![]() The development also showcases India-France strategic partnership, as DRDO’s Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) has signed an agreement with the Naval Group France, which will certify AIP design for integration in the submarines.Īfter Kalvari-the first in the series-the rest of the 5 Kalvari class subs, will also be equipped with AIP systems, boosting the collective power of India’s submarine fleet manifold. ![]() Once it is modernised, the Kalvari, a variant of the French Scorpeen sub, will no longer have to frequently surface for refuelling-a time when the platforms can be picked and attacked. and anyone else outweigh the risks.India’s effort to modernise its submarine force is set to take a giant leap with the fitment of the home-grown Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system, developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), in INS Kalvari.Įquipped with AIP technology, the Kalvari will be able to stay underwater for a long time, significantly adding to its lethality. “I would find it hard to believe that the benefits to Australia and the U.S. “In the cost benefit analysis, the risks to the nonproliferation regime are very large,” said James Acton, the co-director of the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Other nations may try to follow in its footsteps by enriching uranium for naval reactors, creating more avenues to develop material needed for nuclear bombs without the safeguards provided by regular inspections. The senior administration official described the technology as “extremely sensitive” and said the White House viewed the agreement with Australia “as a one-off” exception.Īustralia would be the first country without nuclear weapons to have nuclear-powered submarines, a decision that some analysts said raised arms proliferation concerns. has shared nuclear submarine capabilities with another country is when it assisted the U.K. The three allies plan to spend the next 18 months examining how their collaboration on the submarine project will work. Even though Australia is a leading producer of uranium, it has never operated nuclear power plants. Their development will take years, and it will be a challenging undertaking. It’s unclear how many submarines will be built and how quickly Australia could begin operating them. ![]() “Australia needs to build up its defensive capabilities,” she said. Jennifer Moroney, an expert on security cooperation who ran the Rand Corp.’s first office in Australia, said China’s expanding reach in the region has prompted new military investments there. “For a country with a relatively small defense budget like Australia,” he said, “the important question isn’t what the submarine can do but what you’re giving up in terms of opportunity cost.” was sharing such sensitive technology and that Australia would pursue such expensive military hardware. Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, expressed surprise that the U.S. shows a lack of coherence that France can only note and regret,” said a joint statement by the French ministers of foreign affairs and the armed forces. “The American choice to exclude a European ally and partner such as France. Morrison said the submarines would be built in Adelaide, on his country’s southern coast.įrance expressed dismay that Australia was ditching its contract and that it was left out of the agreement with the U.S. Now Australia plans to scrap that project, which was beset by cost overruns, in favor of working with the U.S. “It thus wins no support and is doomed to fail.”Īustralia has six aging submarines with diesel engines, and it was under contract to buy a dozen new ones from France. “Forming closed and exclusive ‘cliques’ targeting other countries runs counter to the trend of the times and deviates from the expectation of regional countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said this week. China has bristled at American partnerships that could serve as a counterweight to its influence.
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