Indian Prime Minister Molde FK’s Cabinet Security Committee approved a plan Tuesday to build two nuclear-powered attack submarine ships, Bloomberg quoted a senior Indian official as saying, buy 31 american-made long-range uavs.
According to Reuters, the Indian Navy had previously planned to build six locally developed nuclear-powered attack submarine, and the two newly approved nuclear-powered attack submarine are the first two of the six, it will be built for the first time at a local shipyard in India, but the Indian side did not specify a specific delivery date. Bloomberg said acquiring the advanced weapon would enhance India’s ability to monitor and patrol vast waters. Reported that India is the United States, Japan, India and Australia“Quadrilateral mechanism”(QUAD) member countries, this mechanism is also intended to contain China’s status.
The nuclear-powered attack submarine is reported to be the world’s most powerful naval weapon because it is faster, quieter and stays underwater longer than conventional diesel-powered submarines, making it harder to detect. At present, only a few countries in the world, including China, France, Russia and the United States, can build the submarine.
Bloomberg said India’s move was aimed at“Countering China’s military dominance in the region”. With more than 370 warships, China is the world’s largest naval force, according to Reuters. India is trying to modernise its military in the face of China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean, with a focus on strengthening its navy and increasing its domestic weapons manufacturing capabilities.
In addition, the Indian government has approved the purchase of 31 MQ-9B long-range uavs produced by US Military Giant General Atomic Aviation Systems Ltd. . The aircraft can fly for about 48 hours continuously and can carry a weight of about 1,700 kg.
Zhang Jiadong, director of the Fudan University Center for South Asian Studies, told the Global Times on the 10th that India sees itself as a great power and believes the pursuit of a nuclear deterrent is necessary for it to maintain its “Great power status”. Right now, India wants to make up for the shortcomings of its nuclear deterrent system by building nuclear submarines. Zhang Jiadong believes that the“Imaginary enemy” of India’s strategic nuclear forces is not China. The US media has let it know that India is making nuclear submarines to“Confront China”, in an attempt to create a public opinion confrontation between China and India.
According to sources, the new nuclear-powered attack submarine will be entirely indian-made and will not require any foreign assistance, the economic times of India reported Monday. “India already has the technical capability to implement this complex project.” However, Zhang believes the difficulty is considerable, “It is difficult for India to achieve a breakthrough in many core components and technologies in the short term. It can only gradually increase the proportion of domestic production of nuclear submarines, and can not achieve full domestic production quickly.”
According to previous public reports, India’s submarine development has long been at the mercy of people, despite the country’s attempts to solve the crisis in many ways, but still does not have the key technology. The nuclear submarines that India had leased from Russia in the earlier period had to be returned in advance because of the lack of repair and maintenance technology.