..:: India Strategic ::. Navy: Russia hands over Nerpa nuclear submarine to India

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Editorial

Russia hands over Nerpa nuclear submarine to India

Published: January 2012

Moscow. The Indian Navy’s new acquisition, the nuclear-powered K-152 Nerpa submarine from Russia, should be in the Indian waters in about six to eight weeks.

RIA Novosti news agency reported from Moscow that the submarine was handed over by the Russian Navy to the Indian Navy Jan 23, and the boat moved into the Pacific Ocean under the command of an Indian officer.

It is understood that the boat should reach the Indian shores in about six to eight weeks but its destination is not known. There could be some Russian officers on board as part of the training and delivery package.

The boat would formally be renamed as INS Chakra, the same name which India had chosen for an earlier, Charlie class, submarine leased from the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1988 for training.

The new Project 971 Shchuka-B (NATO designation Akula II) class submarine is a nuclear powered attack submarine. It has been leased to the Indian Navy under a US$ 900 million contract for 10 years, and will primarily be used to train Indian naval personnel in operating nuclear powered vessels.

The Indian Navy plans to have at least three nuclear powered submarines as part of the country's nuclear deterrence doctrine of No First Use but Massive Retaliation (NFU-MR).

RIA Novosti reported that the handing over ceremony took place in the Far Eastern Primorye Territory in southeastern Russia, in the Sea of Japan, or the western Pacific.

The event was attended by Indian Ambassador to Russia Ajai Malhotra, United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) head Roman Trotsenko, Eastern Military District commander Admiral Konstantin Sidenko and other officials.

According to RIA Novosti, the submarine's displacement is 8,140/12,770 tonnes. Its maximum speed is 30 knots, maximum operating depth, 600 m; and endurance is 100 days with a crew of 73. The vessel is armed with four 533mm torpedo tubes and four 650mm torpedo tubes.

The submarine does not carry any nuclear weapons.

India has become the sixth operator of nuclear submarines in the world, after the US, Russia, France, Britain and China. Previously, India operated the earlier Russian nuclear submarine for three years to gain experience.