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August-September 2024
Volume 19 No. 4
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Military 2021 – Yearbook
2022
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PAGE 3 Defence Budget 2024-25 — An Analysis
PHOTOGRAPH: PIB
The defence budget for Financial Year 2024-25 maintains key trends of the past decade, including attempts to enhance capital expenditure, indigenisation efforts, and strengthening border infrastructure, though challenges remain in modernising the Armed Forces due to a modest overall budget increase. Vice Admiral A.K. Chawla (Retd)
Second Arihant-Class submarine ‘INS Arighaat’ commissioned into Indian Navy by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at Visakhapatnam, in Andhra Pradesh on August 29, 2024
PAGE 4 Ahead of the Competition: The BEST AIP System and the Future of Hybridisation in Conventional Oceanic Submarines
The BEST (Bio Ethanol Stealth Technology) AIP developed by Navantia creates the appropriate power to charge the batteries and allow the submarine to patrol while maintaining maximum discretion. Navantia S.A.
India’s Second SSBN Commissioned
PAGE 7 Navy’s New ASBM and AUV
The commissioning of the second Arihant-class SSBN, INS Arighaat, marks a significant milestone in India’s development of a secondstrike nuclear capability and strengthens its nuclear deterrence n V ICE ADMIRAL A.K. CHAWLA (RETD)
T The Indian Navy is swiftly enhancing its defensive capabilities by developing anti-ship ballistic missile systems and autonomous underwater vehicles. Lt General P.C. Katoch (Retd)
PLUS Appointments
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HE COMMISSIONING OF THE second SSBN of the Arihant-class, INS Arighaat at Visakhapatnam on August 29, 2024, by India’s Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh, marks another significant milestone in the development of India’s second-strike capability and the strengthening of our nuclear deterrence. The construction of Arighaat, reportedly commenced in 2009, and it was launched in November 2017. An upgraded variant of the Arihant-class submarine, it is the second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine made by India at the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam.
As per open-source information, the submarine is powered by an 83 MW pressurised water reactor with a single shaft driving a seven-blade propeller, enabling it to achieve a maximum speed of 15 knots on surface and 24 knots when submerged. The submarine has four launch tubes in its hump, like Arihant, believed to carry up to 12 K-15 Sagarika missiles (each with a reported range of 750 km), or four K-4 missiles (with a likely range of over 3,500 km). The submarine is also armed with six torpedo tubes, which similar to other submarines, can carry a mix of torpedoes, missiles and mines. As per the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the technological advancements undertak-
en indigenously on Arighaat make it significantly more advanced than its predecessor Arihant and this process will advance further after the commissioning of subsequent SSBNs. A comparative table with SSBNs of other countries reveals that India’s SSBNs are the smallest and most lightly armed, which is not surprising, considering that its expertise in building and arming such submarines is slowly reaching maturity. While announcing the successful completion of the first deterrence patrol by India’s first SSBN, INS Arihant, on November 5, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stated that, “… a credible nuclear deterrence is the need of the hour. The success of INS Arihant gives a fitting response to those
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