On June 5, social media photos showed the Indian Navy's only nuclear-powered attack submarine, the INS Chakra, unexpectedly appear in the waters of singapore's Strait of Malacca, though this appearance heralded the end of its service with the Indian Navy. According to information released by India's NDTV, the 8140-ton nuclear submarine is currently on its way to Vladivostok in Russia, after which it will no longer belong to India, and the reason is that the nuclear submarine is actually leased by India.
The Chakra, which crosses the strait in a state of water
The Chakra is a Former Soviet Akula-class attack nuclear submarine (also commonly known as the Cheetah class) built by Russia in 1993, originally known as the SEAL. However, the Russian military expenditure in the 90s was too tight, so it did not take long to stop work. After 10 years of intermittent tossing and turning, finally in 2004 ushered in the "takeover" India. At that time, the Indian Navy, out of the idea of enhancing its ocean-going deterrent capabilities and training personnel for its domestic nuclear submarines, agreed to invest in Russia to complete the construction of the SEAL, in exchange for leasing it to India for 10 years at a rent of $2 billion.
For Russia, which is still nervous at the beginning of the 21st century, 2 billion US dollars is not a small amount, and it should be known that in 2004, the russian military's annual equipment procurement cost was only about 2.3 billion US dollars. Therefore, the Russians readily agreed to India's loan request. After the funds were funded, THE SEAL was launched in 2008 and joined the Indian Navy on 4 April 2012 after four years of sea trials and preparations, renamed Chakra, and based in Visakhapatnam.
It is worth mentioning that the submarine also had a serious accident during the 2008 sea trial. During the first submarine experiment on November 8, 2008 at 8:30 p.m., the new LOKh fire extinguishing system on board was triggered for no reason, resulting in two compartments being closed and a large amount of dibromotetrafluoroethane being automatically filled into the cabin to replace oxygen, eventually causing 20 people, including multiple experts, to be suffocated alive and 41 injured.
After being delivered to the Indian Navy, the Chakra has performed generally well for nearly 10 years, with no major accidents, only to crash into the sonar when it entered the port in 2017. According to the lease contract, the lease term of the Chakra expires in 2022, but after nearly a decade of use, the failure of the boat began to increase. The Indian Navy's willingness to return the boat 10 months in advance this time was due to its "increasingly unreliable power unit and maintenance problems."
The Chakra that year is about to be delivered
According to the plan, the Indian Navy will re-lease a submarine of the same class after returning the Chakra, and the new lease contract was signed in March 2019, the rent rose to $3 billion, the lease period is also 10 years, and it is expected to be delivered in 2025. At present, it is believed that the newly chartered submarine may be the last Akula-class attack submarine built by Russia in 1994, the Iribis, which was also suspended due to lack of funds, and only 42% of the construction was completed when the shutdown was stopped in 1996, and may eventually be completed by India.
Putin inspected the unfinished Iribius that year
According to the latest report from the Indian Navy, their future procurement priorities will be nuclear-powered attack submarines, higher than the priority of the third aircraft carrier. India's planned demand for nuclear submarines is 6, of which 4 will be domestic "Annihilator" class ballistic missile nuclear submarines, and the remaining two attack nuclear submarines have not yet been determined.