India to get Russian nuclear-powered submarine next month

India is all set to add teeth to its naval fleet when a team of Indian sailors will take over a leased Russian nuclear-powered submarine and set sail for India by the end of this month.

Highly placed sources Thursday said the Nerpa, with the capacity to remain underwater for months together and lurk in the deep seas waiting for its prey, will reach India by the end of January, ahead of its induction into the Indian Navy.

The vessel will be the first nuclear-powered submarine India will operate in two decades, after INS Chakra, which was also leased from the then Soviet Union and was in service 1987-91.

The confirmation of India getting the nuclear-powered submarine comes when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Moscow for a summit meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, where military, economic and nuclear matters are on the agenda.