India to acquire underwater land attack missiles

NEW DELHI: India is on the verge of acquiring a strategic capability to strike land targets thousands of miles from its shores by inducting the Russian underwater launched Club-S subsonic cruise missiles.

The missiles will come armed in early August on Indian Navy's new series of upgraded Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhuvijay, according to Naval sources here.

Sindhuvijay will be the first of Kilo-class submarines to be fitted with these land attack versions of the new breaking technology Club-S cruise missiles, which have a flight range of 275 nautical miles.

"The high-precision missile can be launched from standard torpedo tubes from a depth of 35 to 40 meters," Naval sources said.

Sindhuvijay is the fourth Indian Navy's Kilo-class submarine that has been overhauled at Zvezdochka shipyard in northern Russia. Besides the land attack version, the subs are also coming armed with 3M-54EI anti-ship cruise missiles.

Labelled by NATO as one of the quietest submarines in the world, the upgraded Kilo-class subs have undergone extensive changes in the hull as well as getting improved control systems, sonars, new electronic warfare systems and an integerated weapon control system.