New Delhi: India test fired a ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads from a submarine, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The missile, which was test fired in the Bay of Bengal by India’s only known operational nuclear powered submarine, Arihant, met all “operational and technological parametres” the Defence ministry said.
The submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM, was tested to a predetermined range and impacted the target area in the Bay of Bengal with very high accuracy, the Defence Ministry said.
The test demonstrates India’s ability to launch ballistic missiles from land, air and underwater - a rare capability possessed by a few nations such as the US, Russia, France and China.
The missile test showed “a robust, survivable and assured retaliatory capability is in keeping with India’s policy to have credible minimum deterrence that underpins its ‘no first use’ commitment,” the government statement added.
India operates three home-made ballistic missile submarines, and has developed two submarine-launched surface-to-surface missiles - the K-15 and the K-4. The latter has a range of 3,500 km.
The programme to build nuclear-powered submarines and fit them with submarine-launched ballistic missiles is, by far, the most complicated weapons development programme India has ever engaged in.
INS Arihant is India’s first home-made nuclear submarine. It was launched in July 2009, the anniversary of Vijay Diwas (Kargil War Victory Day) by former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur.
India has decided to increase its nuclear submarine arsenal as it is going to four more SSBNs along with six nuclear-powered SSNs like the INS Chakra nuclear submarines leased from Russia on different occasions.
The submarines would act as a counter mainly in the Indian Ocean region.
