Indian Navy: negotiations resume for the rental of a third SSN

New Delhi and Moscow are said to have resumed their discussions at the beginning of December regarding the rental of a third Nuclear Attack Submarine (SSN) Russian byIndian navy. The challenge is to perpetuate the current operational capacity in a context of tensions over the format of the Indian submarine and the preparation of a future Indian national program of nuclear attack submarines to be launched in 2025, the hoped-for date. entry into service of the third SSN rented.

India became the sixth member nation of the very exclusive club of navies implementing Nuclear Attack Submarines (SSN ou SSN (Sub Surface Nuclear) from 1988. Moscow granted India the possibility of renting the K-1988 for three years (1991 – 43). It was the head of the series of nuclear attack submarines carrying cruise missiles (SSGN) of project 670 Skat (Charlie I in the NATO classification).

The building currently leased by the Russian Federation to India is the K-152 Nerpa as part of a ten-year contract (2012 – 2022) and worth 760 million euros (2012). THE K-152 Nerpa is one of the fifteen submarines of the project 971 Shchuka-B and more precisely one of the three buildings of the variant project 971U (Akula II in the NATO classification). The construction of K-152 Nerpa was undertaken in Komsomolsk-on-Amur by laying it on hold in 1991. Its construction was abandoned during the 1990s. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to resume construction in 1999, which was undertaken following the signing of an agreement in 2004. Nerpa was launched on June 24, 2006 and admitted to active service on December 29, 2009.

He then dedicated himself, in addition to the manufacturer tests which ended on December 28, 2009, to training up to 300 Indian submariners. The program was delayed due to the 2008 accident (3 submariners and 17 Russian engineers and workers killed, fire on board). THE K-152 Nerpa was officially transferred to India on January 23, 2012 where it became the INS Chakra “II” inIndian navy where he was admitted to active service on April 4, 2012.

The technological leap is significant for India compared to the previous one SSN rented: one project 971U (Akula II in the NATO classification) new and well maintained during its service at sea is considered one of the quietest submarines in the world. It would be on par with the nuclear attack submarines of the subclass Improved Los Angeles (688) of the'US Navy.

Since 2012, there has been regular discussion of the rental of a “second” SSN by India to Russia: not a second unit to succeed the first at the end of its service, but rather a second unit to complete the first. Despite an agreement signed on December 17, 2014, Indian will has not materialized. This is now the question of the successor to the current INS Chakra “II” which occupies part of the diplomatic exchanges between Moscow and New Delhi.

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