news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

india's second domestically built strategic nuclear submarine, the arigat, officially joined the indian navy on august 29. indian defense minister singh even praised its service for establishing a strategic balance in the region and playing a decisive role in national security. however, military experts interviewed by the global times told the global times that the overall performance of india's domestically built strategic nuclear submarines is significantly different from similar equipment of today's major naval powers.

how much improvement did the second ship have?

according to a report by india today on august 30, on august 29, india's second arijath-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine, arigat, was officially commissioned in visakhapatnam under the witness of defense minister singh. in his speech, singh praised the submarine for further strengthening india's "three-in-one" nuclear deterrence capability, which will establish strategic balance and peace in the region and play a decisive role in national security. he also said that the commissioning of arigat is a major achievement for india. its construction involves advanced design and manufacturing technology, detailed research and development, the use of special materials, complex engineering and highly skilled craftsmanship. the main systems and equipment of the submarine are designed, manufactured and integrated by indian scientists and naval personnel.

data map of india's first domestically-produced nuclear submarine. (source: indian media)

according to india's business standard, according to the indian ministry of defense, due to relevant domestic technological advances, the "arigat" is "significantly more advanced" than india's first domestically-produced nuclear submarine "arihant". the existence of these two submarines will enhance india's ability to deter potential opponents and safeguard national interests.

the report said that this nearly 112-meter-long new nuclear submarine was built at a highly confidential shipbuilding center in visakhapatnam. it is powered by the same 83-megawatt pressurized light water nuclear reactor as the "arihant". compared with traditional diesel-electric submarines that need to surface regularly for charging, they can stay underwater for longer. the two strategic nuclear submarines have a displacement of about 6,000 tons, with a maximum surface speed of 12-15 knots (22-28 km/h) and a maximum underwater speed of 24 knots (44 km/h).

as the core weapon of strategic nuclear submarines, both "arihant" class are equipped with four vertical launch tubes, which can carry 12 k-15 short-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles with a range of 750 kilometers or four k-4 submarine-launched ballistic missiles with a range of 3,500 kilometers. the indian ministry of defense claimed that in october 2022, the "arihant" successfully launched a submarine-launched ballistic missile in the bay of bengal with "very high accuracy."

the times of india quoted anonymous sources as saying that the arigat was launched in 2017 and has since undergone extensive sea tests. "although the size, length and displacement of the arijat are the same as those of the arijad, it can carry more k-15 missiles. the new submarine is more capable, more efficient and more stealthy."

the us website "dynamics" believes that this is a puzzling statement. "in order to maintain the mystery surrounding india's strategic nuclear submarine project, the specific improvements of this new submarine have not been disclosed in detail. if the 'arigat' can carry more submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the diameter of its vertical launch tubes may be larger." from the photos currently circulating on social media, the "arigat" does not have a particularly obvious turtleback structure. some analysts believe that the relatively smooth outer surface of the "arigat" is related to the smaller size of the k-15 submarine-launched missiles it is equipped with. earlier, indian media revealed that india's first two strategic nuclear submarines should actually be equipped with k-15, rather than k-4 submarine-launched ballistic missiles with larger range and size. the "dynamics" website believes that the range of india's submarine-launched ballistic missiles is short. when these two indian domestic nuclear submarines launch missiles from relatively safe waters, the k-15 can target most of the opponents in south asia, including karachi, pakistan's largest city, but "if you want to threaten the opponent's capital, you must let indian nuclear submarines venture close to the pakistani coast, which will be very dangerous." therefore, the report believes that the k-15 missiles currently equipped on the two indian domestically-produced nuclear submarines are generally regarded as a temporary weapon, whose main function is to increase the indian navy's experience in operating such weapons.

india's nuclear submarine dream continues for decades

it is worth noting that given the powerful deterrent power of nuclear submarines, the indian navy has been working on this for decades. as early as 1987, the indian navy leased an attack nuclear submarine equipped with cruise missiles and torpedoes from the soviet union. the "india today" website stated that although this nuclear submarine gave the indian navy first-hand experience in the operation of nuclear submarines, "the benefits were limited" because the submarine was still mainly driven by soviet sailors and indian crew members were not allowed to enter the submarine's missile room or approach the reactor. in the late 1990s, after the 10-year lease agreement expired, the submarine was returned to russia. the unwilling indian navy leased a more advanced "akula" class attack nuclear submarine from russia from 2012 to 2021 to gain experience in operating nuclear submarines.

