Russian Submarine AIP project “Suffocating” due to "Underfunding"

"Soumarsov", an expert on submarines built by Russia, has pointed Pete to a Russian language FlotProm (FP) article written by Dmitry Zhavoronkov, dated March 7, 2019 indicating:

The development of Russian air independent propulsion (AIP) for submarine is “suffocating” due to underfunding. [Modern AIP allows a diesel-electric submarine to remain fully submerged for around 3 weeks rather than about 3 days].

Russian companies involved in AIP development, “have suspended work due to underfunding.” According to sources in Russia's Rubin Submarin Design Bureau and the Central Research Institute of Ship Electrical Engineering and Technology (TSNII SET).

This underfunding situation has occurred for 18 months.

The difficult to translate FP article appears to indicate underfunding may delay AIP for Russia’s Lada class submarine (Project 677) until 2027.

In January 2018, industry sources told FP  the Malakhit Central Design Bureau (part developer of AIP) was waiting for funds to continue work on its part of the AIP Project. “More than a year later” [in March 2019?] “the situation has not changed”.

Hard to translate words maybe implying: India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) might help fund Russia’s AIP Project as Russia’s Lada (export design Amur-1650 )
submarine is a competitor in India’s Project-75(I) for 6 AIP conventional diesel electric submarines (SSKs) for India.

See more on the Indian-Russian Lada-Amur connection in this Russian language FlotProm (FP) article of February 22, 2019.

PETE COMMENT

With Russia's limited GDP, stretched defence budget and inefficient system of competing design bureaus, Russia has had trouble finding the money for all submarine sectors. This means Russia's highest priority is:
-  nuclear submarine development, 
-  then non-AIP Kilo (Project 877 and 636) diesel-electric submarine upgrades
-  and finally a relatively small budget is being shared among competing design bureaus for AIP
    (Lada class Project 677-Amur) development. However Russia has a chicken-and-egg problem in
    trying to export Amur submarines (with AIP being the main selling point) before Russia has
    actually developed AIP. 

Understandably there have been no serious Amur buyers (not even Morocco). Hence Russia has received no AIP development funding from Amur export sales.

India has bought many high priced Russian weapons systems, even part funding Russia's troubled stealth fighter program. But even India's DRDO might hesitate to fund Russian AIP. This is because AIP takes decades to develop and only Germany, Sweden and maybe China have developed modern AIP.

FURTHER READING

see this August 5, 2014 Submarine Matters article in part on the "Russian Kristall-7E AIP"

Pete (with much help from Soumarsov's tipoff)