NEW DELHI – India’s maritime nuclear deterrent is set to be strengthened soon, with India’s third indigenous Arihant-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, INS Aridhaman (named S4), likely to enter service by April-May.
“INS Aridhaman is expected to be commissioned by this summer as the submarine is currently in the final stages of sea trial,” a defense source told TOI.Last December, Navy Chief Admiral DK Tripathi had said that INS Ariddhaman would be commissioned this year.INS Aridhaman, built under the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project at the Visakhapatnam Shipbuilding Centre, will be larger (7,000 tons) than its predecessors INS Arihant and INS Arighaat (6,000 tons), and feature improved capacity to carry long-range K-4 missiles.
INS Aridhaman will be armed with 24 K-15 Sagarika SLBMs (750 km range) and eight K-4 SLBMs (3,500 km range), capable of reaching most parts of Asia.Once in service, India will have three ballistic missile submarines operational under the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) at sea for the first time, bringing the country closer to achieving ‘sustained deterrence at sea’, a strategic defense policy where the country keeps at least one SSBN-type submarine on patrol 365 days a year.
As a stealth underwater platform, INS Aridhaman enhances India’s “second strike” capability – the ability to retaliate after a nuclear attack. It is designed to carry longer-range nuclear-tipped missiles than its predecessors INS Arihant and INS Arighaat.In addition to INS Aridhaman, the Indian Navy is securing an Akula-class SSN nuclear-powered attack submarine from Russia, commonly referred to as ‘Chakra III’, expected to be delivered by 2027 or early 2028.
Besides these submarine projects, India and Germany are in the final stages of negotiating the $8-10 billion Project 75(I) deal to build six advanced conventional diesel-electric submarines equipped with air-independent propulsion (AIP) technology.The acquisitions of the new submarines come at an opportune time, as Pakistan acquired eight advanced Hangur-class diesel-electric attack submarines from China under a $5 billion deal in 2015 to enhance its naval capabilities.Equipped with an 83 MW pressurized water reactor and advanced sonar wings, INS Aridhaman has indigenous USHUS and Panchendriya sonar systems to better detect targets, and has improved acoustic dampening with sound-silencing tiles to reduce noise, making detection more difficult. Once operational, it will be based at the Varsha project, a high-security facility with underground hangars near Visakhapatnam.
