NEW DELHI – Indian nuclear submarine INS Arihant has suffered major damagedue to ”human error” and has not sailed now for more than 10 months, saysources in the Navy.
Arihant is the most important platform within India’s nuclear triadcovering land-air-sea modes.
Arihant’s propulsion compartment was damaged after water entered it,according to details available with The Hindu. A naval source said waterrushed in as a hatch on the rear side was left open by mistake while it wasat harbour.
The Ministry of Defence did not respond to questions from The Hindu.The accident
Since the accident, the submarine, built under the Advanced TechnologyVessel project (ATV), has been undergoing repairs and clean up, the sourcessaid.
Besides other repair work, many pipes had to be cut open and replaced.“Cleaning up” is a laborious task in a nuclear submarine, the naval sourcesaid.
The Arihant issue rose soon after INS Chakra, the Nerpa class nuclearsubmarine leased from Russia, was reported to have suffered damage to itssonar domes while entering the Visakhapatnam harbour in early October.However, INS Chakra has only a peripheral role in the nuclear triad, forboth training and escorting, and Arihant is the one that will carrynuclear missiles.
The absence of Arihant from operations came to the political leadership’sattention during the India-China military standoff at Doklam. Whenever suchfaceoff takes place, countries carry out precautionary advance deploymentof submarine assets. Arihant (Code name S2) came into the limelight on July26, 2009, when Gursharan Kaur, wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, brokea coconut to mark its launch in Visakhapatnam.
After that, the submarine was towed to an enclosed pier for extensiveharbour trials from the dry docks at Ship Building Centre, away from publicview. Arihant was quietly commissioned into service in August 2016 and itsinduction is still not officially acknowledged. It is powered by an 83 MWpressurised light-water reactor with enriched uranium.
Senior naval sources maintain that Arihant has faced problems from thestart. Initial delays could be just teething trouble, glitches at variousstages of getting the reactor to go critical and during harbour trials;major differences between the Russian-supplied design and indigenousfabrication are said to have left many issues unaddressed satisfactorily.Top gun for second strike
Arihant , the country’s only operational Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear(SSBN) asset, can stay undetected deep underwater for long periods, rangefar and wide. It is the most dependable platform for a second strike, giventhe country’s “no first use” on nuclear weapons. The other options,land-based and air-launched, are easier to detect.
The submarine is manned by 100 men with extensive training from the Schoolfor Advanced Underwater Warfare in Visakhapatnam and further hands-ontraining on INS Chakra.
The second ballistic missile submarine, Arighat, was launched on November19 for sea trials. The launch was kept a low-profile event, attended byDefence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior Navy officers.
A high-profile launch, to be attended by the Prime Minister, was put off.Key to nuclear triad
Arihant and other nuclear launch platforms are operationally handled by theStrategic Forces Command, and report to the Nuclear Command Authoritychaired by the Prime Minister.
However, the over 100 nuclear warheads are not mated with missiles or bombsand remain in civilian custody of the Atomic Energy Department and theDefence Research and Development Organisation.Ambitious plan to build SSBN fleet
India has an ambitious plan to build a SSBN fleet, comprisingfive Arihantclass vessels.
The naval sources say the plan hinges on Arihant’s success. It has taken 30years to build it, at a high cost. “It was initially estimated to costabout ₹3000 crore for three boats — now the cost of Arihant itself seems tohave gone over ₹14,000 crore,” a former high-ranking naval officer said.
The Eastern Naval Command plans to operate its nuclear sub fleet from anindependent Naval Operational Alternative Base (NOAB) being constructed on5,000 acres at Rambilli, for direct access to the sea. The base is locatedabout 50 km from Visakhapatnam, and jetties are under construction.