Part 2 of 3 Parts (Please read Part 1 first)
     The Indian government has been very tight-lipped about the capabilities of the Arighaat. They said that only “technological advancements undertaken indigenously on this submarine make it significantly more advanced than its predecessor,” which was commissioned eight years ago. India has not released pictures of Arighaat since its August 29th commissioning.
     Naval analysts say India is clearly on track to develop a subsea nuclear deterrent that packs enough second-strike capability to deter Beijing from taking hostile action against it.
     India has newer, bigger subs with longer-range missiles in the works. Those missiles could have ranges up to three thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight miles, according to analysts, enabling strikes anywhere in China.
     Matt Korda is an associate director for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists. He said, “Although India’s sea-based nuclear deterrent remains in relative infancy, the country clearly has an ambition to field a sophisticated naval nuclear force with ballistic missile submarines at its core.”
     Korda continued that “These submarines are a critical piece of India’s broader efforts to establish a secure second-strike nuclear force thus allowing India to hold both Pakistani and Chinese targets at risk, particularly with its eventual third and fourth submarines (which will have more missile tubes and longer-range missiles).”
     India’s next ballistic missile subs could be years away if history is any predictor of the future. Arighaat was launched almost seven years ago. If that timeline from launch to commissioning applies to the next Indian ballistic missile sub, it won’t join the service until sometime in 2030.
     Tom Shugart is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a former US Navy submarine commander. He said that a second ballistic missile sub does do something for India’s naval and military psyche.
     Shugart said that “It is a marker of being a great power.” He pointed out that the five members of the United Nations Security Council including the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France all have nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarines, or SSBNs.
     The smallest of those SSBN fleets are those of Britain and France. They have four boats each, a number Shugart sees as the minimum for keeping one at sea at all times.
     Nuclear-powered submarines are very complex machines. When regular maintenance is needed or when things break and need repairing, the work can take a month or more.
     The U.S. Navy’s Ohio-class SSBNs spend on average of seventy-seven days at sea followed by thirty five days in port for maintenance, according to the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet. Refits and overhauls can take up to twenty-seven months for a nuclear reactor refueling, according to US Navy documents.
     Shugart continued, “By having more than one, there’s a better chance India will be able to have one of them at sea in a survivable status. But to keep one at sea at all times is probably going to take more than two boats.”
Please read Part 3 next