Russia is planning to supply the Indian Navy with new submarines, equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems if India opens a tender for them, a senior official at Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation told the press.

      "We are ready to provide our foreign client with a submarine refitted to meet any requests for a different exterior and equipment as formulated by the client," the source said on Wednesday.

      In 2007, New Delhi announced its intention to expand the country's fleet of submarines with diesel-electric subs. One of the key requirements was for the boats to have so-called anaerobic engines.

      A Russian design bureau, Rubin, is currently running tests on air-independent propulsion systems to be installed on the Russian Navy's Lada-class diesel-electric submarines (Project 677) in 2015, with a new class of non-nuclear submarines with AIP engines to enter the construction phase in two years.

      Russia and India have a long history of successful military-technical partnership. Only in 2013, Russia supplied India with $4.78 billion worth of weapons and military equipment. India also leases Russian hardware, such as the nuclear-powered Akula-class Chakra submarine.