From the Archives: Russian Kilos en route to China

This photo was taken from an Indian Navy Tu-142M in mid-2005 somewhere south of the African continent. This is a Russian barge carrying the first two Kilo-class Type 636 submarines (second follow-on order, Number 5 and 6 in sequence) for the Chinese Navy. Was rummaging through my photo archives, and found this beauty. Incidentally, just finished reading Kilo Class a novel by Patrick Robinson -- it's based on precisely the sale of submarines that this photograph depicts. The PLA Navy, as you probably know, now has 12 Kilos. And yeah, the Chinese have obviously learnt a thing or two -- their indigenous Yuan class boat design reportedly borrows heavily from the Kilo.

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