New Delhi: The Shi Yan 1 was blissfully sailing near Guishan port in mainland China on Tuesday evening, totally unaware of the storm it may have let loose many thousands of miles away in India.
For, on Tuesday morning, Indian Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh announced before the media in the regulation press conference, just before the Navy Day is celebrated on December 4, how a few weeks back the Shi Yan 1 was chased out from near the Andaman Islands inside Indian waters that it had entered.
The Admiral’s statement led to a furore in the Indian media as it was seen as a sign of muscle-flexing by the Indian navy in the face of an increasingly assertive and belligerent Chinese navy. “Our stand is that if you have to work in our Exclusive Economic Zone, then you have to take our permission,” he said.
At any given point of time, seven to eight Chinese navy ships are present in the Indian Ocean region.
Described as a research and survey vessel, the 2009-built Shi Yan 1, with the call sign BFGN, is owned and operated by the Institute of Acoustics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), an institute set up by the Chinese government in 1964 to address acoustic research needs of the military.
Recently, scientists at the Institute of Acoustics have developed a new system based on artificial intelligence that will make detection of submarines much faster and precise. The system, however, needs a huge amount of data to operate effectively.
The Shi Yan 1 is precisely suited for the purpose as it specializes in large-scale observation network “to layout, observe, control, remote sensing and monitor, and also can carry out the research about the real-time three-dimensional marine environment monitoring system and comprehensive information system. It is the high performance and ideal laboratory platform for marine science and hydroacoustics.”
In other words, submarine detection being the new buzzword among the modern navies of the world, the Shi Yan 1 may have been furthering such plans.
Submarines, and particularly nuclear ones, have massive deterrence value as it would imply a second strike capability or a capability to launch nuclear-tipped missiles even if the land and air-based delivery platforms are rendered incapable.
The greatest capability of a submarine is to remain undetected underwater even as it prowls long distances across the globe.
Not surprisingly, submarines are a high priority area for China. It now has about 60 submarines including four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSN), and 50 conventionally powered attack submarines (SS).
It is expected that by the middle of next year, China will likely build the Type 093B guided-missile nuclear attack submarine which could provide a more clandestine land-attack option.
On the other hand, the Indian Navy operates two nuclear submarines and about 17 diesel-powered submarines.
Admiral Singh also said that in the long term, the Navy plans to operate three aircraft carriers while the first indigenous aircraft carrier will be fully operational by 2022.
