Originally Posted by
Lonewolf_50
I remember back in the 80's the Indian Navy operated a Charlie Class SSGN (maybe more than one?) but it was "under lease" and they made the decision not to keep it/buy it. A Naval Attache-type guy I know, who served in India in the early 90's, explained to me that one of the reasons was that the MoD and others did not feel that the national infrastructure necessary to support nuclear propulsion ship was sufficiently developed.
It's 30+ years later.
Is the national industrial infrastructure now in a place where that's more achievable?
For an example of how the industrial base has matured, India is building organic/domestic helicopters now which wasn't so 30 years ago.
As an outsider, I have no stake in this game, but I am encouraged to see a step forward. IMO, nuclear powered carriers are the better idea if you can support them. That takes more than just money (though a lot of that is needed); it takes a robust national industrial infrastructure and some niche skills/capabilities to do so.
On a related note: why the US offered the EMALS but seems to be declining to support the nuclear propulsion angle has me a bit puzzled.
Given India’s chief concerns are somewhat nautically in different directions yet are still somewhat regional you’d think quantity would drive the issue. Either they’re gonna field a number of nuke carriers for them to be effective or this is a national pride exercise.