Re: INS Arihant (ATV) News and Discussion -3
Postby
Karan M » 03 Dec 2015 18:17
That book excerpt being quoted as authoritative makes a perfect case of argument from authority. Just because the author is an Admiral, it is held all the statements within are true. A certain amount of gravitas, yes - especially when it comes to things like how the submarine would be used or deployed. Cent per cent accurate when it comes to development? Not certain. Further the author retired from the Indian Navy in 1998. Is he then personally aware of the DAE contribution to the program since it was declassified only a few years back? Clearly not, because he has to rely on several third party sources, one of whom is or should be completely disregarded in terms of any serious study.
But let's see further whom the author cites.
Then there is the statement the reactor was Russian designed. We know know since DAE released details, that is a complete misreading of the situation, to put it lightly. At best the Russians were consultants, but the reactor is Indian designed and developed. But as mentioned before, the details were declassified recently, so it can merely be relying on what's available.
Next, who is quoted? Bidwai, 2009. Praful Bidwai's statements on Indian defence were an exercise in mendacity, less said the better. In short, just because some book says something and some Air Marshal says LCA is American or General says Arjun is German etc.. It doesn't become true!
Lets move to the credible sources cited from the tech side - one of the key ones is Parathasarathi. This is a man who would be in the know of things - assuming it refers to Ashok Parathasarathi. And what does he say - Russians extended assistance over the 25 year program for the Arihant. Read that carefully - thats the entire timeframe from the 1980's, not just 1998 onwards. His statements are credible because he was one of the key gents who was involved with multiple defense programs from the tech transfer, design side & actually worked out such arrangements.
In short, the Russian assistance existed for a long long time, yet it took the DAE so many years to develop the reactor with local industry. Does this sound in any which way like some "Russian designed 83MW reactor" which took 25 years for India to master? In short this is what is referred to as the classic drawback of relying on multiple sources, some of which can be credible and some of which are not - leading to a confused melange of reports which the author then tries to make sense of, but which may not always be accurate.
As regards the depth of Russian support, as I already mentioned, it was especially true for ancillary systems and raw materials. Without that, there would be no Arihant. Question is whether our indigenization program extends beyond the Arihant for the follow on programs.
Last edited by
Karan M on 03 Dec 2015 18:43, edited 1 time in total.