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The INS Arihant, India’s first nuclear submarine that was till now known by the code name S 2, was launched at a simple ceremony in this port town with the traditional breaking of a coconut on its hull by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s wife, Gursharan Kaur. It is expected to be ready for induction into the Navy by 2011 after a series of exhaustive trials.
Once inducted, the 6,000-tonne Arihant — the name means destroyer of enemies — would be the vital third leg of India’s nuclear policy that hinges around the “second strike” theory — which says that India will only use nuclear weapons as a retaliatory measure against a first strike by the enemy.
Re-stating the doctrine, the Prime Minister tried to assuage fears of neighbouring countries by saying that the submarine was not aimed at threatening anyone. “We do not have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone. We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that is conducive to our peaceful development and the protection of our value systems,” he said at the launch ceremony that was carried out in the dry dock of the Ship Building Centre (SBC) where the submarine has been under construction since 1998.
This is the first time that the Prime Minister has spoken on the project, which has been top secret since the late 1970s when it was cleared by Indira Gandhi. In fact, while funding to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore is said to have gone into the project, successive governments have refused to even acknowledge its existence.
For the first time, the dimensions of the submarine have been made public. The project director, Vice Admiral (retd) D S P Verma, said that the Arihant is a 6,000-tonne submarine with a length of 110 metres and a breadth of 11 metres. Experts say the vessel will be able to carry 12 K 15 submarine launched ballistic missiles that have a range of over 700 km.
What makes a nuclear powered submarine even more important in India’s context is its commitment to never use a nuclear weapon unless it is attacked first. This requires the need of a credible under-sea second strike capability in case the first strike wipes out missile bases and air-based assets.
“Our voluntary commitment to ‘no first use’ nuclear weapon policy also necessitated acquiring a credible second strike capability to safeguard our national interests,” said Defence Minister A K Antony.
Significantly, all three dignitaries who spoke at the function — the PM, Defence Minister and Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta — made special mention of the Russian “cooperation” received in the project.
While it is an open secret that Russia helped in the design of the submarine and miniaturisation of the reactor, this is the first time that its help has been openly acknowledged. The entire Russian design team and the Russian Ambassador to India, V I Trubnikov, were present at the function.
Interestingly, the size of the Arihant is similar to the first nuclear submarine in the world that was launched four decades ago by the US. Besides the US, which has 74 nuclear submarines, Russia (44), UK (13), France (10) and China (10) also possess nuclear-powered submarines. The last nation to enter the nuclear submarine club was China when it launched its Han class submarines in the early 1980s.
China has started mass producing its second generation of nuclear submarines. India has a lot of catching up to do as the new “Shang” and “Jin” class submarines — details of which emerged earlier last year — are a big leap ahead of their older and noisier Hans class submarines.
However, before India gets its own nuclear submarine fleet, the Navy will train its personnel on a Russian Akula class nuclear submarine that India is getting on a 10-year lease towards the end of this year.
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By launch of Arihant we aill become the Super power of Indian Ocean We need to give aggresive stand and reply to your most pothatic rival Pakistan which will also be a problem for us and the entire world well done indian scientist we need at list 25 arihaant to Dominate the whole SAARC Nation and Waters
It was always Pakistan that had inducted new weapons in the subcontinent since 1947,It is Pakistan that has been the epicenter of terrorism, it is Pakistan that is a failed state, and it is in Pakistan that the very elements that were sheltered, armed and trained are now its worst enemies, Why? This is because all have seen thru Pakistan's double speak and treachery!India has all rights to protect its soverenity and will take all steps to ensure its enemies receive a befitting reply if India's sovergnity is threatened in any way.If Pakistan has peace full intentions then why it is apprehensive, it is a historical truth that India has never initiated any war with Pakistan but the reverse is well documented globally.The harsh reality is simple, Pakistan does not have any resources, economically or intellectually, they now cannot steal any technology and its own industries are incapable of producing even a good matchstick?
N-submarine sounds super seeing it i want to work in it know more about it and serve navy to my best possible extent and may be soon who knows i am studying final year engg in s.r.k.r.engg.college.
Pakistan's unhappiness is their existance. As we say "na rahega banse na bajegi bansuri" or we gujarati say how long you will keep whistling with a whistle made up of carrot.(some day you will eat it)If Pakistan gets happiness they all will die in a single instance from allergic reaction to it.
Pakistan always shed tears when india introduces new technology into her defence infrastructure. When China commissioned 2 submarines somewhere in April, Pakistan did not see it as a threat to the peace in the region. Pakistan need not worry about India arming herself, as you may have by this time noted that India cannot catch up with China and their modernization is in the doldrum due to curruption. It has taken 60 years for india to roll out a submarine and many more years to roll our a MBT and even more years to roll out their much hyped LCA. By this time Pakistan will be well armed with the help of her mentor China, and to geher you can will be a formidable force which will not be able to contain. Do not cry.
No doubt it is the right step towards the completion of our nuclear deterrence.Hope we will complete the process without further hiccough and waste of valuable time . We need to be weary of the security scenario around us and the aggressive design of powerful neighbour. We definitely need to have a blue water navy in true sence to protect our economic interest.A sence of security will only allow us to focus our energy towards economic progress of the country. A strong India both economically and militarily will contribute towards the security of the region and world as a whole.
HI there !Hats off to Indian Government for makin our country a Nuclear country... I pray God that India to be blessed..
