How many more Arihant-class submarine Indian Navy has planned?

The effort has borne fruit in recent years in the form of INS Arihant – India’s first indigenously built SSBN – a submarine that is powered by a nuclear reactor and is equipped with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. The second Arihant class submarine, INS Arighat, was launched by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during a low profile ceremony at the Ship Building Centre (SBC) drydock in Visakhapatnam on 19 November,

Two other SSBNs, which are still unnamed, will be launched by 2020 and 2022. The two boats will displace 1,000 tonnes more than the Arihant class and will be equipped with eight ballistic missiles or twice the Arihant’s missile load.

The nuclear reactor for these submarines has been developed by the Atomic Research Centre, and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) to arm the boats.

It doesn’t end here. On 1 December, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba revealed that a Rs 60,000 crore project to build six indigenous nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) had been kicked-off by the Navy. SSNs are conventionally armed submarines powered by nuclear reactors. Unlike the SSBNs, these boats do not carry nuclear-tipped missiles. Design work for the submarines, displacing around 6,000 tonnes, is currently underway at the submarine design centre in Gurgaon.

Unnamed Six Nuclear attack Class Submarines SSN are required to be much stealthier to do sneak attack and surveillance roles and it is reported that construction of Scorpene class Diesel attack submarines in India has helped Naval Design Bureau a lot in obtaining technical know how to better understand and develop stealthier hull.

The SSN are designed to track down and defeat both, the SSBN and the enemy aggression. These submarines are used in the attack of particular targets on land by the launch of the fast missiles by use of the torpedo tubes.

The Submersible Ship Nuclear carries the cruise missile with explosives which are used to attack the assailants within the shores. The other purpose of the submarine ship is to conduct surveillance, perform and complete intelligence missions, so they can offer aid in highly classified operations. The size of this ship is moderately big. The SSN is used to make attacks to assailants in the nearby distance. It is considered war prone and looks for enemy ships to destroy them

The Navy is also working on a new series of 13,500-tonne ballistic missile submarines. The boats, built under this project, will be capable of carrying 12 nuclear-tipped missiles, compared to four carried by the Arihant-class submarines. New Ballistic Missile Class which will be designated as S5 and will be as big as Ohio class nuclear-powered submarines currently used by the United States Navy. It is unclear how many S5 sister class ships will be developed at this point in time but the construction of the new class of SSBN is yet to commence and it is likely will go on the floor for nearly a decade from now.

Indian Navy is concentrating on the development of current ssbn of arihant class that will give Indian Navy at least 4 submarines & after its completion around 2022-23 and then indian navy will start developing S5 nuclear Submarine.If the program sticks to its schedules and doesn’t face any delays then tentatively the first lead submarine will be ready for launch by end of next decade. S5 will also require new reactor and BARC will upscale current 83MW Pressurized water reactor (PWR) from Arihant class to 190 MW to meet the power demands of the larger vessel.

Each S5 will have Average construction timeframe of 8 years and lead submarine S5 might take little longer time initially but India might start work on 2 Submarines at a time to reduce their developmental time.

India is, therefore, working on three different nuclear submarine projects at the same time. Although the effort behind the projects is indigenous with 60 per cent of the component for the Arihant-class being sourced from local manufacturers, the Navy has benefited from close design and technical cooperation with Russia. New Delhi is currently in talks with Moscow to lease another Akula-class submarine to replace the existing INS Chakra after its lease ends in 2022. INS Chakra, having suffered damage in an incident earlier this year, is currently non-operational.

India will be having a fleet of following numbers of Nuclear Submarines in near future :

1 SSBN’s of Arihant Class +3 SSBN’s of Aridhaman  Class + S5 SSBN’s apart from 6 new SSN’s + INS Chakra and 1 more to be leased from Russia.

India is all set to emerge as a Super-power on the World scene in this century. But there will be a difference. Our power won’t be aimed at destabilizing the world rather it will be aimed at promoting adherence to universal human values and delegitimizing rule of one set of beings over the others. We must remember that we can buy peace only from a position of strength. After all, this is a country that has seen Mahabharata but has still been inspired by the high ideals of Ram-Rajya.