For three years, India leased the Russian Charlie-I class submarine (K-43), the first and only such transaction between two countries. Today India is working with the development of the nuclear-powered attack submarine program, based on the Russian Charlie-I class design. According to Jane's Defence Weekly, the PWR reactor will use 20% enriched uranium, the same as the 2. generation Russian submarines.
Russian and Indian navy technicians were working in close co-operation during the three years K-43 was based in India. Following the submarines return in 1991, India had planned to acquire four to six nuclear-powered submarines, but the disintegration of the Soviet Union put an end to those plans. Officially the co-operation is halted today, since it would violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty. India recently tested five nuclear bombs.
The first Indian nuclear powered submarine will be laid by 2001/2, two years after the completion of the land tests on its reactor. This will be followed by its launch around 2006/7 and commissioning a year later. This makes India the world's sixth country to operate nuclear powered submarines, after United Kingdom, China, France, USA and Russia.
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Text version of tables.
| Northern Fleet | Pacific Fleet | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In service | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Inactive | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dismantled | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Under construction: | - | - | 3 |
| Length: | 111 m | Displacement: | 5 800/8 200 tons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beam: | 12 m | Maximum Depth: | |
| Draught: | 8.4 m | Hull: | Low magnetic steel |
| Speed: | 31 knots | Crew: | 50 |
One KPM type pressurised water reactor generating power capacity from the turbines of 43 000 hp, 200 MWt.[245]
One Oniks SS-N-17 missile.
J.N. Kormilitsin, SKB-18.
These submarines are being built in Severodvinsk. Construction started on December 28, 1993, and the first of this class was launched in 1995. It is scheduled to be commissioned before 1998.
