![]() The model for a multinational defence project like an Indo-Japan nuclear submarine would obviously be the Euro fighter Tornado aircraft project. In fact, Mitsubishi and Hitachi are about to launch a new generation of nuclear power reactors to attain carbon zero by 2050. ![]() If any Asian power has the capacity to build a naval propulsion reactor, it is Japan, India’s partner in the QUAD against China. But this doesn’t stop the Japanese from treating nuclear reactors as a national strategic choice, with something like 56 reactors produced over time. Only the US and the UK operate nuclear submarines with a fuel core of 95 per cent enrichment, thereby giving the propulsion unit enormous power over the 35-year lifespan of the submarine.īut, surprisingly, the alternative to India acquiring highly enriched core reactors could come from Japan, a country where nuclear weapons are anathema. ![]() This is based on a misperception that all nuclear submarines are similar. Most laymen would question the need to invite Japan into a submarine-building consortium, when India has already launched the Arihant and the follow-on is about to be commissioned. Now, however, there is an opportunity to leap-frog the disappointment over the AUKUS by inviting Japan to join India in a bilateral nuclear submarine building project. The consequences of not being given access to US nuclear submarine technology are devastating for the Indian Navy’s plans to offensively confront Beijing in the maritime arena. The perception was probably caused by the Indian hesitancy to agree to even minimally militarise the QUAD from a purely diplomatic grouping to a more military alignment. It was most probably caused by a (mistaken) perception in Washington that Canberra was a more reliable ally against Beijing than New Delhi. The announcement of the AUKUS by the US without prior warning was one of the low points in Indian foreign policy.
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