Though, it should not come as any kind of revelation to anyone, but something which was quite expected (in my opinion somewhat delayed as well) and had been in open for a while now.
India is in talks with Russia to finance the completion of another nuclear submarine for the Indian Navy, a senior Russian military official told RIA Novosti on Tuesday. After the Nerpa, which was leased by India and recommissioned as INS Chakra last year, this another partly-completed Akula class vessel would be the Indian Navy’s second SSN.
“India has expressed interest in completing the next vessel. The robust hull of the second sub is ready and waiting on the stocks of the Amur plant. It is being well looked after,” said the military spokesman. At the same time, he stressed that the completion of the second nuclear submarine requires an inter-governmental agreement between India and Russia. “The issue is being worked out. As in the first case, it might be leased out, not sold,” said the source for RIA Novosti.
INS Chakra ( Image Courtesy - indrus.in )
Due to limited information available in public domain on Russian submarines, one can not be certain which submarine is being considered for this lease; however details available thus far points to a partly-completed Akula class submarine - 'Iribis'.
Iribis belongs to 'Akula I Improved' sub class that were planned under the project '971 I'. INS Chakra (Nerpa) submarine also belongs to the same sub class. With the lease of the Nerpa, India became the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world, after the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China.
India’s domestically-designed INS Arihant nuclear submarine is expected to be ready for operational deployment this year after final sea trials. Three more hulls of Arihant class are in different stages of construction.
News Courtesy - indrus.in
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