INDIA: A BIG BUYER OF RUSSIAN JUNK

India has paid $650 million for acquisition of a Russian Nuclear Sub. The submarine in question, an Akula-II class 12000 ton attack machine has undergone repairs and refit at the Russian shipyards at a cost of $60 million after having been involved in a accident at sea wherein 20 of the crew were killed in a gas leak accident. The magnitude of repair spending indicates the the extent of fault which resulted in accident. The sub after repairs will be handed over to Russian Navy for leasing out to India. It is worth while noting down that the Russian Naval equipment and even aircraft are notorious for their being accident prone and require much higher and expensive levels of maintenance. The equipment has relatively shorter life span and lack multi dimensional operational profiles.
We are waiting for junked bath tub Groshkov to join the fleet. One can only speculate the usefulness of this junk collection exercise that too at great expense to the Indian tax payer. The reluctance of the beurocrates and the Govt to go for superior technology is is not fathomable. It is far better to keep the force leaner but muscular and agile than maintain a outdated and antiquated war regime. We are not going to fight future wars inside the museums.

INDIA'S DEFENCE EQUIPMENT ACQUISITION OPTIONS

It is quite heartening to note that India's budget allocation for defence has registered a hike of approx 33%. But I suspect that a major portion of this hike will be absorbed by increased expenditure on account of pay and pensions at various levels. The need to upgrade technologies and weapon system requires a larger allocation. Virtually 60% of equipment in use in the forces is obsolete and perhaps primitive by the standards being followed by any modern state. Our two major concerns are China and Pakistan. While there is no immediate threat from these two neighbours yet it can not be ignored that their equipment and training levels hold an advantage over us. Defence planners in India have to impress the present government of the need to upgrade the technologies and training systems in usage at present.
As for as China is concerned I think we are no match, at this point of time, to claim even a reasonable level of parity. The state of our relations with China not withstanding and the level of insurgency with in the country demands that we should now switch over to a leaner and meaner defence force capable of taking the battle to the door step our state's enemies as and when required.
The recent news item on BBC indicating our leaning towards Russia for procurement of Submarines and by now famous resource sponger aircraft carrier Groshkov must be reconsidered. In recent past it has been amply demonstrated that Russian naval equipment is most vulnerable and prone to system failures. In to days battle field environment the equipment for security forces has to be compact, self sufficient in all respects and self sustaining under the most hostile environment. The Russians designs have demonstrated their inability to meet these parameters again and again. Since Russians are no longer cheap and their conditionality are as complex as any other international supplier country in the world, we may consider widening the scope of procurement of equipment from vendors other than Russians.