Indias plans to counterweight Pakistans submarine capability, and have an edge over Chinas inferior submarine technology forced it to go for French submarine, a sister boat of Pakistans Agosta. But its plans have run into snags and have been severely frustrated. The blame has been laid at the door of procurement bureaucracy which is being targeted for a massive cost-escalation and huge time over-run which will seriously damage the combat capabilities of India Navy. On the strength of its Navy, India was poised to serve global American interests in Indian Ocean and, by extension, in the Pacific.
India may have acquired a nuclear-powered submarine of a very old Russian vintage, it only serves the purpose of power projection. The toothless power, so to say. But its project of development of conventional submarine, Scorpene, in India under a transfer-of-technology program is not faring any better. The whistleblower report of Indias Auditor-General, the Controller and Auditor-General (CAG), raises alarms and concerns.
The report is clearly critical of the Scorpene acquisition. Indian Defense Minister had to admit to Indias Parliament that the project was running about 2 years behind schedule, due to some teething problems, absorption of technology, delays in augmentation of industrial infrastructure and procurement of MDL purchased materials (MPM). The CAG report criticizes the fact that the submarine requirement was approved in 1997, but no contract was signed until 2005, and then for only 6 of the envisioned 24 boats. Overall, the project cost had increased from Rs 12,609 crore in October 2002 to Rs 15,447 crore by October 2005 when the contract was signed. Once it was signed, the CAG believes that the contractual provisions resulted in undue financial advantage to the vendor of a minimum of Rs 349 crore.
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National Security: Indias Scorpenes project runs into snags as its submarine fleet nears depletion
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