Chapter 427: 3,500-Ton Submarine

Submarine! This is a unique type of soldier, a ghost hidden deep underwater, relying on its concealment to launch a sudden attack on the enemy.

Historically, it was the Germans who used submarines on a large scale. Their submarine warfare reaped rich rewards in the early stages, with many countries having more than five submarines. However, in the later stages, as the Americans strengthened their anti-submarine forces, Germany's submarine warfare ultimately failed.

Although this example shows that the modern submarine force is only a part of the entire naval combat system and not the absolute protagonist, having submarines as deep as ocean holes can still greatly deter the opponent's naval forces.

Now, the Indian Navy has only a few outdated submarines and has no real combat capability at all. This is another weakness of the Indian Navy!

In later generations, the Indian Navy's modern submarines were mainly composed of the German-made 209-class and Russian-made Kilo-class submarines. However, the Indians' maintenance capabilities were very poor, and these submarines began to have accidents after only a few years.

Now, it is only the early 1980s, and the Kilo-class conventional submarine is the king of the Soviet conventional underwater force. Of course, the Soviet Union will not export this most advanced submarine.

When the Indian visitors heard Andre mention the submarine force, they immediately understood what Andre meant. It seems that this trip to Moscow will not be in vain, and they can still buy some advanced weapons!

"General Andre, your proposal is correct. Our current underwater forces are also in urgent need of updating." General Kumaramangala said: "We need modern submarines."

"If you want to have excellent counterattack power underwater, you need a large ocean-going submarine." Andre said: "In our submarine force, there is a new submarine that has just been commissioned. It is the latest model! If you need it, we can export this submarine to you."

"How big?" General Kumaramangalam asked.

"The underwater displacement is 3,500 tons, the maximum speed is 30 knots, the maximum diving depth is 300 meters, and the underwater self-sustaining capacity is one week." Andre said: "Are you satisfied with this submarine?"

Every data is exciting! A submarine of more than 3,000 tons is definitely a super-large ocean-going submarine! It can even dive directly from India to the South China Sea! The maximum diving depth is 300 meters, which is the diving depth of many nuclear submarines!

We didn't even know that the Soviet Union had such submarines?

Among the equipment of countries around the world, submarines can be said to be the most mysterious. When they are built, although they are on the slipway, the roof is covered to prevent reconnaissance satellites from detecting them. After that, they are launched into the water and enter the submarine base in a cave. Therefore, the outside world knows very little about them. Only the submarines sold all over the world in later generations will have their data mastered. Otherwise, there is no way of knowing it at all.

For opponents in the Cold War, the United States wanted to obtain data on Soviet submarines. There was only one way: to keep up with Soviet submarines! During the entire Cold War, silent underwater confrontations were the most thrilling.

Even the United States is not clear, let alone the Indians who don't know the Soviet submarine data. Now when talking about this kind of submarine, the Indians are immediately excited. This thing is almost the same as a nuclear submarine! More than 3,000 tons!

Andrei smiled secretly in his heart, he was talking about the Soviet Union's 641B "Catfish" class attack diesel-electric submarine, which NATO named the "Tango" class, or T class. This is the successor model of the "Foxtrot" class submarine which was discontinued in 1967. It entered service in the submarine force in 1973. A total of 18 submarines were produced and have never been exported.

Although this type of large diesel-electric submarine is relatively valuable, with the arrival of the new Kilo-class, this type of submarine has completely fallen behind, and the biggest gap is in noise reduction capability! The Kilo-class submarine was later called the ocean black hole, and the noise level is quite low. Now, with the multi-axis linkage CNC machine tools introduced from the island country and the carefully designed and manufactured seven-blade large oblique propeller, the noise of this submarine is even lower! Therefore, the Soviet submarine force has decided to replace the Kilo-class in large numbers and retire other diesel-electric submarines early. The last two 641-class submarines that have been manufactured but not yet delivered are no longer liked by the submarine force, and they are just looking for a buyer to export to India!

We already feel backward, but for the Indians, it is still the most advanced submarine! Looking around the world, can we find another conventional submarine with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons? There is almost none! Germany's 209-class submarine has a displacement of only more than 1,000 tons!

After Andrei's simple sales pitch, the Indians were quite satisfied and immediately said that they could order this type of submarine from the Soviet Union at a price of US$200 million per submarine, with an initial order of two. At the same time, if they were satisfied with the product, they hoped to build it in India themselves.

Faced with the Indians' request, Andrei generously agreed. Even if India produced it itself, it would only be manual work, and even the steel plates for the submarine hulls would need to be imported from the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union would still make a lot of money.

He said goodbye to the Indians with a smile on his face and invited them to visit the submarine force to inspect their submarines. This time, Andre also solved the Indian problem and felt very comfortable.

"General Andre, can we lease one of your nuclear submarines?" General Kumaramangalam suddenly asked this question just as Andre was about to leave.

Lease nuclear submarines? Indians really dare to think so. Andre shook his head: "I'm sorry, nuclear submarines are our top defense secrets. Maybe we will have a chance to cooperate in the future."

It is absolutely impossible to lease them at this time. Nuclear submarines are the cornerstone of national strategy.

In short, I can go back and report to Ustinov. Why has this guy become so lazy recently? He even leaves such a small matter to me to deal with. Doesn’t he know how to cheat the Indians?

…

The port city of Lyon in southern France.

The rows of buildings, the tall plane trees, the slowly flowing Rhone River, the breeze and the air that smells of sea water, all of these make this a scenic spot.

In fact, most cities throughout Western Europe have such beautiful scenery, but now these scenes have nothing to do with some people.

Squatting beside the sink, his legs were already numb. Yaziz, a 27-year-old Iranian youth, was washing a mountain of dishes with a dirty rag. This was the kitchen of a restaurant. It was a little after seven in the evening, when the most people were there.

From here, you can hear the hustle and bustle in the restaurant in front, where the locals are having a wonderful night.