India Today Associate Editor Sandeep Unnithan has a four-page piece in the new edition of the magazine on INS Arihant, India’s first nuclear submarine that launches on July 26. This here, a graphic illustration by India Today graphic artist Prashant Chaudhary, is apparently the closest depiction of what INS Arihant looks like. Apparently the first submarine will not have a aft-dorsal towed-array sonar pod, though this will be part of the second and third boats.
Copyright India Today
12 missiles with range of 700 KM? To be 'upgraded' with four (just four!!!) missiles with range of 3500 KM. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
I wish our 'strategic planners' get serious. This submraine provides all the liabilities that come with operating a nuclear submarine, with none of the security. What a cruel joke.
Submarine needs missiles of at least 8000 KM range and at least 8 MIRVed missiles to provide credible deterence. This is just a waste of taxpayer's money.
looks like he has used the picture of Virginia class as a reference for his version.
Nice to hear that the sub is ready to be launched. It's heartening that the follow on subs to the Arihant series has been approved along with the SSN escorts. Cool.
Why are we talking Cold War language here? Eight MIRVed SLBMs, that is 8×3(minimum)=24 warheads, all supposedly thermonuclear!! I mean come on, is it the US planning to devastate the USSR? We are talking about deterence here, not a saturation level first strike. For a first attempt, 4×3=12thermonuclear warheads is quite all right. What is worrisome however is the range, are we sure it is not 3500 miles? Arihant will practically have to enter the South China sea to find worthwhile targets.
for the whiners and moaners – the ability to build a yuri dolgurky or ohio class doesnt grow on trees or can be mugged from a textbook or downloaded off a torrent. the design and size was frozen in early 1990s. the ATV3+ will probably be far more advanced.
for a first nuclear boat its a very impressive effort if the specs are accurate.
the Agni3-SL is more than adequate to deliver payload into northern china, which is the max we need for next couple decades.
Khan can choose which to be – friend or foe. we need not overtly threaten them at this stage.
To Anon at 6:15pm
The ability to read is wonderful. Allows one to post without understanding.
What part of MIRV do you not understand?
8000 km: Range is inversely proportional to warhead size. Why not educate yourself as to what Agni range is wrt warhead size?
closest depiction? It doesn't even look like a real sub. I wont worry about the no of launch tubes, its not an SSBN but an SSGN like this.
It probably will sport BMs only as long as we dont have a proper boomer. Thereafter it will be better suited to carry CMs.
@anon – 6.11pm
maybe we should built a spaceship with 20 missiles first? a country which has never build a sub before, a country which has no missile with a range of more than 5000 km and lets not mention MIRV. so what stupidity got into you to make such a stupid comment???
Anon @ 6.11 = Chinki troll
P Mukherjee,
If the US had chosen to attack the USSR with their sub-launched Polaris missiles, they would have had to sneak up to the Russian coast too.
An 1800km range missile was the bare minimum they needed to strike at important targets like Central Asia, Western/South Western USSR, Moscow, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, etc. The Polaris did not give them much flexibility as far as firing locations went. Yet, the Americans built an entire line of subs armed with Polaris missiles
The Trident was deployed about two decades later. Who knows what the IN will have two decades from now?
It's interesting that the propulsion (reactor core) is at the back of the sub. Wonder if this is accurate. My recollection of other subs is that the "boiler room" is closer to the middle of the sub.
see this video
http://www.ndtv.com/common/videos/embed_player.php?id=1138779&p
I like it how anyone who wants the products to improve and our armed forces to have greater capability is called a paki or chinki troll. Same story in urban planning, really. Indics have been living in lsums for so long our appreciation of a what a real city is supposed to look like doesn't exist. Anyone who criticizes the infrastructure is a troll.
This 'good enough' mentality is the reason why we have stagnated as a people for the last few centuries.
Hi Everyone….
One Day to go for launch of Advance Technology Vessel or INS Arihant. As per Shiv quoted that India Today latest issue say that ATV will carry only four ballistic missiles in its kitty.
Now, that I was thinking a 5000 tonne submarine cannot carry ballistic missile more than 4 missiles abroad. ATV is a unique project with small boomer and cruise missile or ballistic missile. But interestingly this sub is quiet similar to United States Virginia-Class Attack Submarine. It has very similar launching of 12 Cruise missile like Virginia-Class. Sonar, Intelligence gathering, Indigenous computer system, weapon are quite similar to Virginia-Class.
So, Indian Navy will be able to have an edge over Pakistan Navy. With Acquiring N-Submarine navy can deal with Chinese and Pakistan growing naval asset.
@ Shaktiraj
That is the trouble with us, we set too low a goal by aiming for Pakistan. We have lost a lot of time this way. Pakistan is largely inconsequential. It is time we raised the bar and prepared for India's real adversary, China. ATV is a good first step but we have a long, long way to go before we are considered a real ocean going blue water navy capable of power projection in all the world's oceans.
i'm 100% with p mukherjee/anon at 6.11/anon at 9.01 … if only all indians could think like u.