The United States recently announced a new three-way security pact which includes Australia and Britain. Under the strategic partnership, nuclear submarines from America will be supplied to Canberra.
On Monday, the US briefed the text of AUKUS (the US-UK-Australian alliance) to the officials of the Indian Navy; it appears the officials read the reader with a sense of dismay which have its valid reasons. Over the years, the US has declined the discussion with India about nuclear reactor propulsion technology for submarines or aircraft carriers.
The collaboration between the countries known as Indo-US Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) based on cutting-edge military technologies seems to fail to deliver the goods since being initiated in 2012.
The security partnership will enable Australia to design and build approximately eight nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) with the help of the US and the UK.
After being a part of this pact, Australia will withdraw its the US $43 billion plan to build French conventional submarines and instead build vessels based on US-UK technology. The cancellation of the billion-dollar project by Australia has hit hard; the French are accusing the US and UK of “being a back-stabber,” according to an official statement.
The first vessel of the AUKUS partnership is supposed to be built by 2040 in the erstwhile facilities of the Australian Submarine Corporation near Adelaide. The objective of the military alliance is to counter the increasing danger of China in the Indo-Pacific.
The concern over China interference is common for many countries, including the ‘QUAD’ countries, including nations like the US, Australia, Japan and India.
For a fact, North Korea is also not very happy with this military partnership. According to the statement made by the Foreign Minister of North Korea, the three-way partnership could trigger an ‘arms race in the region. They are also accusing the US of being the chief culprit for toppling the international nuclear non-proliferation system.
The prospect of Indo-US collaboration on nuclear reactor propulsion technology raised by the Indian Navy chiefs and naval veterans has always been brushed off by their US counterparts with immense kindness.
According to the sources, the US Congress will never acknowledge any discussion on the transfer of nuclear propulsion.
The proposal may sound out of place because India already operates nuclear submarines. When it commissioned the INS Arihant in 2016, it became the world’s sixth nation. But the thing is, the Arihant is an SSBN (nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine) which means it’s a slow-moving ‘bomber’ and a stealthy launch platform for nuclear weapons.
A part of the Strategic Forces Command, three more SSBNs and the Arihant is currently under construction. However, the Indian Navy wants SSNs to accomplish a series of tactical missions, from hunting down the enemy warships to escorting the SSBNs to accompanying its carrier battle groups.
The Indian Navy has depended on the Soviet Union and later Russia to lease SSNs since the 1980s, and Indian officials began discussing the prospect of buying or leasing US SSNs. Still, the US is not demonstrating its commitment to a stable defence relationship by hiring a few Los Angeles-class SSNs.
The US has 70 operational nuclear submarines, which is more than atomic submarines occupied by Russia, France, and the UK. US N-sub uses the most sophisticated reactors, and they are designed to operate for nearly 33 years without ever refuelling.
SSNs are considered the most technologically complex military platforms ever built. They can carry twice the weapon load of conventional submarines and move at a double rate. The primary reason SSN being regarded as the crown jewels of nuclear technology is its high-performance atomic reactor.
This level of technology can be only possessed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. India is considering opportunities to design and build a fleet of six Project-76 indigenous SSNs fitted with a new nuclear reactor. Naval officials have acknowledged that foreign contribution to this project is needed.
But if not the US or UK, the French will surely be an option, though they would be costly. France is already helping India make the Kalvari class conventional submarines. And Russia is always there to help India.
