Russia's Akula-class submarines, first deployed in the mid-1980s, remain a cornerstone of the country's naval force. Designed to counter any submarine or surface warship, including those of the U.S. Navy, these nuclear-powered SSNs boast exceptional stealth capabilities that still challenge anti-submarine warfare specialists today.
New Delhi and Moscow’s military cooperation is not new. In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union lent a nuclear-powered submarine when it granted India the Charlie-class nuclear cruise missile submarine.
The K-3 Leninsky Komsomol, a November-Class boart built in 1957, was the Soviet Union's first-ever nuclear submarine. It was developed as part of an effort to counter the United States Navy's USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world's first nuclear-powered sub.