Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
according to India's specifications so that Indian naval planes such as the Sea
Harrier can land on her deck. India has a pressing need for an aircraft carrier
since the INS
Vikrant
is aging and under repair. The Navy's potential blue water
capability would be seriously challenged without another carrier. The Navy's close
links to Russia are illustrated by New Delhi's plan to purchase a fighter regiment
of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K aircraft for
Admiral Gorshkov
. As a senior
Russian diplomat put it, 'The teeth of the Indian Navy will continue to be
Russian.'
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Nuclear Cooperation
Putin's visit to BARC exemplifies Russia's evolving position on military-
technical cooperation with India. He was the first Russian leader to tour BARC,
joining only two other foreign leaders before, Chinese Prime Minister Zhou-en-
Lai and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Putin's high-powered 70-
member delegation, which included Deputy Prime Minister, Ilya Klebanov,
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, attests to the
importance the Russians give India in this new phase of their defense industrial
strategy.
India's former Atomic Energy Chairman Chidambaram has sought to portray
Indo-Russian cooperation in the nuclear realm as far-reaching and part of an
Indian plan to give significant impetus to the nuclear program. India's target, as
outlined, is to generate 20,000 MW of nuclear-generated electricity by 2020.
Chidambaram stated that although India had a self-reliant nuclear power program
based on indigenized pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR), the objective
was to develop fast breeder reactors (FBRs) and thorium utilization in a closed
nuclear fuel cycle, as well as modern light water reactors (LWR).
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The current production is limited, and the Indian nuclear program has come
under criticism in terms of cost, efficiency and safety. So far however, the
nuclear power establishment has warded off such criticism, in part pointing out
the need for reducing the country's energy dependency, a view shared by
successive Indian leaderships. The exigencies of working under external
sanctions, imposed on India in light of its nuclear activity, has also allowed the
nuclear energy program to enjoy a more exalted position than it might otherwise
have had.
It is precisely in the context of sanctions and other international regimes that
Russia's role in the nuclear field becomes critical for India. India has been
looking toward other suppliers such as France, but without immediate results. As
a leading Indian strategic analyst commented, 'The reality is that Russia today is
the only great power which is ready to cooperate with India in the atomic energy
sector'.
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