pipavav shipyard - now owned by Anil Ambani - is said to have been shortlisted by the Russians. But the deal is yet to go through because while New Delhi is insisting on a "Make in India" policy, the Russians have argued that the new weaponry and systems that have to be integrated with the ships require them to be built in a Russian shipyard.
An 18-member delegation of business leaders and executives from both the private and public sectors is expected to be in Moscow during Prime Minister Modi's visit. Among them Anil (Reliance ADAG group), Baba Kalyani (Bharat Forge) and Suvarna Raju (Hindustan Aeronautics) have direct interest in defence ties with Russia.
On India's request for the DSRVs, Moscow has informed New Delhi that one would be built in Russia's Admiralty Shipyards. India has asked for the second to be built in an Indian yard, preferably Hindustan Shipyard in Visakhapatnam. Russia has stationed one DSRV in Vizag for the trials of the Arihant SSBN.Apart from Russia, India is also dependent on the US for rescue if one of its ageing submarines were to run into trouble with their crew under water. India has a contract with the US under which America is expected to fly a rescue vessel within 71 hours of reporting such an incident.
In August 2013, India's Russian-origin kilo-class submarine, the INS Sindhurakshak, sank at the naval dockyards in Mumbai, killing the crew of 18 who were readying for a patrol.
Ministry sources said they were hopeful an agreement would be reached during Modi's trip on having around 200 Kamov 226T light-utility helicopters built in India with Russian help. The helicopters are meant for the army and the air force.
