INS Arihant:India's First Indigenously-Constructed Nuclear Submarine

India's first indigenously-constructed nuclear submarine INS Arihant was quietly commissioned into service in August and it has been operational since then, according to recent reports.

It was launched in 2009 by then prime minister Manmohan Singh and has undergone a series of vigorous tests since then. It was formally commissioned by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lamba and with its commission, India has quietly completed its nuclear triad.

Arihant is India's first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine and is propelled by an 83 MW pressurised light-water reactor at its core. Russia helped scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in miniaturising the reactor to fit into the 10-metre-wide hull of the nuclear submarine.

It is capable of carrying nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, the class referred to as Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear (SSBN). These are designed to cruise the waters carrying nuclear weapons and provides a nation, The Hindu report adds, with an assured second strike capability, which, put simply, is the ability to retaliate after taking a nuclear hit.

The vessel will be armed with the K-15 missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads to a range of 750 kilometres, and with K4 missile,which has a range of 3,500 km and Arihant has four vertical launch tubes. It can either carry 12 K-15 missiles or four larger K-4 missiles.

The design of Arihant is based on the Russian Akula-1 class submarines, of which the best-known example is the INS Chakra. It will weigh around 6,000 tonnes.