Representational Image | Credits: The National Interest
A very important paper titled, ‘Nuclear Attack Submarines: The Elixir for a True Blue-Water Navy’ has been published by Commodore Roby Thomas, a senior fellow in the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA).
This is seen as an important study wherein the Submersible Ship Nuclear or SSNs, which are nuclear-powered general-purpose attack submarines, are required to fulfil the massive power expectations of the Indo-Pacific, The New Indian Express reports.
The study states that the manufacturing and maintenance cost of the SSN is more than that of Submersible Ship Killer or SSK, which is an original diesel-electric submarine and the study has revealed that around 2.2-6 SSKs are required to match the effectiveness of a solitary SSN.
India at present has 16 SSKs and only one SSN, an Akula class submarine leased from Russia and also operates one ballistic missile submarine (SSBN).
The report from the IDSA read, “Nuclear submarines are national strategic assets and even the best of friends do not part with this technology. For example… the US only gave Britain the reactor to operationalise its first SSN, HMS Dreadnought, and subsequently the Trident SLBM, but never the entire submarine. Similarly, Russia provided India with SSNs on lease to gain experience and training, never to own.”
What the study truly focuses on is if India wants a blue-water navy, nuclear-powered submarines are the way forward due to their ability for long deployments and India requires a comprehensively designed strategy on this front.