15.12.14

INS Arihant


India's first indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant is now finally all set to make its maiden foray into the wide open sea. The 6,000-tonne vessel, with an 83 MW pressurized light-water reactor at its core for propulsion, is slated to begin its sea trials off Visakhapatnam within the next few days.
INS Arihant, or the “annihilator of enemies'', and its two under-construction follow-on vessels are the critical missing link in the country's long-standing pursuit to have an operational nuclear weapons triad-the capability to fire nukes from land, air and sea. While the Agni ballistic missiles and fighter-bombers constitute the first two legs, the triad's missing underwater leg has for long troubled the country's strategic establishment. Nuclear-powered submarines armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles (SSBNs), after all, are considered the triad's most difficult-to-detect and effective leg.There is also growing concern over China stepping-up its submarine activity in the Indian Ocean.
The much-awaited mile stone on the INS Arihant front comes just a fortnight after Navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan said it would “very soon“ head for sea trials. “The submarine's miniaturized reactor, which went critical in August 2013, has now attained 100% power. 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,“ said a source.
Fingers are now being kept crossed that there are no major hiccups during INS Arihant's sea-acceptance trials (SATS), which can take around 18 months, after the long-drawn harbour-acceptance trials (HATs) at the shipbuilding centre at Vizag.
The submarine will first undertake several surface sorties before it dives for a full range of underwater sorties.The SATs will also include test-firing of its K-15 ballistic missiles (750-km range), which has so far been tested only from submersible pontoons around a dozen times.The K-15 SLBM ­ INS Arihant can carry 12 of them in its four silos--is short-range compared to the well over 5,000-km SLBMs brandished by the US, Russia and China.But an over 2,000-km range K-4 missile, tested for the first time in March this year, is also in the works.The next SSBN, S-3 or INS Aridhaman, is also ready for “launch“ into water, while the third called S-4 is at an advanced fabrication stage in the building blocks.


No comments: