India will receive the Russian K-152 Akula II Class nuclear attack submarine, the Nerpa, on a ten-year lease by the end of 2010, according to a spokesman for the Amur Shipbuilding Plant in the Russian Far East.

Under the estimated $900m lease contract signed in January 2004, India will fund part of the Nerpa’s construction, according to RIA Novosti.

Nerpa will undergo an extensive and complex process of training, testing and acceptance trials along with 50 Indian sailors before being commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Chakra.

The Nerpa was scheduled to be introduced into the navy in 2008 but was delayed due to technical problems.