Image source: topwar.ru
Fearing China's military gain, India continues to develop its nuclear triad. One of its most important components is the submarine fleet.
Ritu Sharma, a columnist for the Indian newspaper The EurAsian Times, discusses this in his article.
Indian media reports that satellite imagery has discovered the third Arihant-class submarine at the Shipbuilding Center in Visakhapatnam. Next to her were two of her predecessors.
Image source: topwar.ru
Thus, satellite observations confirmed the strengthening of the Indian nuclear triad, because the footage indirectly confirmed that the submarine had entered service with the Indian Navy.
At the moment, India has two nuclear submarines with ballistic missiles - INS Arihant and INS Arighat. Now, apparently, a third submarine has been accepted into the fleet. The author notes that this significantly strengthens India's capabilities in the direction of nuclear deterrence. The fact is, Sharma emphasizes, that the development of Chinese anti-submarine warfare is still in its infancy.
Indian nuclear doctrine does not allow first strikes, only retaliatory actions are allowed. And the greatest guarantee of survivability of all the means of destruction of the Indian Armed Forces is given by the SSBMS, which, in fact, perform the function of a "weapon of retaliation."
Last year, India tested a K-4 submarine-launched ballistic missile with a range of 3.5 thousand kilometers. Its ability to launch from an underwater position and move along a parabolic trajectory was confirmed.
According to SIPRI, at the beginning of 2023, the Indian military had 164 nuclear warheads. Ground-based missile launchers, aircraft and submarines can serve as delivery vehicles for them.