India Leases Russian Sub That Had Fatal Accident
By NABI ABDULLAEV
Published: 20 Aug 2010 14:49
MOSCOW - Russia has handed over a new nuclear-powered submarine to India under a 10-year lease, two years after a fire on the vessel during its first sea trials killed 20 Russian seamen and engineers, Russian news agencies reported Aug. 20, citing sources in the defense industry.
"All necessary documents were signed and the submarine led by the Indian crew departed toward one of the Indian naval bases," a source told the official RIA Novosti news agency.
Construction of the third-generation Project 971 Nerpa attack submarine (NATO codename Akula class) was started in 1993 at the Amur Shipbuilding Enterprise, Komsomolsk-on-Amur. But its sea trials began only in November 2008 because of poor funding of the construction. The submarine's fire-extinguishing system went off unexpectedly during the trials, and 20 people on board died of asphyxiation from freon gas.
After repairs, Nerpa was commissioned by the Russian Navy in December 2009.
This is only the second time that Russia has leased a nuclear submarine to a foreign country - again to India, its long-time strategic ally. In 1988, the Soviet Union leased to New Delhi a Project 670 submarine for three years.
Indian media have reported that the lease of the Nerpa cost $650 million. The Russian Defense Ministry would not comment on the issue.
With a crew of 73 and capable of reaching a speed of 30 knots, Nerpa is one of the world's quietest submarines. It can carry cruise missiles equipped with nuclear warheads, dive to 600 meters and operate at sea for up to 100 days.
Since 1984, two Russian shipyards - Komsomolsk-on-Amur-based Amur Shipbuilding Enterprise and Severodvinsk-based Sevmash - have built 15 such submarines, all of them still in service in the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet and Northern Fleet.
Meanwhile, St. Petersburg-based Admiralteiskiye Verfi shipyard announced Aug. 20 that it has begun building a Project 636.3 (NATO classification Kilo class) diesel-electric submarine for the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet.
The shipyard's general director, Vladimir Alexandrov, told RIA Novosti Aug. 20 that work on the new submarine, called Novorossiisk, will be completed in 2013, and two more similar submarines to be built by the shipyard are expected to be delivered to the navy in 2014.
Admiralteiskiye Verfi said in a statement on its website Aug. 20 that Novorossiisk will be the first Project 636 submarine to be built for the Russian Navy. Previously, all such submarines built by the shipyard since 1983 were sold abroad.
A Project 636 submarine can reach a speed of up to 19 knots, dive to 300 meters and carry a crew of 52.
Admiralteiskiye Verfi, part of the state-controlled United Shipbuilding Corp., has built more than 300 submarines, including 41 nuclear ones.
India Leases Russian Sub That Had Fatal Accident - Defense News
