India's Military Modernization Surges Ahead

India recently concluded a deal to purchase almost 350 T-90S tanks from Russia, plus the rights to build another thousand in India under license. Many of those will be assembled using Russian-manufactured components. The new tank deal, combined with earlier arrangements, will result in India being able to eventually deploy 2,000 improved T-72s and 1,500 T-90Ss, making it the strongest armored force in all of Eurasia. The Indian Army will deploy more late model Russian tanks than the Russian Army!

The Indian government also finally made it official that it will lease at least one, and possibly as many as three, Akula II class nuclear attack submarine (SSN) from Moscow. There have been rumors of a SSN leasing deal in the works for some time. The almost new Russian sub(s) would enter service in 2009. They can be looked at as trial vessels for an Indian nuclear submarine service, as India is hard at work on a homegrown design, albeit based on Russian technology.

The T-90 is essentially a modernized version of the T-72 design, using composite and reactive armors, computer-controled defensive countermeasures, and armed with a 125mm smoothbore gun. With its 840hp diesel engine, the 46.5 ton tank can reach a maximum speed of 65kph and range of 650km. The Akula, or "Shark" class SSN is the most modern in the Russian Navy, and a highly lethal nuclear powered submarine.

While much attention has been focused on the rise of China as a power on the world stage, less attention has been paid to India, the world's largest democracy. The modernization of India's armored force expands the country's substantial conventional superiority over its neighbor and rival Pakistan, while the addition of a viable, blue water SSN force to the navy gives it greater power projection capability.