India's submarine fleet is flailing:
Indian investigators initially feared that key problems with the fires in both subs was poor Russian quality control. That proved not to be the case. The key causes in both accidents were poor Indian management of procurement and work done in India. While there have long been quality control problems with Russian built equipment, especially ships, armored vehicles, and aircraft, the Russians have made progress in dealing with these failings. The Kilo that was completely destroyed had returned from the Russian refurbishment eight months earlier and had successfully completed a three month shakedown cruise. All indications were that everything was in good order and there were no known problems with the crew or the boat. ...
The inefficient Indian military procurement bureaucracy is also under fire for not building new subs quickly enough. In 2005 India made a deal to buy six Franco-Spanish Scorpene subs. Nearly a decade later none of these boats is in service and the blame rests on the usual suspects (the procurement bureaucracy).
As the Indian naval command might say, "there seems to be something wrong with our bloody
This was a luxury that India could afford when Pakistan was the primary threat. The China threat will be far less forgiving of India's bureaucracy if it comes to a fight.
