The Arihant class submarines similar to the Russian Charlie-II class submarine, which India leased from the Soviet Union between 1988 and 1991. Personnel will have the opportunity to train on a Akula-II class nuclear attack submarine it will lease from Russia sometime in the second quarter of 2010. It is conjectured that India may have struck deal for the supply of two of these submarines with an option to purchase them in the future.
| Arihant Class Submarine overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Arihant |
| Builders: | Shipbuilding Centre (SBC), Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh |
| Operators: |  Indian Navy |
| Succeeded by: | Arihant follow-on submarine |
| In commission: | 2011- (est.) |
| Building: | 4 |
| Planned: | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ballistic missile submarine |
| Displacement: | 6,000 tons |
| Length: | 112 m (367 ft) |
| Beam: | 15 m (49 ft) (Est.) |
| Draft: | 10 m (33 ft) (Est.) |
| Propulsion: | 85MW PWR using 40% enriched uranium fuel; 1 turbine (47,000hp/70MW); 1 shaft; 1 7-bladed, high-skew propeller |
| Speed: | 12–15 knots (22–28 km/h) (surfaced); 24 knots (44 km/h) (submerged) |
| Range: | unlimited except by food supplies |
| Test depth: | 300 m (980 ft) (est) |
| Complement: | 95 |
| Sensors and processing systems: | USHUS Sonar |
| Armament: | Torpedoes: 6 21" (533mm) torpedo tubes - est. 30 charges (torpedoes, missiles or mines) SLBM - 4 launch tubes (each with 2.4 meter diameter) 12 x K15 SLBM (3 in each launch tube) or 4 x K-4 SLBM (Under development) |
The Arihant class submarines may possibly be armed with the existing 750 km K-15 Sagarika SLBM or the under-development K-4, an SLBM version of Agni-III.
Although it was widely speculated, the submarine does not sport either a "bulb" like towed array sonar, or a low blended sail. The glimpses of the submarine provided to the media seems to indicate a design with a blended hump behind the sail for the vertical launchers.
The Arihant class submarines hull features twin flank-array sonars and Rafael broadband expendable anti-torpedo countermeasures. The UPA government's report card carried an image of INS Arihant, which provided the first glimpse of the complete sub.
