NEW DELHI, Feb 12: India’s project to construct three nuclear-powered submarines at a southern India naval base is near completion, officials said on Thursday.“Things are in the final stage now,” A.K. Antony, India’s defence minister, told reporters in Bangalore. “There were bottlenecks earlier, but they are over now,” a defence spokesman quoted him as saying during an air show.
The project is part of a $2.9 billion plan to build five submarines, delayed for years due to technical problems. “All that is behind us and we are on course to complete the project in a few months and go for trials,” a defence spokesman said in New Delhi.
India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation is also working on submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which would be fitted into the new submarines, officials added.
The country has plans to lease nuclear-powered submarines from Russia.
India is looking to spend more than $30 billion over the next five years to modernise its largely Soviet-era arms and is also trying to strengthen its navy by introducing new weapons systems.
The country already has fighter aircraft and missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
India is also speeding up a separate $1 billion domestic weapons development programme to modernise its armed forces, following renewed tensions with Pakistan over the attacks in Mumbai last November.
The plans include inducting 124 tanks for the Indian army by December, the first of a batch of locally-made combat aircraft for the navy also by the end of the year, and unmanned aerial vehicles to boost border surveillance.
SATELLITE: India’s air force will have its own dedicated satellite by mid-2010, enabling precise strikes against targets like terrorist training camps, Air Chief Marshal Fali Major said on Thursday.
“We will have our own satellite functioning by the middle of next year to enhance our surveillance and capability in this turbulent region,” Major told reporters at the biennial Aero India international air show in Bangalore.
The satellite would provide images for the Indian Air Force’s integrated air command and control system being set up this year.
“The command and control system will have sophisticated radars and sensors to enable us to conduct operations with high flexibility,” Major said.
Asked what role the IAF would have in the event of an assault against militant training camps, Major stressed the importance of accurate air strikes in support of special forces on the ground.
“In a surgical strike you take your target down in a manner where it is rendered unusable while not affecting surrounding areas at the same time,” Major said.—Agencies
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.