India’s nuclear ballistic missile submarine INS Arihant Friday successfully test-fired a ballistic missile impacting the target in the Bay of Bengal with high accuracy. The successful launch is being considered as a major deterrent achievement given the fact that on previous occasions test firings were executed from fixed underwater pantoons.
INS Arihant’s Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) was tested to a predetermined range and impacted the target area in the Bay of Bengal with very high accuracy. All operational and technological parameters of the weapon system have been validated, said the Defence ministry in a statement.
Crew competency
The Ministry stated that it is also significant to prove crew competency and validate the SSBN programme, a key element of India’s nuclear deterrence capability. A robust, survivable and assured retaliatory capability is in keeping with India’s policy to have ‘Credible Minimum Deterrence‘ that underpins its ‘No First Use’ commitment, pointed out the ministry.
INS Arihant is the first of three indigenously built nuclear submarines while it has also developed K-15 and the K-4 - the two submarine-launched surface-to-surface missiles which are capable of engaging targets inside China and Pakistan. India is in the league of six nations — others being the US, Russia, the UK, France and China — that have nuclear-powered submarines equipped with ballistic missiles.