Armed With K-15 Missiles, India’s Nuke-Powered INS Arighat Puts China’s Yunnan, Pakistan’s Islamabad Under Navy’s Crosshair
Armed With K-15 Missiles, India’s Nuke-Powered INS Arighat Puts China’s Yunnan, Pakistan’s Islamabad Under Navy’s Crosshair
https://www.eurasiantimes.com/armed-with-k-15-missiles-indias-nuke-powere/amp/
China and its state-owned propaganda media outlet ‘Global Times’ is not leaving any stone unturned to demonise India for the commissioning of its second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), INS Arighat.
* India is the sixth country after the U.S., Russia, France, the U.K. and China to boast of a nuclear submarine fleet.
* India’s plan is to bolster its nuclear fleet with at least four SSBNs under its Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), with a budget outlay of about ₹90,000 crore.
The Chinese government, known for its expansionist policies and hostile attitude towards neighbours over territorial sovereignty, is virtue-signalling India over the ‘responsible use’ of its military arsenal.
■ India plans to commission its third nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) in another six months to further bolster its sea-based leg of the nuclear weapons triad, after the second such boat was formally inducted into the Strategic Forces Command as INS Arighaat at Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
■ The third SSBN, undergoing trials ahead of her commissioning as INS Aridhaman early next year, is slightly bigger than the first two, INS Arihant & INS Arighaat, and consequently capable of carrying more long range nuclear-tipped missiles.
■ Significantly, INS Arighaat is also capable of carrying some K-4 missiles, which have a strike range of over 3,000-km, unlike her forerunner INS Arihant that is armed only with the 750-km range K-15 missiles.
■ This is crucial for credible strategic deterrence amid the continuing military confrontation with China. Capable of staying submerged for months, SSBNs are most secure, survivable and stealthy platforms for second-strike capabilities, which in turn deter an adversary from launching a surprise first strike.
■ INS Aridhaman and the fourth under-construction SSBN in turn, will be even more potent. With a 7,000-tonne displacement & 125-metre long, they will be able to carry larger number of K-4 missiles.
■ The four submarines, built under the classified advanced technology vessel project launched in 1990s at a cost of over Rs 90,000 crore, are of course less than half the size of SSBNs of countries like the US, China and Russia.
■ China has six Jin-class SSBNs, with 10,000-km range JL-3 missiles, apart from six nuclear-powered attack submarines (called SSNs, meant conventional warfare). The US, in turn, has 14 Ohio-class SSBNs and 53 SSNs.
The Chinese propaganda news outlet cited an anonymous Beijing-based military expert to claim that India should use its nuclear deterrence force responsibly.
