Double Trouble: India to Lease Second Russian Nuclear Attack Submarine

Dave Majumdar

Security, Asia

And New Delhi has even bolder plans for the future. 

India and Russia have apparently reached an agreement for New Delhi to lease a second Project 971 Shchuka-B (NATO: Akula-class) nuclear attack submarine (SSN) according to Russian media reports. The two sides signed the deal—along with a host of other weapons purchase agreements—on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Indian state of Goa where Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Oct 15.

“According to a source in the Russian defense industry, the long discussed lease to transfer a multipurpose Project 971 nuclear submarine to India from the Russian Navy was signed in Goa,” writes Vedomosti columnist Alexei Nikolsky. The Russian Navy will transfer the submarine after it has been repaired and modernized.

This is the second Akula-class SSN that India has leased from Russia. The Indian Navy currently operates INS Chakra—an Akula-class boat formerly known as K-152 Nerpa—which New Delhi leased from Russia starting in 2011, though the boat was formally commissioned into Indian service later in April 2012. The Indians had also previously leased a Project 670 Skat-class (NATO: Charlie-class) boat—K-43—during the late 1980s and early 1990s to gain nuclear submarine experience.

According to Russian reports, the Indians originally did not want to lease a second Akula-class boat, instead New Delhi had its eye on the much more advanced Project 885 Yasen-class, but Moscow only has one of those pricey new submarines—Severodvinsk—in service. The remaining seven boats in the class are in various stages of construction, which is proceeding slowly.