Russia leases nuclear bombers to India

£1.9bn arms deal to give India power of mass destruction across Pakistan and China

Luke Harding in New Delhi
Monday January 20, 2003
The Guardian

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.

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.

"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.

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.

This story was buried in the middile of The Guardian; the front cover was of Miss Dynamyte'ee pop sensation, decrying the shooting of two teenagers in Birmingham. I cannot think of a reason why this INCREDIBLE deal was not on the front page, seeing that war is colse to commencing over the posession of weapons. Maybe it wasnt on the cover because the UK is still trying to sell Jets to India? But then that would mean that The Guardian was corrupt, and how likely is THAT?

Hmmmmm what is the equation used to choose between this and the Dynamytee'eeee story making the front page? millions of Indians threatened by nuclear escalation at a time when everyone is debating such weapons. A Hip Hip concert to mourn two teenage girls shot by juvenile delinquents....hmmmm cant play the racism card, cause both groups are "brown", could play the "foriegners dont count as humans" card, but then arent brown people in Birmingham foriegners? Uh oh, thats the racism card! Maybe BOTH stories should have been on the front cover. Or niether. Either way, this story is astounding, not only for the fact that it was buried, but that India can rationalize spending 1.9 BILLION POUNDS on weapons, when thier electricity grid is a piece of crap, thier water distribution is useless, and they have so many other problems to solve.

Surely it would be better to simply ignore thier percieved enemies, emulate Japan and then leap into a Singapore style 21st century country. It makes perfect sense....of course! Thats the problem!!!!

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Russia leases nuclear bombers to India