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World
Naval Forces News - India / Russia |
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Akula class nuclear submarine set to join Indian Navy as INS Chakra |
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nuclear submarine leased from Russia is all set to join the Indian Navy
in early 2012. Official sources in New Delhi confirmed today that a
Nerpa class nuclear submarine leased for 10 years by the Indian Navy
will leave Russian shores by end of the month. The confirmation of this
long-speculated development came hours before Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh reached Moscow to attend the 12th bilateral Indo-Russian summit
with President Dimitri Medvedev.
Indian Navy officers and sailors have been training on the nuclear submarine
for the past several months. This is the second time India is leasing
a Russian Nuclear submarine. In the late 1980s the Indian Navy had acquired
the necessary skills required to operate a nuclear submarine by training
on another Russian submarine christened INS Chakra.
India is building its own nuclear submarine named INS Arihant.
This indigenous submarine is however not expected to operational for
at least another three years. Nuclear powered submarines require special
skill sets to operate in comparison to the conventional diesel-powered
submarines.
The strength of India's conventional submarine fleet has progressively
come down in the past few years and is believed to be in single digit
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Russian
Navy K-322 Cachalot, Akula class submarine underway.
INS Chakra will be of the same class
(picture: US DOD)
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An ambitious programme to indigenously build half
a dozen diesel powered submarines with French technology is currently
under way at the Public sector Mazgaon Docks Ltd. in Mumbai.
The project has, however, suffered expensive cost and time overruns
While the PM is not likely to sign any defence deal during his two-day
visit, defence cooperation will figure high in the talks between the
two sides.
Indo-Russian defence ties date back to the 1960s and have stood the
test of times despite India's recent attempts to import defence platforms
and equipment from the West, especially the US and Israel. About 70
per cent of India's defence hardware requirement is still supplied by
Russia.
India is also expected to clinch a deal to acquire 40 more fly-by-wire
Sukhoi-30 heavy combat jets from Russia in the coming years.
The 45,000 tonne Aircraft Carrier INS Vikramaditya, formerly Adm Gorshkov
is also undergoing a massive refit and modernsation at the Shemash Shipyard
in North Russia at a cost of over 2.3 billion dollars. It is expected
to join the Indian navy in early 2013.
From: NDTV
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