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| Yuan class submarine (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By P K Ghosh
The presence of Chinese submarines in India’s strategic “backyard” requires a more effective response from India.
If media reports are to be believed, the alarm bells in the Indian Ministry of Defence have been ringing again – the ministry was once again taken aback when a modern Yuan-class 335 conventional submarine crossed the Arabian Sea and entered Karachi port on May 22 for a week.
But such “surprises” had occurred earlier, when Chinese boats docked in Sri Lanka at the end of last year – upsetting India considerably – and yet again when the Chinese deployed a Shang-class nuclear submarine for anti-piracy patrols – a unique deployment unheard of in submarine operations. The unending saga of surprises never seems to cease, with little action on New Delhi’s part to respond to its growing concerns about the Chinese operating in an area perceived by many as India strategic backyard.
Indeed, India’s responses have been woefully inadequate, on the equipment front with thirteen aging submarines in its fleet (many of which are under repair) and a long delayed Scorpene project (with the first boat expected to roll out in 2016). The P75I project has yet to even get off the drawing board, hindered by strident calls for it to be a model “make in India” project, albeit with foreign help.
On the strategic front, a pusillanimous attitude towards participating in tri or quadrilateral naval exercises with the U.S., Australia and Japan have placed India in limbo, while attempts to get other friendly littorals within a common maritime security grid have produced mixed results.
Read the full story at The Diplomat