- India last night signed a £1.9bn deal with Russia
to lease four long-range nuclear bombers and two nuclear-capable submarines,
in a move which campaigners say will dramatically escalate the arms race
on the subcontinent.
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- On a visit to Moscow, India's defence minister, George
Fernandes, said the agreement - which will also see Russia throw in an
ageing aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, for free - will be finalised
by the end of March.
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- "We have agreed that all efforts will be made to
complete the three contracts," Mr Fernandes said. India and Russia
will also pump more money into a joint programme to develop a new long-range
nuclear-capable cruise missile, the BrahMos, he revealed.
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- The massive deal will dramatically improve New Delhi's
ability to deliver its nuclear warheads. It follows months of simmering
tension between India and its arch-rival Pakistan, the world's newest declared
nuclear powers.
-
- The two countries almost went to war in June last year,
and for 10 months deployed a million troops along their shared border.
-
- India is believed to have more nuclear bombs - between
60 and 150, compared with Pakistan's 20-60. It also has a much larger conventional
army. But defence experts believe that Pakistan, which secretly acquired
much of its missile technology from China and North Korea in the 1990s,
has better means of getting them to their targets, and this is an edge
which New Delhi wants to eliminate.
-
- Last night anti-nuclear campaigners in India said they
were dismayed by the nuclear deal with Russia.
-
- "I think it is terrible," said Praful Bidwai,
of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP).
-
- "We are just going into a vortex that steps up the
nuclear and missile arms race. They are actually moving towards a high
level of readiness to use nuclear weapons. You are not talking about deterrence."
-
- Under the package, India will lease four Tu22 M3 long-range
aircraft - capable of dropping nuclear bombs on China - as well as two
Akula class submarines, which are nuclear-propelled and can deliver nuclear
warheads.
-
- India's existing submarine fleet is not nuclear capable.
Indian officials say that in the event of a nuclear attack by Pakistan,
the new Russian subs, which can hide underwater for months at a time, would
be able to launch a devastating response.
-
- India has also agreed to pay about £370m to refit
the Admiral Gorshkov, a decrepit aircraft carrier which was completely
gutted by fire in the early 90s.
-
- The purchase has caused much raising of eyebrows in the
Indian press, and follows an exposé two years ago of massive official
corruption in India's defence industry.
-
- Mr Fernandes was forced to resign in the wake of the
scandal. He later got his job back.
-
- The defence minister put the finishing touches to his
procurement spree after spending six days in Russia, where he met his counterpart
Sergei Ivanov.
-
- The comparative speed with which India and Russia have
wrapped up their agreement is in stark contrast to Britain's attempts to
sell 66 Hawk jet trainer aircraft to the Indian air force.
-
- Tony Blair and other ministers have so far failed to
convince the Indians to sign the billion-pound deal, despite more than
15 years of negotiations.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,878155,00.html
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