India commissions ins arighat know all about navy's 2nd nuclear powered submarine

India commissions ins arighat know all about navy's 2nd nuclear powered submarine

In a major step towards further strengthening its strategic deterrence capabilities, India on Thursday commissioned INS Arighat, which is the country's second nuclear-powered submarine with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.

The commissioning of the almost 112-metre-long submarine, armed with K-15 missiles that have a strike range of 750 km, took place at the secretive ship-building centre in Visakhapatnam in the presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh and top national security and military officials.

‘Second Arihant-Class submarine 'INS Arighaat' commissioned into Indian Navy in the presence of Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh in Visakhapatnam. PM Modi-led Govt is working on mission mode to equip soldiers with top-quality weapons & platforms,’ the defence ministry wrote on X.

All about INS Arighat

INS Arighat will join its predecessor, INS Arihant, which became fully operational in 2018, to enhance the country's 'nuclear triad'—the capability to launch nuclear weapons from land, air, and sea.

INS Arihant and INS Arighat are powered by 83 MW pressurized light-water reactors, allowing them to remain submerged for extended periods, unlike conventional diesel-electric submarines that need to surface regularly.

Indian nuclear-powered ballistic submarines are named the Arihant class, a Sanskrit term meaning 'Destroyer of the Enemy.' The name was chosen for its subtlety and appropriateness.

The Indian government plans to build both nuclear and conventional submarines as part of its long-term acquisition and capability development strategy. This includes five Arihant-class submarines and six nuclear attack submarines, to be constructed in three phases.

With India’s ‘no-first use’ nuclear policy, SSBNs (Submarine-Launched Ballistic Nuclear Submarines) play a key role in deterrence due to their difficulty in detection and their ability to survive a surprise attack and execute retaliatory strikes.

Countries like the US, Russia, and China have larger SSBNs with longer-range missiles. For example, China has six Jin-class SSBNs with JL-3 missiles capable of 10,000 kilometers, and the US operates 14 Ohio-class SSBNs.

A project costing around Rs 40,000 crore is under consideration by the PM-led Cabinet Committee on Security for the construction of two 6,000-tonne ‘hunter-killer’ SSNs (nuclear-powered attack submarines), armed with torpedoes, anti-ship, and land-attack missiles. The construction is expected to take at least a decade.

On conventional submarine development, Indian Navy has acquired six new Kalvari-class submarines and plans to add 15 more through Project 75 India, Project-76, and Project-75 AS.