NEW DELHI: In a major step towards further strengthening its strategic deterrence capabilities, India on Thursday commissioned INS Arighat, which is the country’s second nuclear-powered submarine with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.
The commissioning of the almost 112-metre-long submarine, armed with K-15 missiles that have a strike range of 750 km, took place at the secretive ship-building centre in Visakhapatnam in the presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh and top national security and military officials.
“Second Arihant-Class submarine ‘INS Arighaat’ commissioned into Indian Navy in the presence of Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh in Visakhapatnam. PM Modi-led Govt is working on mission mode to equip soldiers with top-quality weapons & platforms,” the defence ministry wrote on X.
The commissioning of the almost 112-metre-long submarine, armed with K-15 missiles that have a strike range of 750 km, took place at the secretive ship-building centre in Visakhapatnam in the presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh and top national security and military officials.
“Second Arihant-Class submarine ‘INS Arighaat’ commissioned into Indian Navy in the presence of Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh in Visakhapatnam. PM Modi-led Govt is working on mission mode to equip soldiers with top-quality weapons & platforms,” the defence ministry wrote on X.
All about INS Arighat
- INS Arighat will join its predecessor,
INS Arihant , which became fully operational in 2018, to enhance the country’s ‘nuclear triad’—the capability to launch nuclear weapons from land, air, and sea. - INS Arihant and INS Arighat are powered by 83 MW pressurized light-water reactors, allowing them to remain submerged for extended periods, unlike conventional diesel-electric submarines that need to surface regularly.
- Indian nuclear-powered ballistic submarines are named the Arihant class, a Sanskrit term meaning ‘Destroyer of the Enemy.’ The name was chosen for its subtlety and appropriateness.
- The Indian government plans to build both nuclear and conventional submarines as part of its long-term acquisition and capability development strategy. This includes five Arihant-class submarines and six nuclear attack submarines, to be constructed in three phases.
- With India’s “no-first use” nuclear policy, SSBNs (Submarine-Launched Ballistic Nuclear Submarines) play a key role in deterrence due to their difficulty in detection and their ability to survive a surprise attack and execute retaliatory strikes.
- Countries like the US, Russia, and China have larger SSBNs with longer-range missiles. For example, China has six Jin-class SSBNs with JL-3 missiles capable of 10,000 kilometers, and the US operates 14 Ohio-class SSBNs.
- A project costing around Rs 40,000 crore is under consideration by the PM-led Cabinet Committee on Security for the construction of two 6,000-tonne ‘hunter-killer’ SSNs (nuclear-powered attack submarines), armed with torpedoes, anti-ship, and land-attack missiles. The construction is expected to take at least a decade.
- On conventional submarine development, Indian Navy has acquired six new Kalvari-class submarines and plans to add 15 more through Project 75 India, Project-76, and Project-75 AS.
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