By Ankit Panda
India’s INS Arihant began its sea trials after over a year of delays.
Earlier this week, India’s first indigenously developed ballistic missile nuclear submarine (SSBN), the INS Arihant, began its sea trials. The 6,000-ton nuclear-powered submarine represents a major milestone in India’s efforts to indigenize advanced defense production. The Arihant will be an important component of India’s nuclear triad (the ability to deliver a nuclear strike by land, air, and sea). Each Arihant-class submarine (two or three more will be produced) will field up to 12 K-15 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with a 700-750 km range, with an upgrade planned for a K-4 SLBM capability. The K-4 has a range of up to 3,500 km and is currently in testing.
India’s new Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar presided over the inauguration of the INS Arihant‘s sea trials, which will take place off the country’s eastern coast, in the Bay of Bengal. The Hindu notes that the Arihant pulled out of Visakhapatnam Harbor, a major Indian shipyard. In addition to the defense minister, Indian Navy Chief of Staff Admiral R. K. Dhowan, other senior defense officials, and Indian nuclear scientists were present at the ceremony at Visakhapatnam. IHS Jane’s 360 notes that the date of December 16 for the initiation of sea trials was no coincidence: according to Parrikar, the date was chosen for its significance as the day Pakistan formally surrendered to India in 1971, ending a war between the two neighbors that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.
Read the full story at The Diplomat