India has returned to the elite club of countries with a nuclear-powered submarine when by inducting a new
AK Antony, the Indian defence minister, formally commissioned the INS Chakra II on Wednesday at its base in Visakhapatnam, a naval shipyard on the country's southeast coast in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
India is particularly keen to strengthen its maritime capabilities, given China's pursuit of a powerful "blue water" navy which Delhi sees as a threat to key shipping routes in the Indian Ocean and Indian energy assets in the South
China Sea.
China Sea.
"This will be a big boost for the Indian navy," Antony told reporters. "The INS Chakra will ensure security and sovereignty of the country," he said in televised remarks.
The 8,140-tonne submarine, capable of firing a range of torpedoes, as well as nuclear-tipped Granat cruise missiles, was offered to India by Moscow on a 10-year lease - a deal greeted with alarm and anger by arch rival Pakistan.
India is currently completing the development of its own Arihant-class nuclear-powered submarine and the INS Chakra II is expected to help crews train for the domestic boat's introduction into service later this year.
"Our crews will get the experience of operating under water for several months at a go, unlike with the conventional diesel electric submarines, which have to come to surface at regular intervals," an unnamed navy official told the PTI news agency./aljazeera.com/
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