Russian nuke-powered missile cruiser to be in Goa for joint exercise

New Delhi, Aug 5 (ANI): Indian Navy will have a joint exercise with Russia's heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser, Pyotr Velikiy, which will be in Goa for six days from August 6-11.

According to spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Defence (Navy), "Pyotr Velikiy" will participate in the PASSEX joint exercises with Indian naval ships. There will be air defence, gun firing exercises, maneuvering, and replenishment at sea.

The PASSEX will be the final blueprint stage of the visit of the Russian cruiser. Later "Pyotr Velikiy" will continue carry out its task in accordance with the preplanned mission, the spokesperson said.

According to Russian Navy General Headquarters, the visit of the cruiser to the Indian port "is another step in strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation between Russian and Indian Navies."

The heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser is one of the state-of-the-art and powerful attack ships in the Russian Navy and in the world. It can hit big surface targets and has very effective air defence and antisubmarine capabilities.

The weaponry of cruiser includes attack cruiser missiles (range up to 550 km), air defence systems, etc. As per its attack capabilities this ship has no any analogue in the world.

The cruiser has powerful nuclear propulsion system, therefore ship can sail 32 knots (60 km/h). Service life of this system is 50 years. Energy potential of cruiser's nuclear power plant enables to provide energy for a city with population of 150-200 thousand people.

In January 2009 the Pyotr Veliky had participated in the joint naval exercise near the western coast of India with the Indian guided-missile destroyer INS Delhi. By Praful Kumar Singh (ANI)