New Delhi:India's first indigenously built nuclear armed submarine INS Arihant was commissioned into service in August making the country a "nuclear triad" power, sources said on Tuesday.
Launched on July 26 2009, INS Arihant was declared as ready for operations in February 2016 and was commissioned into the Indian Navy in August 2016 after extensive sea trials.
With INS Arihant becoming fully operational, India joins the club of other 'nuclear triad' powers - UK, USA, China, Russia and France. A nuclear triad power has the ability to launch nuclear weapons from air, land & water.
Arihant, which translates to annihilators of enemies, is a 6000 tonne SSBN, a submarine that can carry ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. SSBN's are believed to be the best guarantors of second strike capability in a nuclear exchange.
Completion of the nuclear triad is extremely critical for India given the country's "No First Strike" policy.
India's nuclear armed submarine which was developed over 3 decades under a secret government programme is equipped with short range missiles with a range of 700kms and also has ballistic missiles with a range of 3500kms.
India was earlier using nuclear submarine INS Chakra which is on lease from Russia.
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