russia proposes to sell India three refurbished Project 877 Paltus submarines, also called Varshavyanka, for less than one billion dollars. And this is after the SSU struck its newer iteration, Project 636, right in the port of Novorossiysk.
As Indian Defense News reports, each submarine will undergo serious modernization and receive a 20-year service life extension. And all this will cost less than $300 million per one.
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Main improvements will include an export variant of Kalibr cruise missiles Klub-S. Also mentioned is application of specialized hull coating to reduce visibility against sonars, new automated surveillance systems and batteries with longer operating time.
Three submarines are supposed to replace the same number of Indian ones of the same project that were decommissioned due to their age. Thus, an "interim" solution will emerge while the local alternative development in the form of Project 751 is delayed.
Defense Express notes that on one hand, such a proposal sounds really advantageous, potentially providing quick closure of corresponding capabilities. However, on the other hand, it's unknown whether russian industry is capable of performing such a volume of work on time under sanctions.
It's not specified exactly which submarines are being discussed, only Kilo-class, which is often said both regarding Project 877 and Project 636. So which Varshavyanka India will receive remains only to guess for now.
Quite likely this will be something either from decommissioned submarines or old ones from the composition of russia's Pacific or Northern fleets. In total, 8 hulls or even more can be gathered this way, so it's a good solution for disposing of what's already unnecessary.
Recall that Ukraines Security Service on December 15, 2025 struck a russian Project 636.3 Varshavyanka submarine, which was probably even identified. And the damage may be such that with existing problems in shipbuilding, it will have to be scrapped.
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