It was
a sight, many Indians surely would have loved to see. But except for
a few watchful eyes of naval architects and naval personnel, there
were no witnesses to watch as Indian navy's first nuclear powered
ballistic missile submarine, 112 meter long, 6000 tonne INS Arihant,
emerged from the breakwaters of the Visakhapatnam Harbour, after
completing harbour trials. Sailing north along the coast before
disappearing into the mist, it glided partially submerged, into the
Bay of Bengal as part of its sea trials. Only witness to this
historic event was the watchful crew of a low flying helicopter that
flew along with the submarine.
INS
Arihant is powered by a 83 MW pressurized nuclear reactor that uses
light water for cooling. This reactor went critical in August 2013,
though at much less power output. The power had to be slowly stepped
up, just 5-10% at a time, with systematic pressure and other checks
on all pipelines and machinery being conducted every time. The
reactor has now attained 100% power capability.
INS
Arihant, which means the "annihilator of enemies'', is the first
of three alike submarines that are under manufacture at the
ship-building centre at Vaizag (Visakhapatnam ), in India. The second
submarine named INS Aridhaman, is ready for launching in water,
whereas the third one called S-4 is at an advanced fabrication stage.
These
submarines can carry 12 nos. of nuclear tipped K-15 ballistic
missiles having 750 Km range in their four silos. Indigenously
developed K15 missiles have been tested so far only from submersible
pontoons, around a dozen times.
After
the long-drawn harbour-acceptance trials at the ship-building centre
at Vaizag, INS Arihant is ready to face exhaustive operational trials
in open sea. Sea acceptance trials are expected to continue for at
least 18 months and would include several surface sorties before it
dives for a full range of underwater sorties. The tests will also
include test-firing of its K-15 ballistic missiles from underwater.
INS
Arihant, the first nuclear power submarine to be manufactured in
India, capable of carrying nuclear tipped K-15 ballistic missiles,
took long time coming. During the decades of 1970, India had began
its hunt for such submarines. But the actual construction had started
as late as second half of 1990. In July 2009, INS Arihant was finally
launched in sea for the first time. Its reactor went critical in in
August 2013. And this week it starts its sea trials .
For a
long time, Indian defence strategists wanted to have for India's
defence, an operational nuclear weapons triad, of land based
missiles, fighter based nuclear weapons and the third most critical
link of having the capability to fire nuclear warheads from sea. The
Agni ballistic missiles and fighter-bombers constitute the first two
legs, whereas INS Arihant provides the third missing link.
Nuclear-powered submarines armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic
missiles, are considered as the triad's most difficult-to-detect and
effective leg. Once sea trials of Arihant are completed, it will give
India the long missing link and the edge.
17th
December 2014
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