Reason is "increasingly unreliable powerplant and maintenance issues". The first lease was taken in 1988 under a 3 year deal from Ex-Soviet. The current 10 year lease was taken in 2012 under a $2 billion deal. India again signed a new 10 year deal in 2019 of $3 billion to lease a new boat in 2025. So they lease a single SSN for 23 year with over $5 billion. They've actually damaged the leased Akula in 2017.
Navy's Only Nuclear Attack Submarine Returns To Russia Before Lease Expires
A submarine of the Russian Akula-2 Class, INS Chakra was commissioned into the Indian Navy on April 4, 2012 and was based in Visakhapatnam.
All IndiaWritten by Vishnu SomUpdated: June 04, 2021 4:01 pm IST
New Delhi: The unexpected emergence of the Indian Navy's only nuclear powered attack submarine, the INS Chakra, in the waters of the Singapore Straits heralds the end of her service in the Indian Navy.
NDTV has learned that the 8,140-ton submarine is presently en route to Vladivostok, Russia where she is being returned approximately ten months prior to the expiry of her ten-year lease that cost New Delhi approximately $2 billion. She is being operated by an Indian crew and is being accompanied by a Russian and Indian warship.
A submarine of the Russian Akula-2 Class, Chakra was commissioned into the Indian Navy on April 4, 2012 and was based in Visakhapatnam. She was the second nuclear-powered submarine acquired by India from Russia bearing the name Chakra.
Sources tell NDTV that the early return of the submarine became necessary because of her ''increasingly unreliable powerplant and maintenance issues'' besides the overall condition of the vessel which was extensively used by the Indian Navy to train crews on advanced nuclear submarines. This was a critical learning experience that paved the way for Navy officers to graduate to the made-in-India ballistic missile submarines, INS Arihant and INS Arighat, which presently form India's submarine-based nuclear deterrent.
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INS Chakra will eventually be replaced by a more advanced variant of the same class of submarine which will also be known by the name Chakra. A $3 billion deal was signed in March 2019 for a ten-year lease for the new submarine, the delivery of which is expected by 2025. This will leave the Indian Navy without a nuclear-powered attack submarine for approximately four years.
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Related link: Navy's Only Nuclear Attack Submarine Returns To Russia Before Lease Expires
