Below is an aircraft photo (courtesy mapio.net) of India's nuclear submarine building yard and SSBN/SSN base at Vishakhapatnam (aka Vizag). Vizag is also the HQ Base of India's Eastern Naval Command.
---Ghalib Kabir has located the commercial satellite photos below nuclear subs at Vizag Base:
Above and posted on numerous websites like) can be seen India's first SSBN INS Arihant.
INS Chakra 2 - a Russian built Akula-class SSN, was 10 year leased from Russia and reportedly returned to Russia in June 2021. When leased Chakra 2 may have been armed with torpedoes and Klub missiles (restricted to 300km under MTCR restrictions). India will eventually deploy its own submarine launched Nirbhay land attack cruise missiles and BrahMos anti-ship missiles independently of Russian development help.
Nirbhay and BrahMos will be fitted to India's conventional subs and future 6 x indigenous "Project Alpha" SSNs (the latter to be developed by the 2030s).
Visible above are INS Arihant and what is believed to be a section of INS Arighat. Arighat (being of the Arihant class) may also have the same specs as Arihant: ie. 83MW PWR, displacement 6,000 tonnes, dimensions (111m long, 11m beam) and 4 missile silos. The silos on Arihant might accommodate 12 x K-15 SLBMs in total and in future 4 x K-4s (in total). See India's K SLBM family.
The white covered shed may house the 7,000 tonne S4 under construction. It may eventually have a 90MW PWR, and 8 silos. Optimistically S4 might be ready for launching by mid 2022. Then S4* (with same specs) may be launched months afterward. Future S-4 and S-4* are also categorized in the Arihant class.
Probably in the 2030s India is also planning to build full sized "S5 class" SSBNs. These will accommodate 12 to 16 x K-5 or K-6 SLBMs.
Ghalib advises the K-5 missile tests are apparently under lengthy discussions and might see some tests by 2023 if all goes well. As Pete thinks the K-5 would likely be too large to fit in Arihant class subs its deployment may need to await construction of the S5s. Apparently there is a concept called limited deployment, used recently to deploy the Nirbhay LACM in the Ladakh region - in range of Pakistani and Chinese forces.
Ghalib advises the 7,000 tonne S4 and S4* may be on track for sea trials by 2024-25 with the SLBM K-5 tests occurring concurrently. Ghalib believes the S4 will carry the K-5 in all likelihood (although Pete disagrees :-) and in 6 to 8 silos. and that the K-5s may have single boosted fission warheads (yielding 60-100 kT).
Pete estimates that India, like all the P5 legal nuclear weapon states, would have developed 2 stage thermonuclear weapons years ago. India was assisted by Russian designs and test data, so no live testing by India has been needed. China successfully exploded its first multi-stage thermonuclear weapon in 1967! - so hasn't India caught up 53 years later? I believe India has caught up. India's reticence is about multi-layered perceptions. This is about India's illegal nuclear weapon status (while still being accepted as a defacto legal nuclear power). Hence India does not want to highlight the true power of its nuclear arsenal on a public relations or international legal level.
Above is a very grainy shot of Arihant and Arighat tied alongside each other (circa January 2021). INS Arighat was apparently undergoing harbour trials earlier in 2021. This may especially include running its reactor and testing its electricals and electronics. Arighat may have commenced sea trials, testing its planes, any propeller cavitation, hydrodynamic noise, crew efficiency, new combat systems, silo hatches and many other systems. If all goes well Arighat might be commissioned this year.
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