Arihant is operational, Thank you Russia

Arihant is operational, Thank you Russia

Sources confirmed that Arihant completed all kind of sea and weapon trails as the K 4 successfully tested from INS Arihant, earlier last week ship spotters from Turkey saw the Russian submarine salvage vessel Epron transiting towards Russia, who was in Vizag for the past couple of months to help the Arihant in her trails.

The Arihant was developed completely with the help of Russians, and based on the older Russian Charlie class submarine, who comes with double hull to suppress the noise to make the ship more silent. Arihant's heart, the nuclear reactor is designed by the BARC, who get full support from the Russian to miniaturize it and fit inside the submarine. The Arihant's nuclear reactor is capable to generate 83 MW power, to propel and provide electricity to the Ship.

For pro long period of dive, one need unlimited propulsion, power supply and oxygen, it can be met only by the nuclear reactor who can produce unlimited power from the enriched uranium for more than ten years. the Arihant's range only capped by the shortage of food. Mostly the submarine can stay in the underwater for more than three months, without any small movements.

The Submarine converts the sea water into breathable oxygen with the help of electrolysis present in the sea water. meanwhile the scrubbers inside the submarine can inhale the carbon dioxide and other toxic gases buildup in the Submarine. Sailors can consume packed food and water for living.

The basics of the above two major systems in the Submarine along with hull design was supported by the Russian engineers, who was actively worked on the INS construction center in Viazg, major electronic systems and control systems are indigenously made with the help of Indian private companies.

The missiles and ejection systems are completely designed by the state run DRDO with the help from private owned L&T and public sector unit BDL. under the missile program, two missiles were developed one fat missile and another slim missile known as K 4 and K 15 respectively. both of them tested in various conditions and pontoon launchers before going to be inducted in the Arihant.

The Arihant has four launching tubes, each can launch three K 15 missile or single K 4 missile, SLBM's are also a critical technology to be developed, since the height of the missile need to be shortened below 12 meters to fit inside the Submarine for vertical launch.

The Russian  submarine salvage vessel Epron, was there in Vizag for the past seven months to assist the Arihant's trails, Epron is specially made for underwater special expedition mission, used to search and monitor underwater activity, who can also assist the Submarines in case of any emergency. Epron almost works similar like Submarine rescue vessel, who carries ROV and other systems.

After the final voyage of the INS Arihant trails, just a day ago it was successfully test fired the long range K 4 missile, whose range is 3500 km officially, Sources say the Arihant can be used as a test platform, while it's successor INS Aridman is going to be inducted into the Navy for deterrence patrol. who is twice the size of Arihant.

It's once again Thanks to Russia for the tremendous help to build the Nuclear submarine in our Nation.

Cruise Missile Submarine, INS Arihant ready to fire Nirbhay

Cruise Missile Submarine, INS Arihant ready to fire Nirbhay

   This is a interesting development of test firing the long range low flying sub sonic cruise missiles from the strategic missile submarine INS Arihant. the Arihant is the lead vehicle of advanced technology vessel to build and study about future submarines powered by nuclear reactor. at first Arihant was planned as a attack submarine, used to provide defense to the carrier fleet from underwater threats. after the nuclear test in 1998, The Navy and Strategic forces command converts it into a Ballistic missile submarine by developing varieties of  short sized ballistic missiles to fit inside the Submarine's vertical launch tubes.

   And now the Arihant submarine tasked to demonstrate another capability. by firing the long range Nirbhay cruise missile. however still some doubts, can this missilefired from the Vertical launch systems or the Submarines torpedo's tube. and Analysts thinks that Nirbhay could be fired from the VLS tubes. since it's sleek in design and more shorter than the Kalam missiles. So far the Nirbhay missile was test fired from land based test ranges two times. the first launch failed due to the problem in the onbaord computers. and in second test launch, and it performed more than the expected parameters.

   The Arihant has four L&T developed VLS cells, each cell can fire single K 4 missile, the K designated the Indian Missile man Kalam's name, who is the father of many Indian missile programs. the K 4 is the intermediate range submarine launched ballistic missile with the range of some 3500 kilometers, by carrying a single 2.5 ton nuke warhead. due to the short length and fat in size, the VLS can hold only one missile in it cell, means the Arihant can carry four K 4 missiles in each of the VLS Cell. there is a MIRV variant of K 4 already in development stage.

    The K 15 is less fatty compared to the K 4, however shorter in range and payload is just one ton nuclear warhead, and the range capped into some 700 kilometer. the L&T developed VLS can hold three K 15 missiles in one launch tube. makes the Arihant can carry twelve short range ballistic missiles. all the K 4 and K 15 already tested many times from underwater pontoon's and achieved the test parameters. further more K 4 already entered in series production to mass deploy in future Arihant class submarine.

One VLS having 7 Tomahawk missiles

    The US impressed the world, by converting a Ohio class submarine into cruise missile launcher. the US Nuclear powered submarine USS Ohio converted into a Tomahawk missile carrier. the USS Ohio can fire 24 Trident II SLBM from it's 24 VLS Cells.  and the converted VLS cells can also launch the Tomahawk missiles. each VLS can hold seven Tomahawks makes one USS Ohio can able to fire a barrage of 154 missiles in one run. making one of the best fire power submarine in the world.that's what India too planning with the Arihant.

