What appeared to be India’s ambitious foray into the area of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines has met some very serious setbacks, with its first-ever SSBN, INS Arihant, remaining out of action for the past 10 months due to an accident. Seawater flooded the propulsion compartments of the vessel, allegedly due to human error when a hatch was left open while the submarine was still in port. This incident resulted in extensive damage as the submarine set sail.
INS Arihant, the lead boat of a new class of submarines and India’s maiden attempt at building an SSBN has been dogged by problems since its inception. Something has gone wrong, senior Indian Navy sources said, as the discrepancies between the Russian-supplied design and indigenous fabrication have just not matched, with many issues remaining unresolved. The recent accident is attributed to negligence rather than design flaws or manufacturing defects.
The Indian submarine fleet has a record of grim accidents. Last October, for instance, the INS Chakra, the Project 971 Akula-class nuclear attack submarine that was leased from Russia, suffered damages on its sonar dome. Since 2008, at least three major accidents have hit the submarine force of the Indian Navy, two of which caused great loss of life.
The extent to which Arihant was damaged in the accident and the impact on India’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent development program are not yet clear. A second SSBN, Arighat, was launched on 19 November and sea trials are in progress. Three more Arihant-class submarines would be built to provide an assured retaliatory second-strike capability to India. The Arihant program has been more expensive and complex than imagined and has taken well over two decades to develop.
One retired top-ranking naval officer said the cost projection at the outset for three boats was about ₹3000 crore. The expense for Arihant alone is now more than ₹14,000 crore. At such heights of expenditure, it would nevertheless be expected that New Delhi would persist in its quest for a survivable submarine-based deterrent against nuclear threats from China and Pakistan.
The Indian Navy is also making progress with its Scorpene-class submarines. With the second Scorpene class submarine, INS Khanderi, just launched at Mazagon Docks, following October 2015’s launch of INS Kalvari, currently undergoing sea trials and will soon join the fleet, these French-designed Scorpene submarines, with the ability to remain hidden and equipped with long-range torpedoes, add quite significant heft to India’s naval capabilities.
This journey of submarine fleet-building has not been easy for India, but the resolve of the nation to build up its sea defense is unrelenting.