Future of India's SSBN fleet

[Guynextdoor]

This has either happened to Indian nuclear submarines or will happen soon. I hope IN drops secrecy and shares the images

 

[Guynextdoor]

Arihant is a very good looking ship actually

 

[Raj-Hindustani]

What about being in a hostile situation against a NATO country 40-50 years from now when resources are scarce and humanity is splitting at the seams?

Nobody knows what the future holds, and nothing is impossible.

Practically, we want good relationships with both NATO and the West and Russia, Iran, and others.

We would be surviving this time better than the past one. It will impact us, but the situation will not be worse as compared to previous.

Let me ask you a question: do you believe that the West will just let India go for anyone, as in the past?

 

[Raj-Hindustani]

This has either happened to Indian nuclear submarines or will happen soon. I hope IN drops secrecy and shares the images

As of now, we don't need such capability. we might need after 20-30 years, when will have around 20-25 nuclear submarines

 

[Optimal_Control]

While the original intent may be to have the initial subs as testbeds and then move onto a Pakistan specific aspect - at the end with the overall first and second strike capabilities needed against Pakistan these subs are potentially overkill or rather redundant.

Their weapons too are currently best suited for China but for that the patrol areas need to be moved to places where suitable depths will be a challenge for silent running.

India doesn’t need a Delta class equivalent but what it does need is a very silent running type for survival in the eastern waters.

Eventually, it would be better served to focus on newer Akula based types for 4-5 subs with SLBMs in the ICBM class(more on the why later) and convert the older boats to more SSGN roles against Chinese(or Pakistani) ships/land targets.

As for why - think 40-50 years ahead or more.
Because not all is always “bhai bhai” in geopolitics and while it seems India has freedom to go dig into western weapon and dual use tech baskets some stuff is kept out of reach.

Because at the end threat assessments from NATO considers scenarios where impending resource conflicts will push India in conflict with nations beyond China and that is where India’s nuclear deterrence will need to think beyond one continent.

Hi,
While the design and development effort for a larger 13000t boat is under full swing at Vizag, the indigenous SSNs are still far away into the horizon.

One can clearly see different types of SSBN design (hydrodynamic test models) being worked out for ship motion tests at Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) in Visakhapatnam. This newer class of SSBNs will have radically new design compared to the Arihant or stretched-Arihants that are currently in service. A smaller vertical sail integrated neatly into the hull, missle deck with at least 16 silos in two parallel missle banks.

I remember attending a seminar where an ex-Cmdr of IN was talking about how French gave them a tour of their modern nuclear submarine reactor with just one pressurizer compared to the twin pressurizer arrangement Indian industry has managed to produce thanks to initial Russian VM4SG designs. According to him, due to this trick, the French reactors are much more compact and occupy lesser space vis-a-vis our own design. They were able to accomplish this in part, due to higher reliability of their reactor designs.

I really doubt, if French would part ways with their novel designs, and, let India use it for their next generation of boats. What is more feasible is that an OK-650 type reactor (dubbed internally as CLWR-B2 (phase B2) in BARC having a power output of 190WM thermal) would make its way into next gen of Indian boats. This CLWR-B2 could be found in the official publications of BARC (although not everything is disclosed).

Also, I feel the original Arihants would be converted into SSGNs (at a later date) for Pakistan-specific roles as it could carry 12 Brahmos. The next gen of SSBNs (like the one shown above) or "Stretched-Arihants" are definetely an overkill for Pakistan and they are meant solely for China. These boats would be primarly deployed in bastions in Bay of Bengal and later in Indian ocean region.