Form of words:
New Delhi: America and Britain are set to provide As part of the first initiative under the new trilateral security partnership AUKUS, Australia with the technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines.
“Under the Ocus, the three nations will focus immediately on identifying the optimal route to deliver at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to Australia,” the Australian government said in a statement on Thursday.
“Over the next 18 months, Australia, the UK and the US will thoroughly examine the full suite of requirements that underpin nuclear management and demonstrate a clear path to becoming responsible and credible managers of this sensitive technology,” the statement said. We do.”
However, the move has been criticized by both China and France. According to China, the agreement Can damage regional peace and stability while France Guilty US “stabbed in the back” since AUKUS partnership scraping of a historical $66 billion Agreement between France and Australia to make 12 barracuda submarineswhich was signed in June 2016.
Caused by the AUKUS Agreement scraping Historic $90 billion agreement between France and Australia for nuclear-powered submarines.
ThePrint explains what are nuclear powered submarines and the advantages of these submarines in the country’s fleet.
Read also: Why India can gain ‘major leverage’ as Australia, UK, US join hands to take on China
no nuclear weapons
A nuclear powered submarine, as the name suggests, is powered by a nuclear reactor but is not a nuclear weapon.
Each nuclear-powered submarine pulls its own miniature nuclear reactor onboard, which is usually filled with uranium, according to a report In Conversation. For such a reactor to work, uranium has to be ‘enriched’ to contain 50 percent of a major isotope, uranium-235.
Natural uranium consists of about 99.3 percent of the isotope uranium-238 and only 0.7 percent of uranium-235. the process of enrichment can be to be done Through gaseous diffusion, gas centrifuge or laser isotope separation.
According to the Australian government statement, “nuclear-powered submarines do not have the same limitations that conventional submarines face on weapons storage, speed and endurance.”
“They can remain completely submerged for several months, limiting opportunities for detection by opponents.”
Currently only six countries own and operate these submarines: China, France, India, Russia, the UK and the US.
Read also: High Commissioner says Australia apprised India of AUKUS and assures strategic support
types of nuclear powered submarines
Nuclear-powered submarines can be divided into three broad categories – nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines or SSNs, nuclear-powered ballistic submarines or SSBNs, and nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines or SSGNs.
The SSN is the oldest type of nuclear-powered submarine and the first of these, the American-built Nautilus, was deployed In 1954 the U.S. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union, launched SSGNs in the late 1960s.
Unlike standard SSN nuclear submarines, the SSBN and SSGN are capable of firing ballistic missiles and cruise missiles respectively.
America currently operates three classes of SSN – Los Angeles, Seawolf and Virginia. The currently operational US SSBNs fall under the Ohio class, some of which were converted to SSGNs.
whereas Los Angeles Square First built in 1982 and equipped with a vertical launch missile system with twelve launch tubes sea wolf class Commissioned in 1997 and represented, among other advancements, more dynamism than the Los Angeles class.
NS Virginia Square The latest is the American-built SSN and is a smaller attack submarine than the Seawolf class and was first commissioned in 2004. ohio squareMeanwhile, the first was built in 1981 and by 2002 its fleet had been reduced to a total of 14.
The UK operates two classes of SSNs – trafalgar (with five 533 mm torpedo tubes) and Clever (with six torpedo tubes) -and a class of SSBN, vanguard, which consists of four torpedo tubes.
Accordingly, Australia will acquire and manufacture the technology for eight SSNs. a report from the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
India and the nuclear submarine industry
India entered the nuclear-powered submarine fray in the late 1980s with a SSN Chakra, leased from the Soviet Union.
Original INS Chakra came in the beginning To India on a three-year lease that started in 1988. Chakra II was commissioned in 2012 and returned to Russia after its lease expired in June this year.
Presently, there is a single Akula-class SSN in service in India, which was leased from Russia in 2011, and two Arihant-class SSBNs, the first of which was Has agreed to For operation in 2016.
but more are on the way one more Russian Akula-class SSN due to arrive in 2025, six submarines to be built as part of Project 75 and a new S5-Class of SSBN.
Read also: Rolls-Royce set to co-develop, manufacture fighter aircraft engines in India
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