INS Arighat to be commissioned today: 10 things to know about India's second nuclear submarine

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh commissions the INS Arighat today. This is India's second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.

After INS Arihant, Arighat will be commissioned and will operate under India's strategic command.

Ten things to know about INS Arighat

- the submarine can reportedly reach a maximum speed of 12-15 knots, or 22-28 km/h on the surface and up to 24 knots or 44 km/h submerged

- it comes with four launch tubes which can carry nuclear-capable K-4 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with a range over 3,500 km

- alternately, it can carry 12 K-15 SLBMs with a range of about 750 km

- the submarine will also have torpedoes

- the submarine is powered by 83 MW pressurised water reactors allowing it to remain submerged for months

- it is 112 metres long

- it weighs around 6,000 tonnes

- this submarine is named the Arihant class, a Sanskrit word for 'Destroyer of the Enemy'

- the submarine has been under construction since 2017

- the sumarine was built in Visakhapatnam at the Ship Building Centre (SBC) there

The commissioning of INS Arighat is being seen as a step towards boosting India's naval prowess and nuclear deterrence capabilities.

India's nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) programme is a closely guarded project.

INS Arihant, India's first home-made nuclear submarine, was launched in July 2009 and was quietly commissioned in 2016.

INS Arihant in October 2022 carried out a successful launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in the Bay of Bengal with a "very high accuracy", the defence ministry had said.

The ministry had also said the SSBN programme is a key element of India's nuclear deterrence capability.

(with PTI inputs)