A good start, but we are FAR BEHIND China( which has several n-subs cruising around Indian waters)!I am not sure about whether this n-sub can compete with the n-subs of western countries! We need MANY MORE such Subs if we are to NEUTRALISE the Chinese!
Please dont get mistaken by claiming it to be INDIAN TTECHNOLOGY MILESTONE.Everything about it is RUSSIAN only MADE In INDIA STAMP is DESI.
Only some of it is Russian technology, not all. After all Russia did succumb to US pressure in the 1990s to stop transfer of such technology to a non NPT signatory.
Hey friends i am very happy,as India developed its nuke submarine,waise bhi hame China se threat hai.........so Jai Hind Vande Maatram...
Better Late than Never!! - Though, as we all know, we are a few decedes behind the elites like US, Russia and China, it still is a step towards the strengthing the defense and being capable of protecting the countrymen.
i am very happy for introducing destroyer of enemies.we need to discover new technologies for our defence. i 'll congratulate all the team members in destroyer of enemies
As the news says sub will have oldies tech and we are getting help from russia to get it done. Its dejavu experience for me remember the Chernobyl accident.I agree we are making baby step but we have to be very cautious with Radioactive step we dont want to kill the baby by taking wrong step :) I would love to be a physicist but I endup writing C code. I want to see new generation to reach new heights not borrowing from others like we do but learning the current techs and building new thing on our own like we did it in rockets and fighter jets.
I was really elated and proud of being selected in DRDO this year as a scientist-B.it is really a grear milestone for India and fabulous and path breaking work done by scientist.Cheers to scientist..:)
As we all know America, Russia, China, France have built the submarine in 1970's but we made it now, from this its cler that we still some decades behind elite's. We need to concentrate on devoloping Laser weapons, to achieve this Govt. need to invest more in R
Actually, the US and Soviet's had nukes in the water in the 1950's. Still, this is a good design from what I see.
Whatever all other say but i will like to congratulate all the personels envolved in this project....Well done guys!!!!Its really a matter of pride for India thats our defense is much more stronger now..... Bharat Mata ke Jai
Whatever all other say but i will like to congratulate all the personels envolved in this project....Well done guys!!!!Its really a matter of pride for India thats our defense is much more stronger now..... Bharat Mata ke Jai
Only thing i donot understand ...taking 20 years for building a Nuclear sub ....while other countries were able to do it a very short span ...in 1960-70's is a concern , Indian govt shuld help these kind of indegenious projects ..by funding them well in advance
Everyone agrees there's work to be done... This is like a baby's first step. So let's applaud the baby's first step instead of going on a diatribe which we always do. Being 6th country is no mean achievement give the scientific, political, soci-economic constraints we have. So hats off to all involved and hope we proceed with the same cautious optimism as always. Jai Hind.
So it appears that in respect of nuke powered submarines, we are a bit 'ahead' of one neighbour Pakistan but way, way behind another, Pakistan. The 'co-operation' extended by the great Russians is not clear from the news as to its specific nature, but is it through supply of the very heart of the equipment, namely, the engine, if so it wii mean we have not moved forward in this crucial area with genuine development of our own capability, and the whole news is plain excessive and misleading hype. Which would mean we are still in the 1960's or '70's, given to absolute lethargy and incompetence. It is sheer bliss, carry on our administrators, scientists, technologists, defenders!
My friend are you from Pakistan or are you a administrators,scientists,technologists,defenders. If not pls be any of this our country truly needs your help.
Jai Hind.It is a major acheivment for our country. India should ensure that we maintain this head start and get to next level of building larger nuclear powered submarines which are already in the armoury of the other 5. Also this would ensure that we can cover most of the earths surface in terms of hit range as Agni can now hit enemy targets 3k Kms away.
After a long time, some news which is putting our heads up.Thanks to Scientists.May this be replicated to other wings of defence...May we be self sufficient in Tech.
India has been groomed last several years for this. Part of that grooming is to teach India to shut up and not to raise their opinion. India now have lost it's identity and only speak what cleared as right by the club members. This is a sad day for India.
A tremendous job indeed; no mean achievement! Congratulations to all the folks involved in the construction of the submarine and the builders of the reactor. Let us look forward to the test trials to be accomplished with great success and on schedule.The "Arihant" had to built using foreign technology to some extent. The future vessels will use more and more of Indian technology and material. True, there was a considerable delay in completing the first submarine but this is not anything to be ashamed of. The obstacles have been too many, both technically and bureaucratically. Hopefully, much has been learnt in the process that can be applied to future endeavors of this nature.
This is much ado for nothing. The Indian submarine is like a carriage without a horse.The reactor has not gone critical yet.There are no weapon systems yet.Inspite of all the help from BARC .,iNDIA DOES HAVE PROBLEMS WITH NUCLEAR PROPULTION.
India joined an elite club with the launch of its nuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant, on Sunday is a welcome news Two enemies are breathing down our neck, we need wherewithal to modernise our army to meet the challenges from the enemies.As reported recently by the Comptroller and Auditor General, there are chinks in our armour-aging submarine fleet- outlived their service life- is not battle ready because they are in repair and refit, other branches of the armed forces are not immune to the rot, the army is in a similar predicament with T-72 main battle tanks (MBTs), and the air force lacks equipments-key radars-to mount an adequate air defence for the country. It faces a shortage of key radars.