Summary The country is all set to to put a nuclear-armed submarine into operation.
NEW DELHI (Web Desk/ AFP) - India is close to becoming the world’s sixth country to have its first home-built nuclear submarine, reported Bloomberg.
The country is all set to to put a nuclear-armed submarine into operation, as it detailed billion-dollar projects to arm its navy with warships, aircraft and modern weaponry.
The indigenous 6,000-ton INS Arihant (Destroyer of Enemies) was unveiled in 2009 as part of a project to construct five such vessels which would be armed with nuclear-tipped missiles and torpedoes.
The submarine is currently completing its final trials in the Bay of Bengal
According to defense officials, Arihant is powered by an 85-megawatt nuclear reactor and can reach 44 kilometres an hour (24 knots). It will carry a 95-member crew.
The Indian Navy inducted a Russian-leased nuclear submarine into service in April 2012, joining China, France, the United States, Britain and Russia in the elite club of countries with nuclear-powered vessels.
The deployment would complete India’s nuclear triad, allowing it to deliver atomic weapons from land, sea and air. Only the U.S. and Russia are considered full-fledged nuclear triad powers now, with China and India’s capabilities still largely untested.
On November 25, the Arihant reportedly test-fired a training missile, the Indo-Asian News Service reported, citing officials it didn’t identify.
Last year, Pakistan finalized a deal to buy eight Chinese conventional submarines. North Korea also claimed to have tested a submarine-launched missile and said that it had developed technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.
"There will likely be a long phase of initial instability as China and India start deploying nuclear missiles on submarines," the Lowy report said.
"Chinese and Indian nuclear-armed submarines -- along with possible Pakistani and North Korean units -- may remain detectable by adversaries, making their activities unpredictable in times of crisis. Moreover, these supposedly stabilizing new forces may worsen wider maritime tensions."
China boasts at least 62 submarines, including four capable of firing nuclear ballistic missiles, according to the Pentagon. China’s construction of artificial islands, radar facilities and runways in the South China Sea may be aimed at using the territory as a base for its nuclear ballistic missile submarine fleet, the Lowy report said.
