INS Arihant; India's First Nuclear Submarine Set for Operations

BENGALURU: Having passed several deep sea diving drills, the wait to start the full-fledged operation of India's first nuclear armed submarine is now over. Tracing through several weapons launch tests over the past five months, a formal induction into the naval fleet is only a political call away for the INS Arihant nuclear missile submarine. Sources informed that the commissioning date could be as early as next month, only if the central government desires. However, a communication facility to interact with the submarine has already been commissioned into the Navy. Multiple officials closely associated with the project have confirmed that the indigenously-built boat is now fully-operational and the conducted weapon tests have proven the capabilities of the vessel, according to economictimes.indiatimes.com.

Being the first of five nuclear missile submarines or SSBNs planned for induction, Arihant has undergone deep sea dives off Vishakhapatnam, where it was built. In the entire deep sea dives and launch tests processes, Arihant was throughout accompanied by a Russian diving support ship, which arrived on October 1.

After the five long months rigorous weapon tests, the officials declare that the submarine is to be equipped with K 15 (or BO-5) short-range missiles with a range of over 700 km and the K 4 ballistic missile with a range of 3,500 km. "It has passed all tests and in many things has surpassed our expectations, and can be commissioned at any time," a senior navy official notes.

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