Rajat Pandit/TNN
 
New Delhi, Oct 25: If you thought the Indian airspace was impregnable from aerial threats or the country had adequate number of submarines to take the fightChink In Armour? Navy will be left with only 8-9 of its present 16 diesel-electric submarines by 2012 to enemy shores, think again. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has now punched big holes in these two critical defence areas.

Over the last three years, TOI has highlighted the gaping holes in the country’s air defence coverage — which is particularly alarming over central and peninsular India — as well as the fast dwindling strength of its underwater combat fleet, with projections showing Navy will be left with only eight to nine out of its present 16 diesel-electric submarines by 2012.

In its reports tabled in Parliament on Friday, CAG blasted the government for lapses on these very aspects after reviewing the functioning of ADGES (air defence ground environment system) in IAF and operational availability of submarines in Navy.

Take the submarines first. India, at present, has only 10 Russian Kilo-class, four German HDW and two virtually-obsolete Foxtrot submarines, none of them a nuclear-powered one. Compared to China’s 57 attack submarines, a dozen of them nuclear ones, this represents a stark asymmetry. It gets worse.

CAG holds the operational availability of Indian submarines is as low as 48% due to an aging fleet and prolonged refit schedules. This means if India goes to war at present, it will have to make do with only seven to eight submarines, even less than Pakistan’s dozen or so submarines, which include three spanking new French Agosta-90B vessels.

‘‘With serious slippages in the induction plan, Navy is left with an aging fleet with more than 50% of its submarines having completed 75% of their operational life. Some have already outlived their maximum service life,’’ said CAG. The ongoing Rs 18,798-crore project to construct six French Scorpene killer submarines at Mazagon Docks, under which one submarine will be delivered per year from 2012 onwards, was approved by the government rather late in the day.

The story of multi-layered ADGES, an integrated network of surveillance radars, air defence control centres, air and missile bases tasked with protection, is equally shocking. CAG holds the very ‘‘eyes’’ of the network, in the shape of air defence radars, are in bad shape, with obsolete equipment and outdated plans.

Both in terms of available numbers and operational efficiency, all the three types of radars — high-power, medium-power and low-level transportable — are inadequate to provide the nation with gap-free air defence cover.