   Nirbhay is relatively very short and sleek compared to the Kalam missiles. so it's clear each VLS can hold seven Nirbhay missiles. Nirbhay and Tomahawk has same diameter of 0.52 meters. and the Trident SLBM has some 2+ meter's dia,the same goes to K 4. so the calculation makes the count of each VLS by carrying seven Nirbahy make the Arihant can carry 7x4= 28 Nirbhay cruise missiles.

L&T VLS Launch cell showing three K 15 missile tubes

     Actually the truth is Arihant is 6000 tons full load of Missile submarine. which is just a test vehicle, and the Real Monster is the INS Aridhman. who is the first vessel from the Arihant family who is going to deployed in combat duties. It's already revealed that INS Aridhman is double in size compared to the Arihant. so clearly more VLS tubes and doubles the fire power. as mentioned, the Aridhman can carry eight K 4 missiles or twenty four K 15 missiles or  56 Nirbhay cruise missiles. when compared to the Ohio, which can hold 22 VLS cells compared to the 8 VLS cells in the Arihant.

     It's quite good that Indian Navy chooses the Nirbhay as a SLCM. by holding large number of cruise missiles. while Surface ships like latest Kolkata can carry only 16 Barhmos for Anti shipping or Land attack roles. so sending a SSGN with the Indian Navy flotilla makes more fire power with the large number of long range cruise missiles. making the enemy land targets razed by saturation of missile attack from the SSGN. like how the Americans dominate the world by sailing the silent deadly SSGN's around the world.

    The decision looks good by fielding cruise missiles in the Submarines. India plans to build three to four Arihant class vessels. making one of the best second strike capability against any powerful Nations. however maintaining such Submarines can ruin the Navy's budget. It's quite good if one SSBN can comes under the SFC for nuke launches with Kalam missiles. and three other can comes with the SSGN capability.

As a jaw dropping news, INS Aridhman already constructed and reportedly in the sea conducting some trails. however details regarding the Strategic missile submarine programs kept secret.

The secret 'K' missile family

 The secret 'K' missile family

  Named after Kalam, a secret family of advanced weapons is taking shape but the Government is yet to decide on the induction of their land-based variants.

   In a dramatic breakthrough in its nuclear offensive capability, India has successfully tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with an eventual range of 3,500 km. Tested secretly off Visakhapatnam in January this year, the 10-m long and 1.3-m wide missile emerged from a pontoon submerged 50 m underwater and breached the surface. Painted black and white so that it can be distinguished in water, it has passed a critical parameter.

    Named after India's missile man, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, the nuclear-tipped K-4 is quite significant in a batch of new-generation counter-strike strategic missiles. The top secret indigenous "K" missiles are faster, lighter and stealthier. They also make India only the sixth country to develop undersea strategic missiles.

    A second firing, to be conducted off Visakhapatnam within two months, will revalidate a critical parameter-the ability of a 20-tonne projectile to withstand 50 kg of water pressure and eject from a submerged launcher before engaging its rocket booster. What makes an SLBM relevant in the Indian context is that it is part of the third leg of the nuclear deterrent (air and ground-launched weapons being the other two) and the ideal invulnerable second strike weapon stated in the nuclear doctrine. Defence officials say a long range SLBM like the K-4 will enable an Indian nuclear submarine lurking in the Bay of Bengal to target China and Pakistan simultaneously. Launched last year, India's first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine Arihant has been designed to carry four K-4s or 12 of the 750-km range K-15s.

    DRDO officials say that the K-4 will be ready for induction before the end of the decade. This is because most technologies, including the sophisticated guidance packages, were already perfected while developing the shorter range K-15 SLBM. Defence officials, however, are cautious because despite a history of missile expertise, Russia has witnessed multiple failures of its new Bulava SLBM. In the works is an as yet unnamed longer-legged variant of the K-4 with a 5,000-km range. The 12-m long missile is meant to arm future nuclear submarines.

     But while the DRDO parades its Agni and Prithvi missiles on Republic Day, it will not even acknowledge the existence of any of these "black projectsâ€? that have been cloaked under the Advanced Technology Vessel Project (ATV) that builds the Arihant class of nuclear submarines.

   By 2008, the missile was successfully test fired seven times, and tested to its full range up to four times. The tests of 26 February 2008, were conducted from a submerged pontoon 50 metres (160 ft) beneath the surface off the coast of Visakhapatnam. A land-based version of the K-15 Sagarika was successfully test-fired on 12 November 2008. A full range test of the missile was done on 11 March 2012. The twelfth and final development trial of the missiles was conducted on 27 January 2013. According to DRDO Director General V. K. Saraswat, the missile was again tested for its full range of 700 km and met all its objectives with a single digit impact-accuracy.The test will be followed by integration of the missile with INS Arihant. 

Article by Sandeep Unnithan and published in India Today