NEW DELHI/VISAKHAPATNAM: After repeated delays, the country’s first home-made nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, finally cruised into the Bay of Bengal for its maiden sea trial on Monday. Though officially neither the Indian Navy nor the DRDO confirmed the development, sources said the submarine came out from the Visakhapatnam harbour for a couple hours.
The 6,000-tonne vessel, powered by an 83 MW pressurised light-water reactor at its core, commenced sea trials off the Visakhapatnam coast in the presence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who flew down to the city to witness the much-awaited milestone. Top brass of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC), Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), who have been camping in the city for the last couple of days, were all present when INS Arihant sailed into the sea. INS Arihant was symbolically launched on July 26, 2009 and its 83 MW miniaturised reactor went critical in August last year.