India will have N-powered submarine by 2007, says Jane's
India will launch its first nuclear-powered
submarine around 2006 or 2007, Jane's Defence Weekly has reported
Following nuclear tests in May by India and Pakistan, New Delhi
is now pressing ahead with the submarine programme which was started
in the late 1970s, so it can deliver nuclear weapons, Jane's
reported yesterday.
The nuclear reactor for the submarine, built by the Department
of Atomic Energy at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Trombay,
northeast Bombay, will begin tests at the Kalpakkam Atomic Research Centre near Madras
within 12 months, Jane's said.
Quoting official sources, the respected military magazine said
the submarine's keel will be laid by 2002, two years after the
completion of land tests on the nuclear reactor.
The first nuclear-powered submarine will be launched in 2006 or
2007 and commissioned a year later, Jane's quoted the sources as
saying.
The submarine will serve as a platform for nuclear-armed
missiles like the Sagarika, a cruise missile which is in an
advanced stage of development, official sources were quoted as
saying.
Rahul Roy Chaudhury, a naval analyst at the Institute for
Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, was quoted as saying the
submarine's capabilities will outstrip those of Pakistan's navy.
Pakistan will soon bring into service three French-designed
Agosta 90b submarines equipped with independent propulsion systems
for enhanced submerged endurance, he was quoted as saying.
The emerging strategic challenge from China will give the new
Indian submarine "a crucial role in surveillance and deterrent
operations off the eastern straits of Malacca and Singapore by
2010,'' Jane's quoted Roy Chaudhury as saying.
The Indian project is based on Russia's Charlie class
nuclear-powered submarine, but India must modify the design to
ensure compatibility with its locally produced reactor, Jane's
said.
The Indian navy leased the Chakra, a Charlie class
nuclear-powered sub, from the former Soviet Union in 1988 and
returned it in 1991. India had planned to acquire four to six
nuclear-powered submarines but the disintegration of the Soviet
Union put an end to the plans and the government decided to
accelerate its own programme, Jane's said.
Indian navy sources were quoted by the magazine as saying that
the main problems facing the programme were funding, miniaturisation
of the nuclear reactor and providing suitable containment.
According to Jane's, Russia has not given India the blueprints
for the reactor as that would violate the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty.
UNI
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