Russian Amur class diesel-electric submarine with Air Independent Propulsion (AIP)

A new non-nuclear submarine is supposed to be built on the basis of project Amur-1650

CHENNAI: Russia has invited India to jointly design and build a new non-nuclear submarine on the basis of project Amur-1650, the deputy director of the federal service for military-technical cooperation, Vladimir Drozhzhov, told the media on Thursday.

"Russia has an alternative proposal for the Indian partners. It is not another project for the production of military technologies under license, but joint design and development of the submarine and its subsequent construction at Indian shipyards in accordance with the initiative Make in India," he explained.

Drozhzhov said that in preparations for the bidding context for building a batch of non-nuclear submarines Russia had presented its proposals to the Indian side. The Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport will certainly participate in the forthcoming contest.

The Amur-1650 submarine has been finalized and certain experience gained in the process of its operation, he added.

The Indian Navy declared the intention to acquire six submarines back in 2006. Before the forthcoming bidding contest was announced (its dates had been reconsidered several times) India signed a contract with France for six diesel-electric Scorpen class submarines.

The Amur-1650 non-nuclear submarines are an export configuration of project 677 Lada, developed at the design bureau Rubin. New hull design solutions, special coating and sophisticated radio-electronics lend the submarine unsurpassed stealth capabilities. The Amur subs are armed with Club missiles (a variety of the missile system Kalibr) and have air-independent propulsion.