India is clearly worried by revelations that China is building up a large fleet of nuclear submarines alarmingly close to the Indian Ocean Rim as it is a cause for security concerns. The Indian establishment has always publicly sought to downplay the China threat. India’s concerns are not separate from those in the region as China is building submarines at an underground base off the Hainan Island. China has been increasing its naval presence alarmingly close to the Malacca Strait, which is known as the world’s busiest waterways.

For India, the threat lies in China muscling its way into the Indian Ocean. The Navy is worried that China is building up a nuclear presence and has the capability to access the Indian Ocean Region in a very short time space with the kind of submarines it has stationed at the underground base off the Hainan Island. For the last 25-years, India's quest for an initial three nuclear powered submarines has been underway under the secretive ATV (advanced technology vessel) project. While the basic submarine hull and structure have been fabricated at Vishakhapatnam naval dockyard, the miniaturized pressurized water reactors for their propulsion system have been developed at the Indra Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam. But it will take another 7-10 years for India to have operational nuclear submarines. The time lag is a deep cause of anxiety for defence planners to secure the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal from expanding Chinese nuclear submarines.

At present India has 16 conventional diesel-electric submarines, whereas, China has 57 attack submarines, including a dozen of them nuclear ones. There is a total asymmetry between the naval capabilities of the two countries. The Indian Atomic Energy Agency had promised to provide atomic power packs for submarines. In the hope of the project being completed early, India got on lease from the erstwhile Soviet Union, a Charlie class nuclear-powered submarine which was named INS Chakra.

Politically, it made sense to veil a project which skated that thin edge of the wedge between nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and for the defence sector. Nuclear propulsion was one thing, nuclear weapons quite another. Except for the Soviets leasing India the INS Chakra, no country had transferred to a non-nuclear weapon state a nuclear propelled submarine.  It was in 1984 that the ATV project was launched to match a hull of Soviet design with a reactor of Indian design. Work on control systems and reactor components have been taken up. But the target of the year 2010 for India’s first indigenous nuclear submarine is farfetched, unless the programme is made visible.

The idea behind leasing the Chakra was to train our officers and men in operating the sea monster. All efforts by our defence scientists over the years have gone in vain. The ATV project meant to develop a prototype of the nuclear-powered submarine did not take off due to shortage of funds. In view of the growing threat to our security, we need to evolve a national policy for a nuclear-powered submarine fleet.