First of all, as speculated by some of the immense pressure put by the Russians on GoI for purchasing Amur’s, the plain fact is that just no submarine to put up a decent match to what the Russians are offering — Amur with a 8 cell VLS for PJ-10.

Even w/o that Amur stands out default knowing that it is a generation ahead of the Kilo’s which in itself is a very good sub. As for the AIP, the Russians have their own AIP and what needs is the funding and with a finance support, the AIP Amur wud be a reality. But an Amur with AIP section and a 8 cell VLS section does not seem very desirable, so hopefully it wud be a torpedo tube launch for Klub (or PJ-10, with the caliber being increased)

For the 8 cell VLS section to be fitted, there is possibly two option , as far as I can see – ie, 8 cell VLS for PJ-10 on a non-AIP Amur or a N-powered Amur with a 8-cell VLS. Now the second option is what I’m keeping my fingers crossed, to see it happen, as I believe it wud be a real killer in all sense. As for the suitable reactor, the Russians had much earlier tested small reactors like 45-60 MW (?) in some of the smaller subs and a reactor suitable for Amur’s is simply not out of question.

On the other hand lies the more media covered and media backed French Scorpene, which is another new generation of very capable French killers. This can also be said to be the conventional variant of the French N-Sub. But a deal for scorpene w/o integration into its arsenal Klub and PJ-10 cruise missiles is not worth it. If the deal is to be done, it has to be made sure that the Russian weapons is integrated with the submarine and a possibility for also the Brahmos Amur Complex or the 8-cell VLS.

The AIP for this sub cud be the one that can be made available for the Amur’s, if the Russians get the funding. As for the superiority of the German Fuel cells or AIP, well I’d like to tell that the Russian system is the same, which they call as EG or electro-chemical generators and was an outcome of their space flights. As for the French MESMA, it’s simply out of question.

Now, for the question of which sub for PN, I’d only like to add that, take into account the reality of the finance and the political atmosphere of the nations producing subs and all it gets reduced to the best option being continuing with a rather capable Agost-90B with AIP.

If still not satisfied, I’d say, go with the Dutch for the Moray submarine (Moray stands for – Multi Operational Requirement Affected Yield) as I think, it offers good weapons load of 20 torpedoes and also can get AIP. To top it all is that the submarine uses HY-100 steel (sea wolf & Virginia?), which gives it a very good diving depth, though the max stated is 360m. PN can also cash in on the good relation that Mushy have with the Unkil and Unkil more so having the Dutch in bed and taking them all along in their world premiers and other occasions that the world saw in past lot of months.

Going with the Dutch means that they wud be happy to get some good bucks and PN happy with the subs. But then be prepared for a good bill too, like in excess of $500 million per sub, even though the sub may not be on par with their Russian and other European counterparts, it wud be worth the amount in augmenting the sub fleet and list of things that cud come along during license production. Also coz of no orders (yet?), Dutch wud only be happy to make deal with PN.

The other simple way to get any stuffs that PN, PA or PAF wants that too at a fraction of the cost wud be to go in for a pro-active covert action (diplomatic or any other) so as to put back on track the Indo-American relationship as was before 2001. Which means that both Pakistani and Indian military wud be happy, Pakistani military coz the draught wud end and Indian coz at least the defence budget wud be raised and required priority wud be given to the defence services.