Opinion Why Beijing’s rising maritime clout calls for a joint India-Japan nuclear submarine project

Compared to this, other submarines have a core of low-enriched uranium, giving them a limited life of fewer than 10 years at a moderate operating tempo. The difference is between chalk and cheese. A US or British nuclear submarine has so much reserve power that it is operated continuously by two complete crews alternating one after another. Distances mean nothing to them as they transit at 500 miles a day at cruising speed. Repeated attempts by retired Indian admirals to canvas congressional support for US nuclear submarine technology have been refused on the grounds of US naval opposition.

But, surprisingly, the alternative to India acquiring highly enriched core reactors could come from Japan, a country where nuclear weapons are anathema. But this doesn’t stop the Japanese from treating nuclear reactors as a national strategic choice, with something like 56 reactors produced over time. If any Asian power has the capacity to build a naval propulsion reactor, it is Japan, India’s partner in the QUAD against China. In fact, Mitsubishi and Hitachi are about to launch a new generation of nuclear power reactors to attain carbon zero by 2050. The model for a multinational defence project like an Indo-Japan nuclear submarine would obviously be the Euro fighter Tornado aircraft project. The project began in 1983, but was delayed by the end of the Cold War. Nevertheless, the strategic and cost benefits revived it with Germany, Austria, Italy, the UK, Spain and Saudi Arabia choosing it against stiff competition. The multinational consortium consists of the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, each nation contributing what it was best at, to build a highly successful multi-role fighter. If the Europeans can get together to build an aircraft to deter a common foe, the Asians can surely copy the model to deter an even bigger potential foe.

It is true that India can independently build a nuclear-propelled submarine. Unfortunately, the product and its limitations will determine Indian naval strategy. Today, the Chinese operate an overseas base in Djibouti, almost 6,000 miles from their home base. This act speaks of either fool-hardiness or a cynical contempt for Indian maritime capability. If India had reoriented its military grand strategy from defensive territoriality to an offensive oceanic one, the Chinese base in Djibouti would not exist for more than 72 hours, and that too when they are continuously needling us on the LAC. An Indian nuclear submarine with an Indian low-enriched uranium core will force us on the backfoot, into a cautious, timid and conservative maritime strategy, because of the submarine’s extremely limited operating profile.

On the other hand, a nuclear submarine with a highly enriched core, and unlimited endurance, could, after departing Visakhapatnam, be off Shanghai in 5-6 days, operate in the South China sea for a month and return for a change of fresh crew, before repeating the performance again. As it is, the QUAD simply brings a cynical smile to Xi Jinping’s face knowing that it is not a military organisation. An Indo-Japanese nuclear submarine project with both countries operating nuclear submarines in the South China sea would convert that smile into a frown of worry.

For once, we need to put Aatmanirbhar aside and do an Asian multilateral nuclear submarine project that will rattle the cage in Beijing. The Indian Navy’s excellent design organisation can provide the drawings for the submarine, while Mitsubishi or Hitachi manufactures the propulsion reactor, the whole project being managed by an inter-governmental group probably led by the Controller of Warship Building in New Delhi.

The project will certainly need strong ministerial leadership, from either the External Affairs Ministry or someone like Hardeep Puri, whose dynamic stint as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, many years ago is still fondly remembered. India’s military grand strategy must surely mean more than holding off the People’s Liberation Army in the Himalayas. An Indo-Japanese nuclear submarine project would bring in an element of oceanic retribution to influence the strategic choices seen to be available in Beijing. The whole country has waited for decades for a national security strategy, but in the meanwhile, the Navy should take the initiative.

The writer, a former rear admiral in the navy, is author of A Nuclear Strategy for India