First on LiveFist: INS Arihant Launch, Blackout on Photography


The MoD/PMO has decided not to release any photographs of the submarine, and no filming or photography by the media was permitted inside the Matsya Dock, even though we were just ten metres from it and watched the entire show simply awestruck. But that thing you see behind Dr Singh in the second photo is INS Arihant! If and until any photos are released officially, I will shortly post an illustration of the real thing.

VISAKHAPATNAM, JULY 26: Have had a truly spectacular day here in Vizag, one among the first group of journalists ever to lay eyes on India’s advanced technology vessel, the nuclear submarine INS Arihant. First things first — the submarine is visible based on the Russian Borei-class SSBN (moments before we saw the real sub in its dock, we noticed the official invitation had a silhouette of the submarine indicating that it’s almost definitely based on the Borei). The submarine has a launch crew commanded by Captain Anshuman Dutt. A phenomenal sight in the Matsya Dock of the Shipbuilding Center (SBC), the submarine was slowly towed out, as we I and other journalists sat ten metres from it, pretty much just in absolute amazement, and simply overwhelmed by the moment. The advanced technology vessel!

A dark matted olive shade, its anechoic tiles clearly demarcated (or a bad weld job?) The boat, bearing all the obvious signs of Russian influence, will undergo harbour acceptance trials (HATs) and full systems trials over the next one year, followed by sea trials and then weapon systems trials. The boat does not have a towed array sonar pod, and has a gradual gradiented hump. According to the official figures released today, the submarine is 110-meters long, 11-metres wide and has a submerged displacement of 6,000-tons.

Just back from a very tiring flight, but a supreme day with the INS Arihant. More tomorrow.

45 thoughts on “First on LiveFist: INS Arihant Launch, Blackout on Photography”

  1. Thank you Shiv, god bless you. Another great achievement by Live-fist showing the FIRST ever photo of ATV. Please post more images if you can. Thank you

  2. WHY DID WE HAVE TO GET THIS SARDAR TO LAUNCH THE PRIDE OF THE NAVY? THE NAVAL CHIEF SHOULD HAVE DONE IT. OR SOME SAILOR. THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE WORTHY

  3. the terminator

    so the photos were just as expected by me…..only showing the bulldog like caricatures of the VVIPS…antony should be hanged by his balls….the explanation given by him/his office for not turning up in Kargil was that he didn't want to offend Zardari/Gilani…what a jackass he is…who needs enemies when we got a sacremonious SoB like AK Antony.

  4. So, it is a modified Borei class or Akula class?

    you do know that Russian subs are a generation behind American in capability and at least two in maintainability?

  5. A secret project in India’s Defense Research Organization that can change the world as we know it – anti-gravity lifters tested in Himalayas?

    A possible anti-gravity device

    Dighi in Pune, the city of the brightest Indian defense research scientists and engineers is full of whispers these days. According to some sources in Pune the scientists are tight lipped and say they cannot speak till 2012. What is going to happen in 2012? No one knows but they keep saying before any question is asked – “I know nothing!” If you carefully keep your ears on these whispers you will realize India has tested something no one wants to talk about, It is a break through in conventional Physics and traditional mechanical and aeronautical engineering.

    Still the question comes back why should all stay quiet till 2012? Where did this anti-gravity technology come from? Strange activities are being seen for quite some time in the Indian side of Himalayas. Some say the technology came from a Tampere University of Technology in Finland where an Indian scientist was research engineer. Others says it is really a planned diversion – it came from indigenous research that started in 1070s just after India exploded the first nuclear device in Pokhran. Mrs. Indira Gandhi in late seventies while communicating with news journalists once in Kolkata during a whirlwind election trip mentioned that India must research forgotten technologies that were part of Hindu mythologies like Ramayana and Mahabharata. When quizzed further she mentioned that like in ancient days we should be able to fly effortlessly.

