INS Arihant passes deep sea tests, all set for operations

New Delhi: Indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant, which was not featured at the International Fleet Review held recently, is now ready for full-fledged operations.

According to The Economic Times, India's first nuclear-armed submarine has passed a number of deep sea diving drills as well as weapons launch tests over the past five months.

INS Arihant, a 6,000-tonne submarine, is India's first indigenous nuclear submarine, and the lead ship of Arihant class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines launched in 2009.

It was initially expected to go for sea trials by 2012, though this happened only in December 2015.

The vessel's miniaturised nuclear reactor, built with Russian help, went critical in 2013.

Once inducted, the submarine will complete the country's nuclear triad, giving it the capability to respond to nuclear strikes from sea, land and air-based systems.

The submarine's design is based on the Russian Akula-1 class submarines and its 83 MW pressurised water reactor has been built with significant Russian assistance.

Nuclear submarines have the capability to stay out at sea longer, and don't need to surface for a long duration.

Conventional diesel-electric submarines have to come up to the surface at regular intervals for charging their batteries.