NEW DELHI: India prepares to add strength to underwater strategic capability with the second nuclear propulsion submarine of the Arihant Class slated to be commissioned on Thursday.
Sources confirmed that Indian Naval Ship (INS) Arighat is slated to commission at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, in the presence of senior military leadership.
The INS Arihant is the first of the five Arihant class attack submarines developed indigenously and is seen as an important component of India’s nuclear triad. The submarine is of 6,000-tonne displacement with a length of 110 metres and a breadth of 11 metres. These submarines are designed to carry K4 and K15 submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
The name of the class of naval ships and submarines is generally the name of the first ship built of the same design.
A nuclear triad is a three-layered military force structure that consists of nuclear bombs and missiles that can be launched through land,water and air. The land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers are components of the triad.
Indian Navy’s tryst with nuclear-powered submarines began in January 1988 with a nuclear attack submarine, INS Chakra, leased from the then USSR. Meanwhile, the Indian Navy’s Advanced Technology Vessel project was taking shape in the 1990s. This fructified with INS Arihant getting inducted in August 2016. The second in the class, INS Arighat, was launched in November 2021.
As reported by this newspaper on August 11, a government green light to enhance the attack capability of the Indian Navy is due this year through the manufacture of nuclear-powered submarines. It is expected to serve as a deterrent for the Chinese Navy’s increasing foray into the Indian Ocean Region.