schematic diagram of the internal structure of india's domestically produced nuclear submarine "arihant". (source: u.s. "navy news" website)

at the same time, the indian navy's domestic nuclear submarine development project was also launched more than 30 years ago. unlike most countries with nuclear submarines, which "first develop attack nuclear submarines and then rebuild strategic nuclear submarines on their basis", the indian navy's domestic nuclear submarine project directly aimed at strategic nuclear submarines that can launch nuclear missiles from underwater from the beginning. indian media explained that during the development of nuclear submarines in india, the sea-based nuclear capability was the weakest in the "three-in-one" nuclear deterrence system that the indian army vigorously built. among india's air-based nuclear forces, the "jaguar" attack aircraft, the french "mirage 2000" and the russian su-30mki fighters can carry nuclear bombs; among the land-based nuclear forces, the "earth" and "agni" series of ballistic missiles can also be equipped with nuclear warheads; only the indian navy, due to insufficient technical capabilities, can only carry short-range ballistic missile launchers on the flight deck of 2,000-ton light frigates for a long time. this type of surface-launched ballistic missile has basically no practical significance. therefore, giving priority to the development of strategic nuclear submarines that can secretly launch nuclear missiles from underwater has become the only choice for the indian navy.

it is reported that with the efforts of the indian defense research and development organization (drdo) and related enterprises across india, as well as technical assistance from russia, india's first domestically-produced nuclear submarine, the arihant, was launched in 2009 and joined the indian navy in 2016. indian media previously disclosed that the arihant conducted its first "deterrence patrol" in 2018, marking the official formation of india's true "three-in-one" nuclear deterrence system.

how will india's nuclear submarines develop in the future?

but the indian navy is not satisfied with the performance of these two domestically-made nuclear submarines. the business standard said that compared with the world's nuclear powers, the tonnage and number of missiles carried by indian nuclear submarines are significantly different. for example, the united states has 14 ohio-class strategic nuclear submarines and 53 attack nuclear submarines, and is also developing more advanced columbia-class attack nuclear submarines. even pakistan, whose navy is much smaller, has five conventional submarines and has ordered another eight from other countries. therefore, the indian navy needs an underwater fleet of at least 30 submarines to deal with the threats of potential opponents.

the indian navy is currently building more nuclear submarines with more advanced performance. indian media revealed that the third "arihant" class nuclear submarine "aridaman" was quietly launched in november 2021 and may be put into service in 2025. its displacement has increased to 7,700 tons and will carry k-4 ballistic missiles with a range of 3,500 kilometers. the "power" website speculated that the submarine can carry 8-12 k-4 submarine-launched missiles, "in addition, there are signs that a new submarine-launched ballistic missile with a longer range may be equipped with india's next ballistic missile submarine." at the same time, india is also developing a fourth strategic nuclear submarine, but the details of the relevant plan are rarely known to the outside world.

while developing strategic nuclear submarines, india is also advancing the development of domestic attack nuclear submarines. the "power" website said that there are signs that india is planning to lease advanced "akula 2" class attack nuclear submarines from russia again, so that indian sailors can gain more operating experience before the next generation of domestic attack nuclear submarines enter service. in february 2015, the indian cabinet security committee approved the construction of six domestic attack nuclear submarines, which will be designed by the indian navy and built at the shipbuilding center in visakhapatnam. it is expected to start in 2024-2025, and the first domestic attack nuclear submarine is scheduled to enter service in 2032.

military experts interviewed by the global times told the global times that the overall performance of india's domestically produced strategic nuclear submarines is significantly different from similar equipment of today's major naval powers in terms of tonnage, payload, and quietness. in particular, the core combat power of strategic nuclear submarines lies in the submarine-launched ballistic missiles they carry. the k-15 missiles carried by indian nuclear submarines have the lowest range among all countries' active submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and lack actual combat value. even if they are replaced with k-4 submarine-launched missiles with a longer range in the future, the number is far from enough. for example, the us "ohio" class can carry 24 "trident 2" submarine-launched intercontinental missiles, and the number of intercontinental missiles carried by russia's active strategic nuclear submarines is also 12-16. in contrast, indian nuclear submarines can only carry 4 k-4s, which is a huge gap. if the missile carrying capacity is to be increased or equipped with longer-range missiles, the submarine design needs to be significantly modified, which is equivalent to re-development in a sense. therefore, the current indian nuclear submarines have only solved the problem of "whether there is" sea-based nuclear deterrence, but there is still a large gap from the mainstream level.