Posted on 12/28/2011 3:58:25 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
India to get Russian nuclear attack sub in days: Report
MOSCOW: Indian Navy is set to receive a major boost when the much-awaited Russian 'Nerpa' nuclear attack submarine would join its fleet "in the next few days" on a 10-year lease worth USD 920 million.
The Akula-II class Nerpa nuclear submarine has finished sea trials and is now ready to be leased to the Indian navy in the next few days, a Russian engineer said today.
"The submarine is now fully ready to carry out its tasks," a senior executive at the Amur Shipyard, where the submarine was built, was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.
"It will be handed over before the end of the year," the unnamed official said.
The submarine, capable of remaining underwater for months will be rechristened as 'INS Chakra' and it would be for the first time in more than two decades that the Indian Navy would have a nuclear attack submarine.
When Russia makes the delivery, it will make India only the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world, the report said.
The ten-year lease is worth USD 920 million, it said. The submarine deal had figured during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Russia earlier this month.
The Nerpa, an Akula II-class attack submarine, had originally been scheduled for delivery in 2008 but an accident during sea trials on November 8 that year forced the Russian authorities to put it on hold.
Twenty people, mostly civilians, were killed when a fire -suppressant gas was released on the Nerpa during shakedown trials, in one of Russia's worst naval accidents.
The Akula-II class submarines are equipped with 28 nuclear-capable cruise missiles with a striking range of 3,000 km. The Indian version is reportedly expected to be armed with the 300-km Club nuclear-capable missiles.
India had funded the completion of the Nerpa nuclear submarine at Amur Shipyard before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Not good news for China. Good!
Mike
Could you further clarify your question? Backups?
I think the Ohio class SSBNs have it. Not sure about the newer attack subs.
He means auxilliary diesel engines. Geez I know nothing about subs and I could figure that one out.
I wonder if Russia knows the China threat and are quietly ( by proxy ) doing this to counter China ?
Truly happy for you. Have a great day.
India can counter China and perhaps ? Pakistan with this sub ?
I would say Russia has known of the Chinese situation for quite some time now, and it can easily be seen by the types of arms that go to India (e.g. the Akula II) versus those that go to China (e.g. SU-30MKK, which the Chinese have already copied into their ‘indigenous’ J-11s). Also, if you look at specific weapons systems, for example the PakFa of which three T-50 prototypes have flown so far, one can see that they are quite specific in their applications - China. A country like India doesn’t need the PakFa for the likes of Pakistan, and the PakFa wouldn’t do much for Russia against the US. However, against Chinese air assets, the PakFa is absolutely perfect. Note that the PakFa has also been offered to South Korea (as part of their next generation fighter competition, which is a country that is not necessarily kissing buddies with China). The level of technology transfer between Russia and India has also been considerable, yet joint projects like the BrahMos are not even made available to China (yet are made available to countries like Viet Nam, which is another country that has a huge bone to pick with China). There is a lot of resource-rich Russian land in Siberia that the Chinese claim belongs to them (that they ‘lost’ during the Opium wars), thus a China that is increasingly getting powerful (and will arguably be a superpower within the next 2 decades if all goes well ....and according to some far sooner than that all things being equal) is definitely causing concerns in Moscow. The same concerns being felt in India, Viet Nam, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and the United States.
Russia made India it’s # 1 ally since about earlier 70s using US backed Paki attack on India just to have India on it’s side in case of war with China.
Russian-Indian alliance is pretty unique. Not even an Israel or Britain has US-built nuke subs while Russia leased India one in 80s and de-facto presenting this one again.
While there is a degree of suspicion towards China, Russia also makes plenty of money arming Beijing and its rivals (India, Vietnam and even Indonesia).
The Israelis prefer German subs, which are pretty damn good and the Brits want or wanted to maintain domestic capability.
Russia is making money selling some weapons to China but none of these weapons are of strategic value like this sub which is a game changer and boosts Indian Navy capabilities to a new level.
The issue with nuclear subs is cost. They are expensive to build and expensive to maintain. Only a select few countries have that kind of money
With the Indian economy now growing (and even a $3000 GDP per person becomes a large amount with 1.3 billion people) India can now afford this.
Israel on the other hand CANNOT afford a nuclear sub fleet. Her money is better spent elsewhere, primarily in the air (missiles, aircraft, ABM system, drones, AWACS etc)
Kickass German diesel subs will do just fine for Israel. She does not have a long shoreline to defend and her enemies are all in missile strike and aircraft strike range. About the only place Israel feels stretched is Iran, as Israeli jets would need refueling close to the Iran/Iraq border (or Kuwaiti/Saudi border) to hit central Iranian targets.
However, it could be argued that even there a nuclear sub would not have done a tremendous amount of good as you really cannot enter the Straits of Hormuz in a hot war in a sub and not expect to get pounded to oblivion. The strait gets narrow and shallow in a hurry
So, you would have still have to be positioned outside the Straits.
From the other side, you would need Turkish permission to go to the Black Sea, and that would never happen
So, that is why Israel has been pressing the US to help with Iran.
Had this same situation been happening with Egypt, Israel would have “solved” this issue 2 years ago
>>>>>>>>The Israelis prefer German subs, which are pretty damn good and the Brits want or wanted to maintain domestic capability.>>>>>>>>>
Sure, but it is not the case. For some reason it is impossible for other nations to have Seawolf class sub, B-2 bomber or F-22 fighter jet, no matter how friendly they are.
These are strategic superior assets bringing some nations like US or Russia a huge gap over any other power.
Russia has same policy on straregic arms and it works for any nation with the exception of India. They are allowing Indians to own all the same Russian domestic military has.
——There is a lot of resource-rich Russian land in Siberia that the Chinese claim-——
A growing and dynamic China will reclaim all that and more from a dying Russia, perhaps soon.
Russia is a tragedy. It can make nothing but weapons, and there are not enough sales to provide for a weapons based economy.
Drunken drones rely on wives and sisters to earn the money for the vodka. The women choose working to support drones over procreation. Death of the colony will result.....soon
US meanwhile sells Pakistan advanced lethal weaponry like F-16sC/D Block 50/52, AMRAAM, Harpoon, Sidewinder, JDAMs, 5000 TOW anti-armour missiles,Cobra attack helos,M109 Howitzers, AN/TPS-77 surveillance radars.
And US sells non lethal military hardware to India, like C-103 Hercules and C-17 transport jets,P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance and USS Trenton. No advance lethal military hardware has been sold by US to India till date, let alone share advanced technology. The US views India same as how Russia sees China.
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