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| Image courtesy- Wikimedia and the author |
In the maritime world, submarines has a special place of pride being the centennials of maritime security. They are the prowlers who sneak up to the enemy and get the job done before the enemy even realize that they are there. They are the enforcers who lie hidden in the depth of the sea and who pounce upon an unsuspecting enemy and can inflict maximum damage to an enemy fleet, the legendary "U" Boat of the Germans being the best example.
The history of the Indian navy operating submarine goes long time back and they have successfully ensured that no hostile country were successful in penetrating the Indian sovereign waters. The potency of the submarine was demonstrated in 1971 a fleet of Russian submarines ensured that the mighty American fleet were forced to withdraw rather than help Pakistan at the time of the formation of Bangladesh. India currently operates two major class of submarines, The Kilo class and the German Type-209 class. But in recent times, the navy had to deal with an aging fleet as no new platforms had been inducted into the fleet. The navy's next generation scorpene class subs manufactured with French collaboration is running behind schedule. The next line of subs dubbed P-75i is only on a initial phase. Thus navy has to deal with an aging fleet, that is being reduced in numbers. In no time in history has Indian Navy been tasked with such security scenario with the Chinese navy expanding at a phenomenal rate and expanding into the India domain of influence. But the govt has been tardy in approving speedy construction and induction of new platforms. Thus the navy is severely handicapped in dealing with expanding threats.
The Indian navy's woes with their fleet does not seem to go away. There was the unfortunate incident of the drowning of the INS Sindhurakshak at the Mumbai docks after a massive explosion in which huge number of brave souls were lost. Then now it's sister ship INS Sindhuratna has also met with an accident that has been unfortunate in the loss of two lives and scores injured. These are in an a series of incidents involving navy ships being involved in accidents in the recent past. It is time for the navy to take stock and change their approaches and procedures. It is time for the navy to correct any mistakes in their procedures so that such unfortunate incidents can be avoided. One thing, there is no excuse when national security is compromised. National security is supreme and there is nothing above and beyond the same.
It is time the govt took immediate and urgent steps to correct the depleting submarine fleet. It is time the navy involved the private ship building companies so that greater number of ships can be inducted at a faster pace rather than relying on public sector ship yards who has history of missing deadlines repeatedly. It is time concrete steps is taken so that national security is not allowed to be compromised at any cost
VANDE MATHRAM
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