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HDW should be dropped from blacklist, says navy

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

Arm-twisted by international arms lobbies that are delaying India's submarine programme, the Indian navy has urged the government to immediately lift the ban on dealing with German submarine manufacturer HDW.

The Union government had banned all dealings with HDW (Howaldswerske) and put the company on its black list after the public outcry over the submarine scandal in which hefty commissions were allegedly paid to powerful arms merchants, including a former Navy chief.

According to authoritative sources, the navy has told the Union government that the ban should be lifted in the national interest and to avoid certain arms dealers holding up things.

The navy made the request after the French firm contacted for the mounting of Exocet missiles on the existing four HDW submarines, made big demands for doing it.

Exocet missiles, currently in use in the French Agosta class submarines used by the Pakistan navy have a range of less than 60 kilometres.

The French firm has recently told naval headquarters that it would mount Exocet missiles if they are given orders for at least 10 submarines. They have also signalled to Navy that they would be interested in the job only if they were handed the work on future submarine construction.

In the navy's ambitious submarine programme, Project 75, the government has approved the construction of 24 submarines in 30 years. There are to be two streams of submarines: One of eastern (mostly Russian) make and the other, western. Currently, the navy operates with several Russian submarines and four HDW submarines.

In the first part of the project, the navy wants to upgrade its HDW submarines with powerful missiles. Currently, the HDWs can only fire torpedoes. A HDW submarine has eight 21-inch torpedo tubes that can fire a AEG-SUT Mod-1 wire-guided, active/passive homing torpedo, with a 250 kg warhead.

According to the navy's strategic analysis, the best way to upgrade HDW submarines is to fit them with Klub class Russian missiles. These missiles have a range of over 300 kms.

For this upgradation, the present submarine has to be lengthened, which HDW can do. The Russian missiles, they say, are better and cost-effective.

HDW was blacklisted towards the end of 80s, after allegations of massive kickbacks in the deal with it. The house of Admiral (retd) S M Nanda, who headed the Indian navy during the successful 1971 Indo-Pak war, was raided by central investigation agencies suspecting he was one of the middlemen. He vehemently denied this in a letter to the Union government then. In fact, he has maintained that it was a powerful NRI business family, heavily involved in arms deals, that was behind the smear campaign against him.

Investigations came up with nothing substantial.

The Indian government signed the agreement with HDW on December 11, 1981.

Under the agreement, two HDW 209 class submarines were to have been built in Germany, and the company was to supply spare parts for two other submarines, to be assembled at Mazagon Docks, Bombay. Under the agreement, HDW was to train Indian personnel in assembling the submarines, and were to have opened a consultancy service in Bombay for the navy.

Admiral Nanda had, in fact, opened a firm in Bombay that was involved in constructing the HDW submarine. He has maintained that he was only providing consultancy services, and that it was a pure professional agreement.

The first two submarines made in Germany reached India in early 1987, and the two others were assembled in Mazagon docks after inordinate delays.

A decision to build two more submarines at Mazagaon Docks was cancelled after the scandal broke out in 1987-88.

Between 1992 and 1997 the government has considered lifting the ban on HDW, but that was before the navy thought of upgrading the German submarines. Now, one of the HDW submarines, INS Shishumar, is, in fact, being upgraded in Bombay and the three others are to follow suit.

The Indian navy, considering the ban against the strength the Pakistan navy has gained with its Agosta class submarines mounted with Exocet missiles think it's better to let bygones be bygones and deal again with HDW.

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