First N submarine goes for sea trials
Launched in 2009, it is four years behind schedule
Visakhapatnam: Indigenously built nuclear submarine INS Arihant entered the open waters off Vizag coast on Monday morning kick starting its Sea Acceptance Trials, SAT.
The submarine entered sea waters in the presence of defence minister Manohar Parikkar, who reached Vizag on Monday morning.
The sea trials and the commissioning of the submarine, which is capable of carrying nuclear missiles, have already been delayed by more than two years. The launch of Arihant’s SATs was kept a secret due to the sensitivity involved.
Top brass of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, who had designed Arihant’s 83 MW Pressurised Power Reactor that can be propelled with highly enriched uranium fuel, were also present at the time when the nuke submarine left for a sortie as part of the SATs that will take at least 18 months.
The naval version of the nuke reactor being carried by Arihant was designed by BARC at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam.
The nuke submarine is said to have returned to the harbour by evening after a few sorties. SATs were taken up after a series of successful Harbour Acceptance Trials (HAT) at the ship building centre in Vizag for a few months.
Mr Parikkar’s arrival to Vizag was delayed by an hour and he left the city after the submarine entered the open sea waters. He was at the Eastern Naval Command headquarters and the harbour for around two hours.
INS Arihant is also expected to join Indian Navy’s submarine fleet by 2017. As per the original schedule, the nuclear submarine, which was ceremonially launched on July 26, 2009, was supposed to go for sea trials in 2010 and to be formally inducted into the Indian Navy by 2011.
“The nuclear submarine is undergoing all the standard testing procedures of all its capabilities, since it is the first of its kind being built by India, proper care is being taken,” said a top official of the ENC on an earlier occasion.
The INS Arihant is a part of the Indian Navy’s secretive Advanced Technology Vessel project. India will join the league of five nations in the world with the ability to design, build, and operate its own nuclear submarines once INS Arihant is inducted into Navy.