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The Admiral J G Nadkarni Chat

The admiral went online to discuss the defence scenario for India and whether our armed forces were over dependant on Russia for its weapons among other issues.

Very informative stuff! Check it out.

shalki (Mon Dec 30 19:24:20 1996 IST):

hello, Is anybody there

hi

Welcome to the Rediff Chat, Sir. It is a pleasure to have you with us this evening. I do hope you enjoy the experience.

Is the admiral on line? Thanks Rediff for the Vajpayee Chat. That was a scoop bringing the great man on line.

Welcome to the Rediff Chat, Sir. It is a pleasure to have you with us this evening. I do hope you enjoy the experience.

Admiral Nadkarni, starting with a very lay question: How well equipped are the Indian Armed forces to face an attack today?

Hullo, Admiral. It is 25 years since the Indian navy won a great battle. Can we repeat the feat or is the navy in poor condition today?

My cousin in India tells me that most of the defence budget goes on pensions and salaries. That is shocking! That means no funds for weapons!

hi everyone

Hi everybody. I think we have been able to maintain and carry on becauase of the momentum of the eighties when our arm forces recieved equipment and attention which had given us an edge over our potential adverseries. Unfortunately certain events in the last 5 years has seen a steady decline in both preparedness and the resources to maintain a credible defence . Mainly the break-up of the Soviet Union and a decliing defense budget . The navy for example has not ordered a new ship for the past 7 years . No major ship has been inducted into the Navy for nearly 9 years obviously our defense posture has to suffer.

Where does the Indian navy face its greatest challenge from? The Pakistanis?

Are not Indians over obsessed with Pakistan, and in the bargain ignore China and southeast Asia?

Podgy, it is good to have you on the Internet! As someone who was pilloried for your affection for the US, don't you think we are over dependant on Russia for our defence supplies?

Bidyut Datta: It is not strictly correct that most of our budget goes on pensions . However it is true that nearly 80% of the army's budget is spent on maintaning the forces leaving only 20% for purchasing new equipment . What is more due to inflation the perccentage spent on maintainance is increasing and unless we do something about it it will eat up into the funds avaiable for purchasing equipment.

Sir, thanks to 1971, we have had peace for the last 25. how long will it last?

Sir, very realistically speaking, if India were faced with a coalition that attacked Iraq, how long would we last?

Why do you think the defence ministry is unable to see the reasons of the decline of the Indian Armed forces. Why is it not taking the adequate measures required for a sound defence system?

Thank you, Sir, for anwsering my question. That is a shocking statistic! Why is the defence ministry unable to get more funds for weapons?

Sir, If india opposes Test Ban Treaty and also refuses to allow our forces new technology. Whats the solution and where do we stand in the global arena.

J Taylor: I'm afraid we have little choice in the matter although the Soviets (now the Russsians) have considerably reduced their easy terms of arms sale in the past they still offer things far cheaper than before whereas the prices of equipment in the West has been galloping . So despite buying most of our equipment from Russia in the past and frankly suffering due to shortage of spare parts etc we still have to continue buying from them . We just cannot afford to buy from the West .

Sometime back, there was talk of Indian making an effort to start a blue ocean navy and the Aussies got very upset about it. How would you compare the Indian navy with other navies in the region?

That's crazy. That means we are buying stuff that may not be the best available! Could you please let us know if what we are buying from the Russians -- the Su-30, the Gorakshov -- are good?

Ave Admiral, nice way to keep our lines open!

Ashish: The banning of the test ban treaty will ceratinly allow us if we wish to embark on a nuclear weapons program . I'm a firm believer that vis-a -vis Pakistan the ultimate weapon will be the ultimate dettereant and a prelude to ultimate peace as happened in Europe. It will also be a solution to the increasing defense burden which both countries are facing as a result of going in for a conventional detterant.

Admiral, a blue water navy is part of a larger design of a country. You have a blue water navy because your country's trade interest demands it. India's share in world trade is 1%, why does it need a blue water navy then. Obviously Pak and Indonesia will be suspicious. Your comments.

Hi fellas. Good evening Admiral

Avinash Kulkarni: The Indian Navy today in numbers and quality is the most powerful in the Indian Ocean . We have more than 3 times the strength of Pakistan navy in surface ships and submarines . We are the only navy at present East of Suez who have an air craft carrier which can be used for sea control . The Indian navy has been a blue water navy for over 30 years . The hue and cry raised by countries like Australia and Indonesia in the late 80's was a political move and had little substance in it. As you can see it has died down naturally.

Sir, If india cannot afford to strengthen the forces why come 800 -900 million people supposed to feel safe?

Admiral,what do you think the Defence Planners should do to get govt.'s attention to the sorry state of defence?

Good to be listening to you Admiral.

Sir, does the Indian navy need aircraft carriers. can it afford them?

Thanks, Sir. You seem to be pretty familiar with computers. How technosavvy are India's admirals and generals? Is there an awareness of the power on infotech? And have compters permeated the services?

Commodore: I think my defination of a Blue water navy is one which is able to carryb out substained operation more than 300 miles from its shore . India today ranks about 15th in World shipping at any given time there are aboput 150 Indian ships on the Ocean , nearly 40 of them in the Indian Ocean in any given conflict we will have to ensure the security of our merchant ships , especially or tankers which will bring precious oil from the Gulf. This means providing them protection against Air and submarines atleast 1000 miles out . O

Admiral, the political situation in the country has been turbulent for the past few years. We are afraid that we may not see a stable government in the years to come. Tell us how does the political situation / instability affect or influence the defence.

(more)Of course another legitimate use and much misunderstood of a Blue water navy is power projection which is necessary for a regional power like India .

Admiral,what do you think the Defence Planners should do to get govt.'s attention to the sorry state of defence?

Admiral,what do you think the Defence Planners should do to get govt.'s attention to the sorry state of defence?

Avinash: Not very I'm afraid. Although we are making efforts to make all officers computer literate in the armed forces we are progressing quite slowly. Resourses is one reason . We have less computers in the Indian Navy than possibly a middle order corporate office. But things are improving ...........slowly.

Aay Date: Mainly to build up public opinion through the press .Even if we could get the political powers to institute a national defense council which will formulate a long term defnse policy for the country this would go a long way towards giving us a credible defgense posture .

Admiral, I believe that one reason why the Indian govt refuses to set up a defence council is because it is fearful of giving the army chance to stage a coup d'etat? Or is there another reason?

That's crazy. That means we are buying stuff that may not be the best available! Could you please let us know if what we are buying from the Russians -- the Su-30, the Gorakshov -- are good?

Sir, the Indian army faces a problem of suitable officers. Does this problem apply to the Indian navy too?

Sir, many in the Indian Air Force claim that it was the air force which bombed Karachi before the navy moved in? Is this true? What role did the air force play in bombing Karachi?

Clausewitz: In any conflict the Indian navy being a superior naval power which is dependent even for its day to day existence on import of goods and trade will have to ensure that these remain uninterupted . To achieve this we require to control the seas through which this trade will pass. And the only way in which we can ensure that we control the sea is to have an aircraft carrier . If we were the weaker navy then we could do only with submarines and without an aircraft carrier. Although the cost of Aircraft carriers have gone up we can still manage to afford small and comparitively cheaper carriers.

Thanks Sir, for replying to my earlier queries.