At least some quarters in the security and intelligence establishments have sat up to take note. However, even they have no credible evidence to show if there has been any effort at sabotage. There is no data either to show that these developments were pure accidents, or slippage of professionalism, or a combination of all these factors. What is irrefutable is the frequency of these incidents.
It is an unusual frequency, as far as damages to strategic assets are concerned. On August 14, 2013 INS Sindhurakshak witnessed explosions that led to fire and the submarine sank in Mumbai. Questions still linger over what really happened aboard the Russian Kilo class submarine early that morning, in which 18 personnel were killed. The cause of the disaster may never be exactly known, even if the salvage operation is successful.
Whether it was a pure accident or it was because of mishandling of ammunition, or if there was something sinister may never be known. But it is almost certain that the Russian submarine is lost to Navy forever. Worth over a thousand crores, the loss of the submarine further strains India’s underwater capability.
Six months later, fire broke out aboard INS Sindhuratna on February 26 this year, killing two officers and injuring several others. In this case, the Navy may have a more cogent explanation about what may happened on board the submarine.
With Friday’s crash of the C-130J aircraft, a pattern seems to be emerging: Of almost improbable accidents taking place at regular intervals on strategic assets that are not easy to replace in the short run and expensive by all counts. Most importantly, with each of these accidents, the Indian military is losing some of its finest men, and also its track record as a safe modern military.
The developments of recent times raise several uncomfortable questions for which there is no definite answer, but asking them now would be vital to ensure that this frequency of accidents do not carry on.
The foremost question would be if there is a slippage in the professional standards of military, and these minor slippages are contributing to the accidents. This is a touchy issue to raise, but many are beginning to admit that there may be a need for the military top brass to take a hard look at their practices, and professional standards.
The second, and most crucial, question is if these professional shortages are being exploited by someone. What if an inimical force were strategically targeting India’s cutting edge assets, and capabilities? The question borders on the absurd, but many within the military and larger security establishment were asking those questions today as the four-engine, agile, very reliable C-130J crashed.
via IDRW
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