Sunday, November 13 2005 11:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: With India's submarine strength sharply declining, top naval experts feel that indigenous production of the vessels should be expedited, as delays in acquisition are 'no longer affordable'.

"In recent times, fear of allegations of corruption has inhibited decision-making in defense procurement. National security cannot be held hostage to such fears, nor should rejected suppliers be allowed to derail Naval development programmes," submarine expert Vice Admiral (Retd) R N Ganesh said in the latest issue of the 'Indian Defense Review'.

Maintaining that the present strength of Indian Navy's submarine fleet was 16, which was an 18 per cent drop in ten years from 19 in 1994, he said two of the Vela class subs were three decades old and could not be considered combat-worthy.

While two of the remaining 14 Russian-made crafts had adequate life left, the rest were between 14-20 years of age and due for decommissioning in the next five to ten years.

Though their service lives could be enhanced through expensive refurbishment, "In stark terms, this means that unless 12 submarines are acquired in the next ten years, the strength of Indian Navy's submarine arm will dwindle and it will lose any claim to being an effective force," he said.

Asserting that such delays were no longer affordable, he said the Submarine Arm has reached a critical stage in its force level management and 'failure to act now would make a serious dent in India's naval capability.'

Delving on the major reasons for the delay, the naval expert said after the selection of the French Scorpene class submarines by the Navy, German HDW shipyard moved court in India saying that its crafts, which had been rejected by the Naval Headquarters, should be re-considered.

"Interestingly, the ownership of the HDW shipyard had passed on to American hands after it was bought over by a Chicago bank, Bank One, in 2003. It was suspected that the bank was acting on behalf of Northrop, the American military equipment manufacturer," he said.

Ganesh said the HDW intervention 'hardly appeared justifiable' as its offers had been "evaluated and rejected as unsuitable on various counts. This move by HDW and the pressure that it was applying at various levels will dismay the Navy, as the decision on the Scorpene Project has already been inordinately delayed," Ganesh said.

Under the proposed Scorpene Project, known as Project 75, six SSK submarines are to be constructed at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.

In a related interview to the noted defense journal, MDL Managing Director Rear Admiral R M Bhatia said the construction facility at the dock would be revived and the construction of Scorpene class subs would not require any major infrastructural changes.

Top shipbuilding expert Vice Admiral (Retd) Rajeshwar Nath said, "Project 75 would enable Indian construction facilities, lying idle for a long time, to be revived and India will once again join the elite club of few nations who design and build submarines".