The first ship would be delivered five years after the signing of the contract with its Russian builders while the remaining two would arrive within 12 months of the first delivery, Mukherjee told a news conference in New Delhi.

"The security committee also approved the earmarking of another four billion rupees (88 million dollars) for certain other equipment for these stealth warships," he said, without elaborating.

Highly-placed defence ministry sources told AFP the funds would be used to arm the three new warships with BraHmos cruise missiles which have been jointly built by Russia and India.

The cabinet also gave the green light for the purchase of 28 submarine-launched KLUB land missiles at a cost of 8.4 billion rupees (187 million dollars) for India's Russian-supplied submarines, the defence minister said.

"These missiles would be fitted in six submarines already bought by India," he said, adding that the arming of two of the vessels with the weapons systems would be done in Russia, which accounts for 70 percent of India's military hardware.

India, which reserved 14 billion dollars for the military in financial year 2006-2007, is on a shopping spree to upgrade its navy with an aircraft carrier, latest jets for its airforce and tanks and artillery for the million-plus army.

Indian Union Launches Campaign Against Asbetos Ship

Meanwhile, one of India's largest unions announced a campaign Thursday to stop a ship believed to be lined with toxic asbestos from being dismantled there, calling it "aggression" by the developed world.

The Marxist-affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said it was teaming up with environmental group Greenpeace, which opposes the dismantling of the 11-storey Blue Lady at a ship-breaking yard in Alang in Gujarat state.

"We see ships filled with toxic wastes coming to India for dismantling as aggresion unleashed by the developed world against developing countries," CITU leader P.K. Ganguly told a news conference in the Indian capital.

The former French luxury liner which Greenpeace says contains 900 tonnes of asbestos and other cancer-causing materials, is anchored 72 nautical miles (133 kilometres) off the Gujarat coast after arriving in Indian waters last week.

Earlier this month, India's Supreme Court gave permission for the ship to enter Indian waters but said it could not be broken up until its contents were determined. In February, it was turned away by Bangladesh on the grounds it was too toxic to be dismantled there.

"We're determined to stop such practices and if needed we shall launch a countrywide agitation against hazardous wastes being dumped in India," Ganguly said, flanked by members of Greenpeace and the Ban Asbestos Network.

"It's illegal and immoral and so we are thinking of militant activity to protect the health of workers at the ship-breaking yard," Ganguly said.

He did not elaborate on what he meant by "militant activity."

Workers at Alang, Asia's largest ship-breaking yard, say the 46,000-tonne ship would offer them much-needed work. But environmentalists say such vessels should be decontaminated before they are dismantled and that Alang's workers are not equipped to handle toxic materials.

"Abestos is one of the most hazardous materials the world has produced and de-contamination technologies are available," Greenpeace official Gopal Krishna said. "All we're saying is the Blue Lady's owners should remove such materials before it is broken up," he said.

Greenpeace, CITU and the Ban Asbestos Network have formed an umbrella group, the Indian Platform on Shipbreaking, to campaign against the 315-metre (1,035-foot) ship.

The SS France, the last purpose-built ocean liner ever made, was renamed the SS Norway and later Blue Lady after being sold by its French owners in 1979.

The vessel set out from Port Klang in Malaysia on May 6 under tow after being sold to Indian shipbreakers by Malaysian owners, Star Cruises.

Greenpeace says one in four workers in Alang can expect to contract cancer from workplace poisons. Many have died on the job from exploding gases and falling steel plates and other objects due to lax enforcement of safety rules, it says.

Related Links
The latest in Military Technology for the 21st century at SpaceWar.com