The INS Arihant, the lead ship of the country's class of indigenously-made nuclear-powered submarines, is being built in top secret conditions at Visakhapatnam.
NDTV has accessed the first images of the 6,000-tonne vessel, which will be powered by a nuclear reactor using enriched uranium fuel. The INS Arihant is awaiting sea trials.
When the submarine is declared fighting-fit, India will become one of only six countries in the world with the knowledge of designing, engineering and operating a nuclear submarine.
Five years ago, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife inaugurated the submarine in Visakhapatnam by breaking a coconut on its hull.
INS_Arihant_caption_final_295x200.jpgThe INS Arihant gives India the much-needed second strike capability as nuclear weapons can be kept hidden away in the depths of the ocean and the submarine can prowl the oceans unseen for months. It will be armed with made-in-India nuclear-powered ballistic missiles.
Like other key strategic weapons systems, the INS Arihant is being developed under the aegis of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which is accountable to the Defence Ministry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the agency in Delhi today and said, "At least five DRDO labs should be identified exclusively for innovation with young scientists up to the age of 35 years. They should be managed by leaders also in the same age group".
"DRDO is becoming hollow at the bottom," says Dr Avinash Chander, the agency's chief. He said that budget cuts meant he can induct only about 70 fresh scientists every year instead of the nearly 300 recruits it used to add annually till recently.
look like Soviet Sub's Yankee/Delta.
