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Russia will be installing Club-S (SS-N-27) cruise missile systems on four Kilo class diesel submarines in service with the Indian Navy in the next five years. Until now, only two Kilo-class submarines out of the ten submarines that Russia has built for India have the Club-S cruise missiles.
The Club-S subsonic cruise missile is designed for launch from a 533mm torpedo tube or a vertical launch tube. It has a range of 160 nautical miles (about 300 km). It uses an ARGS-54 active radar seeker and Glonass satellite and inertial guidance. Russia’s Zvezdochka Shipyard has indicated that the new missile system will be installed on the INS Sindhuratna, INS Sindhuraj, INS Sindhushastra, and INS Sindhuvir and the retrofit will be carried out at Indian shipyards.
India and Russia had made a deal to upgrade all 10 Indian Kilo class submarines in 2001 and the Zvezdochka Shipyard has previously overhauled four submarines. The upgrade program, to the tune of $80 million, involves a complete overhaul of the submarines, including their hull structures, as well as improved control systems, sonar, electronic warfare systems, and an integrated weapon control system.
The Indian Navy acquired the cruise missile capability in the mid-’90s when its Soviet-built Kilo class submarines were sent to Russian shipyards for mid-life refits. India decided to equip them with the submarine-launched variant of the 220-km range Klub anti-ship cruise missile and India became the first customer for the yet untested missile.
The missile, designated SS-N-27 ‘Sizzler’ by NATO, had already been ordered in 1998 for three Russian-built Talwar class frigates. Cruise missiles have lethal reputation because unlike torpedoes which have speeds of not more than 70 kilometres per hour, they travel at speeds of over 900 kilometres per hour.
While the ship-launched missile was inducted without problems, the Navy has been trying to sort the defect in the submarine-launched variant over the years. The Klub missiles were successfully test-fired in the Baltic Sea in 2001 and 2002. The problems surfaced when the missiles were test fired in Indian waters: minutes before reaching its target, the missile wobbled before diving into the water. Russian experts indicated that the problem was in the Kilo class submarine. Apparently, the issues involved a technicality related to the “gyroscope”, a device which spins at high speed and tells a military platform its roll, pitch and yaw. As of now, new replacement gyroscopes for the Indian Navy’s submarines are among the top items India needs from Russia.
In addition, the Zvezdochka Shipyard will also overhaul another Indian Kilo class submarine – the INS Sindhurakshak – under a deal which is expected to be signed in 2010.
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