Indigenous Nuclear Submarine Inducted; India Completes Nuclear Triad

India's indigenously built nuclear submarine INS Arihant has been quietly inducted into the strategic force command, completing the nuclear triad, a TV channel reported. According to the report, INS Arihant was formally commissioned by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba in August but was not being referred to as INS Arihant to maintain secrecy. While the report could not be independently confirmed, it was also not officially denied.

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. Although the land-based ballistic missiles and fighter-bombers were available, the missing sea leg was a big operational gap till now.

The 6,000-tonne vessel was built under the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project at the Ship Building Centre in the port city of Visakhapatnam.

The vessel will be powered by an 83-megawatts (111,305 hp) pressurised light-water reactor with enriched uranium fuel and 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.

The submarine will be armed with recently tested 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. The K-4 has a longer range of 3,500 km (2,200 mi) and has commenced trials.

The completion of the INS Arihant is critical for a country like India, which has a declared policy of "no first-use" of nuclear weapons.