India's hunt for a nuclear submarine is finally over. The country became the world's sixth country after the US, Russia, France, the UK and China to operate nuclear-powered submarines. Russian Akula-II class submarine `K-152 Nerpa' is commissioned into Indian Navy and renamed as INS Chakra. It is given to India on a 10 year lease under a secretive almost $1-billion contract inked in 2004.
The INS Chakra with a displacement of 8,140/12,770 tones and maximum speed of 30 knots, is armed with four 533mm torpedo tubes and four 650mm torpedo tubes. However, the INS Charka is not armed with long-range nuclear missiles due to international non-proliferation treaties like the Missile Technology Control Regime.
In a ceremony attended by top Indian and Russian officials, INS Chakra commissioned at the Primorye region in far south-eastern Russia would soon set sail for India, said Defense Ministry sources. It will be based at Visakhapatnam, next to where INS Arihant is listed to begin extensive sea trials in February-March after the ongoing harbor-acceptance trials.
Nuclear-powered submarines are furtive since they can operate underwater at long ranges for months unlike diesel-electric submarines that need to surface every few days to get oxygen to recharge their batteries and they have limited endurance due to fuel requirements. INS Chakra will be armed with the 300 km range Klub-S land-attack cruise missiles, which India deploys on its Kilo-class conventional submarines as well as other missiles and advanced torpedoes.
