SSBN Arihant On Deterrent Patrol With Strategic Nukes By 2012: Navy Chief


India’s nuclear triad — a matrix of weapons delivery systems from land, air and sub-sea — will be complete with the commissioning of India’s first SSBN, Arihant in 2011-2012. In a significant comment at his annual press conference today in New Delhi, Indian Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma categorically stated that when the Arihant is put to see in two years, it will be on deterrent patrol with strategic weapons on board.

23 thoughts on “SSBN Arihant On Deterrent Patrol With Strategic Nukes By 2012: Navy Chief”

  1. Oh what am I saying. Sorry.

    Re = (rho*V*L)/mu

    L is the length which compensates for scale. So you'd require a higher density fluid to simulate the real thing from a smaller scale model. Or change velocity or viscosity.

    So no wind tunnel in that regard but submarines don't always travel submerged, you have to consider the effects of drag when it's surfaced just like ships.

    It's pretty likely wind tunnel tests are done on subs. I know for sure they are done on frigates, destroyers because I've done one.

  2. CNS Admiral Verma is not known to giving sound bytes and hence what intrigues me is that it directly contradicts what Prasun K. Sengupta has been consistently maintaining that this Arihant will be nothing more than a mere TD. I now look forward to Prasun either rebutting it or doing some serious alternative explaining as to how this has come about.

  3. Nuclear Weapons on our TD platform is a HSE issue for us as well as for our enemies. Let us put the sagarika's with conventional warhead for timebeing; until we get some more confidence in submarine building.

  4. To Kunal: The soundbytes of the CNS by themselves are self-contradictory. For instance, when one talks of deterrent patrols, what is the CNS referring to? Going out equipped with 700km-range K-15 SLNMs? Does he mean to say this will suffice to deter China? And what makes one so sure of the commissioning timeframe? Does the CNS mean to say that the crew complement of the Arihant is all ramped up and type-certified to make the Arihant an operational SSBN within a two-year timeframe? One just has to look at the Navy's experience with the K-152 Nerpa/Akula-3 SSGN and the difficulties still being encountered in terms of type-certification of the on-board crew complement, and then draw the right conclusions about the human resource challenges likely to be encountered in the Arigant's commissioning process. Even if one assumes that the Arihant's sea trials are glitch-free, one will have to contend with the weapons qualification phase of the SSBN, i.e. certifying the K-15 as seaworthy and flight-capable while on-board the Arihant. Does the CNS mean to say that ALL these challenges will be overcome within a two-year period for a navy that has had no prior experience in operating operational SSBNs, when experience suggests that even the P-5 countries had to endure years of trial-and-error processes when they first launched their respective SSBNs? An what about ensuring the Arihant's survivability when undertaking such deterrent patrols? To my knowledge, no existing operator of SSBNs undertakes deterrent patrols without the protection of SSNs/SSGNs. From where and when will the Navy acquire such SSNs/SSGNs to ensure fool-proof long-distance deterrent patrols to be undertaken by the Arihant?
    Clearly the CNS was offering politically sound soundbytes that are operationally unsound, something his successor will, in all probability, will have to explain by late 2011.

  5. Aerodynamic properties in many aspects can have similarities with hydrodynamic properties with some empirical or proportionate changes. Aerodynamics at say 0.3 to 0.5 Mach can be a better and more sensitive judge of the ocean going objects than the the hydrodynamics itself.

  6. The submarine journey is faster submerged than otherwise, so in spite of having 35% of submarine protruding in the atmosphere, whose density is eight hundred times lower than marine water, the prowess of the fluid makes submerged (sub) move more efficientely…..

    Mr. Ra:
    Well said!

  7. To: Prasun K. Sengupta,
    Thanks for the response and I would tend to agree with your argument as I myself was skeptical about the statement and hence provoked you. I was reading Bharat Karnad and how India has been indulging in nuclear bluff and as to the dangers of how that bluff may be called one day by any of our adversaries. I do agree there are far too many critical stages yet to be cleared by Arihant.

  8. To mirza: Suit yourself, for unlike you I'd rather stick to objectivity and face the reality, instead of being dragged by the nose by the the mere perception of reality! It is most unfortunate that you equate objective rationale with negativity–comething that could prove expensive for you in future.

  9. To Kunal: If you listen to the soundbyte on what the CNS said on December 2 (at http://www.stratpost.com/indian-ssbn-to-complete-nuke-triad-by-2012), you will realise that now
    here does he mention that the Arihant WOULD or WILL put to sea by 2011 or 2012. What he actually says that "as I explained last year, we expect it to get going within two years,….what I'm telling you is that if it goes to sea as an operational leg of the nuclear triad….and the triad will be there when it comes." By listening to his direct quote, it does seem that he was giving a fair and cautious assessment but noweher does he pin down a certain date or a definite timeframe. This is where the members of the mass-media in general have failed us by misquoting the CNS and wrongly reporting that the Arihant will begin going out on deterrent patrols by 2011.

  10. Prasun:

    Even the HAT trial is far from being over, the reactor is not yet critical, and we hear people talking about SAT. IMO poor folk judgement…

  11. India must get real! One Arihant never made a navy; neither will two or three.

    Manufacturing anything but nuclear-powered submarines is a WASTE of money. Get it that diesel fuel for ships is going to come at a premium in only a few years (perhaps five). Consequently, your ships and submarines will be sitting ducks for aggressive navies.

    Next, India needs three lines of nuclear-powered submarines manufacturing two submarines a year each. That's the only way to play catch-up with China within this coming decade. Does India really realize how far it has slipped behind China? I don't think so! Wait a few years, and China will teach India it's Lesson #2. India is really suffering from an attention-deficit disorder. I don't see it recovering!

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