India will commission its second nuclear Arighat class nuclear-powered ballistic missile carrying submarine (SSBN).

Sources in the defence and security establishment said the submarine has performed well during the sea trials so far, and added that the commissioning of the vessel was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Arighat was quietly launched in November 2017 by the then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

With Arighat in, India will be operating two SSBNs that are equipped with the 750 KM range K-15 submarine-launched ballistic missile, meant for punitive retaliatory strikes in case of a nuclear attack.

The last developmental trial of the K-4 was conducted in January 2020 and, reports say, the missile is ready for induction. With the induction of K-15, India’s SSBNs will become capable of targeting large parts of China, including Beijing, and all of Pakistan, during a crisis.

Both INS Arihant, which is on operational deployment, and the Arighat have the capacity to carry four missiles each.

India currently also operates a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) INS Chakra II, which is under lease from Russia.

It was in March last year that India and Russia signed a US$3 billion deal for the lease of a third SSN — Chakra III — that is likely to be in Indian waters by 2025 at the earliest.

Two more SSBNs, identified as S4 and S4* for now, are under final assembly at the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam. These boats will not only be better armed — capable of carrying eight 3,500 km range K-4 — than INS Arihant and Arighat but also displace 1,000 tonnes more than the two submarines.

India is also developing a new series of SSBNs, which will be much larger and better armed than the Arihant-class SSBNs.

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