India, Russia sign deal on nuclear submarine

India, Russia sign deal on nuclear submarine

1. India has signed a $ 3.3 billion deal with Russia to take third Akula-class nuclear-powered submarine on lease for 10 years. The submarine is expected to join the Indian Navy by 2025.It will be fitted with Indian systems to validate them for the indigenous submarines.
2. The submarine will be called Chakra-3 and will replace Chakra-2, whose 10 years lease is set to expire by 2022.However, the lease of Chakra-2 is expected to be extended for another five years to have sufficient time for the Chakra-3 to come on board.
3. Akula-class nuclear powered Submarine(SSNs) are a part of the navy’s combat fleet. They are propelled by a nuclear reactor, but do not carry nuclear weapons. These vessels can remain underwater for months, making them almost impossible to detect and are a big deterrence for enemy vessels in the region. Their weapons load consists of land attack and anti-ship missiles, and torpedoes to sink enemy shipping.
4. India has also indigenously designed and built a nuclear-propelled, nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), called INS Arihant. They are armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles that are the underwater leg of nuclear Triad. Nuclear triad means the capability of delivering nuclear weapons by aircraft, land based ballistic missiles and submarine launched missiles.