- India’s first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant has successfully completed its first deterrence patrol on November 5, 2018. This completes establishment of the country’s nuclear triad.
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi received the crew of Strategic Strike Nuclear Submarine (SSBN) INS Arihant. Stressing the significance of the successful deployment of INS Arihant for the completion of India’s nuclear triad, the Prime Minister congratulated the crew and all involved in the achievement which puts India among a handful of countries having the capability to design, construct and operate SSBNs.
- INS Arihant is capable of carrying nuclear tipped ballistic missiles, the class referred to as Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear (SSBN).
- SSBNs are designed to prowl the deep ocean waters carrying nuclear weapons and provide a nation with an assured second strike capability — the capability to strike back after being hit by nuclear weapons first.
- Second strike capability is particularly important for India as it had committed to a ‘No-First-Use’ policy as part of its nuclear doctrine.
- The vessel weighing 6000 tonnes is powered by a 83 MW pressurised light water nuclear reactor.
- The project to build a strategic vessel began as the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project in the 1980s and the vessel was launched in 2009 by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
- Since then it was put to extensive sea trials and the reactor on board went critical in 2013.
- It will be armed with the K-15 Sagarika missiles with a range of 750 km and eventually with the much longer range K-4 missiles being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
- With this India joins the select group of countries which have a nuclear triad, i.e. capable of delivering nuclear weapons by aircraft, ballistic missiles and submarine launched missiles.
- It was jointly developed by the Indian Navy, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at the naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam. Russian designers assisted in building the vessel.
- Arihant’s design is based on the Russian Akula-1 Class submarine.
- Nuclear triad: It is a three-sided military-force structure consisting of land-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-missile-armed submarines, and strategic aircraft with nuclear bombs and missiles.
