what is the service level of india’s second domestically-produced strategic nuclear submarine?
2024-09-13
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according to the global times, india's second domestically-produced strategic nuclear submarine, ins seeker, officially joined the indian navy at visakhapatnam port on august 29. indian defense minister singh said at the commissioning ceremony that india is the sixth country after the united states, russia, china, france and britain to have a triad nuclear strike capability, and ins seeker will further enhance india's capability.
the indian ministry of defense said in a statement that the indigenous technological improvements made to the submarine make it much more advanced than the first indian-made strategic nuclear submarine, the ins arihant. it is said that the submarine can reach an underwater speed of 24 knots and a surface speed of 12-15 knots, and has a series of improvements in propulsion technology to improve its combat effectiveness.
according to reports, the submarine and the "arihant" have the same 83-megawatt nuclear reactor and are also equipped with four missile launch tubes, each of which can carry a k-4 with a range of 3,500 kilometers or three k-15 submarine-launched ballistic missiles with a range of 750 kilometers. however, according to indian media, the two nuclear submarines are actually equipped with k-15 missiles, not k-4 missiles. the us power website believes that the indian k-15 missile has a too short range and can only threaten parts of south asia, such as karachi, pakistan, if it is launched in relatively safe waters. if you want to deter the opponent's capital, you must be close to the pakistani coast, which will be very dangerous.
the report said that the k-15 missile with a range of 750 kilometers is only to let the crew get familiar with the operation of such weapons. this statement is more reasonable. such a short range is of little use in actual combat. it is only slightly better than the ballistic missiles that india has carried on the helicopter deck of frigates in the past. the k-4 missile that has not yet been put into service has a range of 3,500 kilometers, which is still far behind the five permanent members.
the strategic nuclear submarines of the five permanent members of the un security council all have double-10,000 indicators, with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons and a missile range of more than 10,000 kilometers. of course, it is not very reasonable to compare them with the current indicators of the five permanent members of the un security council. however, even if we compare them with those from half a century ago, india's k-15 cannot be compared. the range of the us "polaris" a1 missile is 2,200 kilometers, and the range of the 16 missiles carried by the soviet union's "yankee" class nuclear submarines in the 1960s is 3,000 kilometers.
india's two nuclear submarines have more to do with the problem of whether or not they have them. at least there are agni ballistic missiles on the ground, and the air force has su-30mki, french mirage 2000 and other fighters that can launch nuclear bombs. now the navy also has submarine-launched missiles. regardless of whether they can fight or not, the trinity posture is there.
india has always operated by first acquiring it and then slowly improving it. it does not have the strength to pursue the five permanent members, but compared with other countries, it seems to be stronger. for example, compared with its old rival pakistan, after all, it still has such a nuclear submarine available.
according to indian media reports, india's third domestically-produced nuclear submarine "aridaman" was launched in november 2021 and is expected to be put into service next year. its displacement has increased to 7,700 tons and will carry k-4 ballistic missiles. india is also developing the fourth one. in addition, india will also build six domestically-produced attack nuclear submarines, and the first one is expected to be put into service in 2032.
it seems that if it continues to develop in this way, india will eventually have an underwater nuclear force. even if it is delayed for a long time like many projects, and a 10-year task takes 30 years, it will have it. slow work may not produce fine work, but it can produce rough work. it is not like the united states, which will cut off the project if it is overspent. it will keep grinding. this is also a characteristic of india, and the lca fighter jets and so on are like this.
is it good? i can’t really say it’s good, but it’s also good.
kankan news reporter: li suning
editor: li suning
video editor: huang tao
editor: fang liang