    Anti gravity technology can change India and the world. Uses seem limited only by the imagination: Lifts in buildings could be replaced by devices built into the ground. People wanting to go up would simply activate the anti-gravity device — making them weightless — and with a gentle push ascend to the floor they want.

    Space-travel would become routine, as all the expense and danger of rocket technology is geared towards combatting the Earth's gravitation pull. By using the devices to raise fluids against gravity, and then conventional gravity to pull them back to earth against electricity-generating turbines, the devices could also revolutionize power generation.

    India will most likely announce the discovery as part of peaceful innovation series. But obviously the military applications can make conventional missiles and aircrafts obsolete overnight.

    Effortless lifting and low cost denial of gravity can change our world. And if the whispers are right, India may be changing the world forever. But why the magic year 2012? Why everything has to be kept secret till then?

    plz tell me about this wethere this kind pf project is there or not……..

  6. Given the size of the gathering in the first pic, I dont expect the sub design to remain secretive even for 2 days. Then why such secrecy?

  7. Shiv you have done a shoddy job pasting the email addresses of many people with hints to their names. I hope you are more careful in the future.

    Regards

  8. Shiv! You a fool or what?? Why the four-letter-word are these emails floating around in this post???????

  9. Shiv! You a fool or what?? Why the four-letter-word are these emails floating around in this post???????

  10. Shiv! You a fool or what?? Why the four-letter-word are these emails floating around in this post???????

  11. Shiv! You a fool or what?? Why the four-letter-word are these emails floating around in this post???????

  12. Where are the pics Shiv? We have already seen our PM a million times. Waiting to see something more photogenic. Regards.

  13. Shiv,

    Did you get any original picture of the INS Arihant.

    Why did you post so many email address along with the Launch ceremony of the INS Arihant….

  14. shiv does the sub have a pumpjet propuslor or regular propeller?

    also does it have any towed arrya sonar?

  15. First of let me congratulate you on an excellent work. It is disappointing not to get a first look on the sub. My question is whether Arihant has a ducted(nozzled) propeller like the USS Virginia (SSN-774) for acoustic reduction?? If it exists,The nozzle above the propeller should be visible…..

  16. Seems like most of the commentators on this blog don't read the article. NO PHOTOGRAPHY WAS PERMITTED!!!!! HOW CAN SHIV POST PHOTOS IF HE CANNOT TAKE ANY? IF HE DID TAKE PHOTOS AND POSTS THEM ON THIS BLOG, THEN HE COULD FIND HIMSELF IN TROUBLE AND AT THE VERY LEAST COULD LOSE THE PRIVILEGE TO WITNESS SUCH MOMENTOUS OCCASIONS IN THE FUTURE!

  17. Shiv, when u say u see a lot of influence of Borei class on this sub, did u mean the sub has jet propulsion and not the regular propellers ???

  18. TO SHIV AROOR

    did you saw propeller that how many blades it had or whether the propeller was covered or not?

    Thanks.

  19. Borei class is a behemoth. Are you sure of your observation? INS Arihant is not even half the displacement of Borei.

  20. Hi Shiv,

    If MOD and Govt. of India doesn;t want INS-Arihant's pics not to be given to any one, pls don't post the pic…

    Nation's Interests are more important isn't it??

  21. Shiv, can you please list the noticeable features. Screw propeller or water jet? where were the torpedo tubes located? any stabilizers? Type of tail fin assembly(ie cross, X)? Did it really resemble the Borei-class. Was the hump straemlined like the Borei's or protruding above hull?

  22. hi everyone: the hump was gradual and streamlined, not abrupt. we didn't get a look at the propeller, it was already submerged by the time we got there. and there's no towed array sonar pod.

  23. This may very well be a Graney class submarine. The similarities are too many.
    6000tons….111 m….

    Since no one has seen a Graney class sub, similarities are being drawn to the Borei-class which also belongs to the new generation of Russian subs and may share design similarities with the Graney-class.

  24. It is a modified Charlie class.

    As if the Russians would share their Borei class when it was still on the drawing board.

    the next SSBN will be much better. Well done india.

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