Sorry if it seems like I'm playing parasite again, but I'm in the dark on this project.
The Indian ATV ( Advanced Technology Vehicle) is an indigenously manufactured nuclear submarine. But ... I'm a bit baffled. It seems to combine elements off SSN's, SSGN's and boomers into one vehicle. Globalsecurity has this to say:
Well, with no solid info still available on Yasen, we hardly can talk of sometihing reliable on it's derivative... ;D
I feel strong deja vu in the case - Russian-Indian advanced multi-task sub..Russian-Indian advanced fighter...that no one has seen yet...
Still, no pics. It is kept under wraps for now. A secret out in the open as it were... Keeping the "potential enemy" speculating about its true capacities... Hmmm, is this truly the Indian answer to China's naval (nuclear) deterrent capacity?
Not seriously. They need a far better SLBM than they've got right now to bother with China. What this does is make their deterrent more survivable, as long as the boat isn't a quieting failure like the Xia.
Here's a vidcap.
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9825/insarihant3dweb.jpg
( Dinesha on BR)
The Arihant's capabilities are frankly not known. And therefore it would be totally premature to comment on what it can/ or cannot do based on open source analysis and the media confusion which surrounds every strategic subject.
Hi, what's the definition of a 'secret project' for the purposes of this forum?
Not challenging the thread move, just want to understand so that I post my stuff in the appropriate places.
I thought Arihant was a pretty secretive project. There are no official stats, specs, descriptions, weapons info, etc. she's kept in a shed and it's only in recent months that they've started to allow her to be seen in public, and then obviously only above the waterline.
As an aside, I do wonder if the frequency and quality of illustrations and analysis (perhaps my own included) contributed to the slight relaxation of security.
When the development of an aircarft, a ship or a tank has moved from paperwork, over prototypes
to the use of that design in service, we generally don't regard it as a project anymore. Here's certainly
a difference between aviation and army on one hand and naval projects on the other.
An aircraft or tank, that just existsts as a single example, may be used, but probably remains a kind
of prototype. But ships quitze often are built just as single examples.
And "secret", well ... if those projects we are posting and discussing here really would be secret, we
culdn't post them, of course ! But many of them actually were secret at one time.
You're right covert_shores. The forum's name is secret projects but, mainly, it's dedicated to unbuilt projects, hence the confusion. Contemporary projects in development are considered unbuilt projects until they pass from blueprints to hardware, then we move to the appropriate section. If it fail to reach hardware, it will remain forever in the "secret" sections of the forum.
I was about to start a new thread when I couldn't find one on the Arihant-class but then I finally found this old thread. Some forums have a rule about not 'bumping old threads', I hope that's not the case here as long as things are on-topic.
Anyway, a lot more information & imagery (mostly satellite, as ground-level photography remains tightly controlled with just a handful of images available on the whole internet) has become available over the last decade or so. I'm posting some of that now, digging things out from my collection...
^^ Big thanks to @covert_shores for that awesome infographic. I was as mind-blown as anyone when I found out he does them all in MS Paint!
What we know about the program as of now is that it appears to be a 4-boat class. The first 3 have been commissioned in 2016, 2024 and 2026 respectively. The 4th & presumed last boat has sailed out for sea trials in late 2025 and will likely be commissioned in 2027/28.
They are SSBNs with a deterrence mission. The first two boats known by hull designations S2 & S3 (INS Arihant & INS Arighaat respectively) are about 110-113m long with 4 missile tubes and estimated to displace around 6,000T surfaced (perhaps ~7,000T or so submerged). The last two (one of which, hull S4 aka INS Aridhaman, was commissioned earlier this year) comprise a modified, larger version unofficially referred to Arihant Stretch-class. These boats are estimated through satellite imagery analysis as being about 130m long, with 8 missile tubes behind the sail. Most estimates put the Stretch version's displacement at ~7,000T surfaced (~8,000T submerged).
The missile tubes are designed to accept either a single K-4 intermediate range SLBM or up to 3 x K-15 short/medium-range SLBMs per tube in a triple-pack configuration. All missiles would obviously be carrying nuclear warheads. The first boat (INS Arihant) was believed to have conducted its first 'deterrence patrol' with K-15s back in 2018. All subsequent boats are believed to carry only K-4s as the K-15 (it's land-based version is known as Shaurya) has outlived its usefulness as a technology-demonstrator. The 3,500-km range K-4 was test fired from the Arihant once (2016) and twice from the Arighaat (2024, 2025) as per known reports.
One of the Arihant's missile tubes, shown here in a triple-pack config for carrying the K-15s
The first boat was powered by a 83 MWth pressurized water reactor known as CLWR-B1. The shore-based prototype of this reactor went critical in 2003. The first submarine's own installed PWR went critical in 2014. If you're wondering why the first boat was called "S2", that's because this land-based reactor complex was given the "S1" designation as an acknowledgement of its role in testing, training & certifying reactor engineers & crews that would subsequently go on the submarine(s).
This reactor is believed by many to be in some way 'inspired' by the Soviet VM-4 design that powered the Pr. 670 Charlie-class SSGN that India leased between 1988-91. There are also parallels with the new 190-200 MWth CLWR-B2 (meant o power the upcoming S-5 class SSBNs & Project-77 SSNs) being supposedly 'inspired' by the OK-650B/VM-5 complex on the Pr. 971I Akula-class boat leased by India between 2012-21. Let's just say these leases happened for a good reason.
A key difference however is that the Indian reactor is said to use ~40% enriched uranium fuel as opposed to the original VM-4 on the Charlie that used 20% enrichment. Some other modifications (designed to make the secondary loop & supporting equipment work better in warm-water environments) are also likely to have taken place. There are also reported to be major differences in how the Fuel Assemblies are packed, but there's little information to support/dismiss these reports. The Russians likely served to certify these modifications against their baseline.
Most sources seem to agree that the larger Stretch boats (third hull S4 and fourth hull known as S4*, pronounced S4 Star) come with an improved and/or modified PWR that could be slightly uprated to about ~100 MWth. While I agree that this is likely, I personally reckon the improved PWR configuration actually came online with the 2nd boat itself. There is an inordinate 8-year gap between commissioning of the 1st & 2nd boats, which could potentially account for the ordeal of testing & certifying a new reactor configuration. The 3rd boat was commissioned only 2 years after the second and that timeline doesn't gel with bringing the 'CLWR-B1+' online IMO.
Lots of interesting component-level stuff in this publication. These two are relevant to the Arihant-class, thanks to member 'Kitsune' on other forums for finding!
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