Nerpa's Home Coming!

The nuclear-powered Russian-built submarine INS Chakra that India has taken on a ten years lease would touch the Indian shores in March first week, making it the sixth country in the world to operate a nuclear submarine.

The Akula class Nerpa submarine has been renamed INS Chakra after Lord Krishna’s invincible weapon Sudarshan Chakra for induction into the Indian Navy and is considered one of the stealthiest and deadliest nuclear submarine in the world. The force will be operating a nuclear submarine after two decades.

Sources have refrained from giving an exact date for security reasons. INS Chakra will be reaching Visakhapatnam, the harbor in Andhra Pradesh state on the eastern coast of the country.

Even though the vessel is not equipped with nuclear weapons, it would provide experience to the Indian Navy in operating similar platform with indigenous nuclear submarine programme INS Arihant inching closer towards completion. INS Arihant will complete India’s nuclear triad – the capability of delivering nuclear weapons by air, land and water.

A nuclear submarine is in sync with Indian nuclear policy of “no first use” and will act as “deterrence” for the adversaries in case the country is attack with nuclear weapons in the first place.

The home coming of INS Chakra will mark the materializing of the $920 million defence deal with Russia in January 2004 that has been wrapped under a veil of secrecy so far.

India is the 6^th country, after the US, Russia, France, Britain and China, to have a nuclear submarine.