President of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Alexei Rakhmanov said the company will resume work on an air-independent power plant for non-nuclear submarines this year. The anaerobic propulsion system project had been suspended for lack of funding.
Air-independent propulsion (AIP) is one of the main modern trends for advanced non-nuclear submarines. Such submarines are virtually silent. The vessel is propelled by electric motors powered by batteries, recharged from diesel generators either on the surface or at depth. The engines are fueled by high-purity hydrogen produced directly on board the submarine by converting diesel fuel to hydrogen-containing gas, channeled to the fuel cells that generate electricity through a chemical reaction of oxygen and hydrogen. The capacity of such power units will be 250-450 kilowatts. The hydrocarbon fuel converter is also in the works now.
While this project is not an immediate priority for Russia, India needs a new diesel-electric submarine, so Russia proposed a joint project in February 2019. The Amur-1650 class diesel-electric submarine is an export version of the Lada project, and India is ready to finance this project. The new engine is to be ready in 2021.