India’s Nuclear-Powered Ballistic Missile Submarine INS Arihant has cleared all deep sea and weapons firing trials and is waiting for clearance from the Indian Navy to be officially inducted into the force. It will soon join India’s underwater fleet and assume operational duties in service to the nation.
INS Arihant will guarantee India a second strike nuclear capability against arch rivals China and Pakistan. It completes India’s Nuclear Triad, a capability that allows a country to launch a nuclear missile from Land, Air and Sea.
INS Arihant has four vertical launch tubes, which can carry 12 (three per launch tube) smaller K-15 missiles or four larger K-4 missiles. The K-4 has a longer range of 3,500 km and has completed all trials.
India’s Nuclear Powered Ballistic Missile Submarine INS Arihant waiting for clearance from the Indian Navy to be officially inducted in
What makes INS Aridhaman deadlier than INS Arihant
INS Aridhaman is the second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine being built by India. She is being built under the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project to build nuclear submarines at the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam. This submarine will have double the number of missile hatches than its predecessor INS Arihant giving it the ability to carry more missiles. It will have a more powerful reactor than its predecessor.
The boat will have a seven-blade propeller powered by a pressurised water reactor. She can achieve a maximum speed of 12–15 knots (22–28 km/h) on water surface and 24 knots (44 km/h) underwater.
The submarine has eight launch tubes in its hump. She can carry up to 24 K-15 Sagarika missiles (each with a range of 750 km or 470 mi), or 8 of the under-development K-4 missiles (with a range of 3,500 km or 2,200 mi).
INS Aridhaman will be fitted with the sonar ISS (Integrated Sonar Suite), state-of-the-art sonar developed by NPOL DRDO. It is a unified submarine sonar and tactical control system, which includes all types of sonar (passive, surveillance, ranging, intercept, obstacle avoidance and active). It also features an underwater communications system. The hull features twin flank-array sonars and Rafael broadband expendable anti-torpedo countermeasures.
Launch of INS Aridhaman
This is one of India’s top secret military projects and hence there are absolutely no reports on the progress of the construction of this deadly nuclear submarine. All we know is that INS Aridhaman after clearing all trials will dominate the Indian Ocean by the end of 2018, if all goes as per schedule.
Credit: Indian Defence News
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