French maritime jets are among the military hardware India looks to acquire as it strengthens its position against China in the Indian Ocean. Delhi has unveiled a shopping list worth tens of millions of euros, just days after launching a new nuclear submarine that it says will help establish "strategic balance" in the region.
India this week agreed to speed up the import of 26 Rafale maritime jets by jettisoning plans to fit local radar on the French planes, which are meant for its latest aircraft carrier.
It also gave the green light to procure seven stealth frigates, patrol boats, utility aircraft, air defence radar and 1,770 modern battle tanks to replace India’s armada of Soviet-origin T-72 tanks, officials said.
The acquisitions spree comesthe week after India launched the ballistic missile submarine INS Arighat on 29 August, eight years after commissioning its first home-grown nuclear submarine.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Arighat, which means "destroyer of the enemy" in Sanskrit, would "enhance India's nuclear deterrence and help in establishing strategic balance and peace in the region".
The comments were a veiled reference to China, which fought a bloody war with India over a border row in 1962. Tensions resurfaced when soldiers from the rival armies clashed in a remote Kashmir valley in 2020, with 24 lives lost.
India now hopes to exercise some control over sea lanes in the Indian Ocean, which accounts for 80 percent of its oil imports and 95 percent of trade.
'Guarantors of survival'
Showcasing INS Arighat as the work of local shipbuilders, the defence minister insisted India was striving to become a "developed nation".
"Along with economic prosperity, we need a strong military," Singh said in a statement.
India has a no-first-strike nuclear policy, but defence analysts say the power to respond is crucial.
"India must have what is called a second-strike capability, [and] a submarine with nuclear propulsion which also carries ballistic nuclear-tipped missiles are the ultimate guarantors of a nation's survival," argued Uday Bhaskar, a retired naval officer now with Delhi-based think tank the Society for Policy Studies.
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India is planning to commission a third and larger nuclear submarine, the INS Aridhaman, within six months.
The country, which plans to build 18 conventional and six nuclear-powered submarines by 2030, has so far procured six diesel-electric Scorpenes from France and is slated to buy three more.
Long-time ally Russia leased two nuclear-powered submarines to India since 1987. Next year, it is scheduled to deliver a third as part of a 2.7-billion-euro deal.
But sceptics believe nuclear subs can prove an expensive waste and that conventional boats should be enough to meet the strategic needs of India, which also has long-standing tensions with nuclear-armed Pakistan.
India-France partnership
Reports said France last year offered to jointly develop nuclear submarines with India and that it sent numerous delegates to Delhi for talks.
The two countries announced a roadmap for defence partnership until 2047, which included plans to expand naval cooperation.
"India and France are ready to explore more ambitious projects to develop the Indian submarine fleet and its performance," they said in a 2023 joint declaration titled Horizon 2047.
Analysts say such a move will reduce India’s dependence on Russia – busy with its war with Ukraine – and also help France to recoup efforts it expended on a multi-billion-euro sub deal with Australia that was torpedoed by Canberra in 2021.
In 2013, a fully armed Indian sub of Russian origin exploded in Mumbai’s harbour, killing 18 sailors on board and further blunting the country’s underwater combat abilities.
Sinking of submarine deal leaves Franco-US friendship in tatters
