Nuclear submarine INS Arighat to be included in Indian Navy by end of this

Vishakhapatnam: The second indigenously built nuclear submarine, INS Arighat, will be a part of the Indian Navy by the end of this year. INS Arighat has cleared all the marine tests conducted over the last three years. It will be equipped with a larger number of ballistic missiles as compared to INS Arihant. Induction of this submarine will augment the strength of the Indian Navy.

The Indian Navy will be building 24 submarines, including six nuclear submarines. INS Arighat was built in Vishakhapatnam under the Advanced Technology Vessel Project of the Indian Navy. This is the second indigenously built nuclear submarine after INS Arihant. INS Arighat is capable of carrying K-15 Sagarika Missiles. The range of these missiles is between 750 and 3,500 kilometres. The submarine can carry 12 K-15 missiles. But there is also a provision to replace four K-15 missiles with the long-range K-4 ballistic missiles.

While travelling on the surface in wavy waters, INS Arighat can travel at 12 to 15 nautical miles (22 to 28 kilometres per hour). Whereas, after reaching a depth of 300 metres, the submarine can travel at 24 nautical miles (44 kilometres per hour). The submarine was launched in 2017. It is being informed that after exhaustive testing for three years, blocks have been cleared for its commissioning in the Indian Navy. Commissioning of the nuclear submarine becomes a significant development because of the increasing Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, the Navy recently announced that India would be developing stealth submarines. The Navy clarified that tenders would be floated for six stealth submarines, valued at ₹420 billion.