Arihant - Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) - Boat

The Arihant Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) was difficult to understand. Just as China built socialism "with Chinese characteristics" [in Deng Xiaopeng's immortal phrase], India has built an atomic submarine "with Indian characteristics". The "normal" program, that is, the programs of the USA, UK, and the Soviet Union, all followed a consistent pattern in which a nuclear powered attack submarine design was modified to carry long range strategic ballistic missiles. Contrary to other countries, the first efforts of France were directed into the building of a ballistic missile submarine. In all cases, however, the submarines were all "operational" rather than test assets [though the status of the Chinese Xia class SSBN was uncertain].

Countries have distinctive national styles of military technology. American hardware was sophisticaed, the product of a system where cost over-runs and schedule delays are normal. The Soviet system tended towards less sophiticated systems that were easier to produce and simplere to operate. The Indian indigenous arms industry was characterized by bizarrely protracted development cycles, measured in decades rather than years, which as often as not fail to ever result in an operational weapon [in American missile defense circles, this was known as "reserach forever"]. The India caste system was divided among the Brahmans [priests], the Kshatriyas [warriors], Vaishyas [merchants], and Shudras [laborers]. At times it seems that indigenous India weapons programs exsist for the amusement of the Brahmans rather than the use of the Kshatriyas, and the ATV was no exception.

One MOD report from 2011 noted "The Government has not been able to put in place a responsive, dynamic and effectivedefence procurement regime. The complete process suffers from indifference, apathy, inefficiency and lassitude. Old bureaucratic mindsets and penchant for status-quoism inhibit forward thinking.... The Indian defence acquisition process was fraught with unacceptable and undue delays at all stages and most of the acquisition schemes result in foreclosure. Procedural propriety and integrity has overtaken the primary aim of affecting positive and timely procurement."

The ATV has four larger missile tubes for the medium-range K-15 nuclear missile, with each tube able to accomodate three smaller tubes for the shorter range BO-5 SLBM. The four medium range missiles do not constitute much in the way of a deterrent force, while the 700 kilometer range BO-5 does not provide much in the way of a patrol area in which the submarine might hide. The Advanced Technology Vessel literally was a technology vessel rather than an operational capability.

The plan for the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) until the late 1980s, was to build an SSN - a fast-moving deep-diving nuclear-powered attack submarine, which would hunt surface ships. Around the time India leased a Charlie-I class nuclear-powered attack submarine from the Soviet Union, which happened in 1988, planning veered towards building a submarine carrying ballistic missiles. The hull design was lengthened and the SSN quietly transformed into an SSBN.

The Project code named Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) Project took 25 years for completion. It spawned a new era in the field of cooperation between DRDO, BARC, Navy, PSUs and private industry in which these organisations synergised their efforts to achieve a significant technological and strategic milestone.

The Arihant class( nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines)- INS Arihant (S73), INS Aridhaman (S74) are built for the Indian Navy by Navy Shipbuilding Centre, Visakhapatnam. The miniaturised naval version of the reactor was designed and built by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam. Several companies supplied components of the reactor. High grade steel supplied by Heavy Engineering Corporation, Ranchi was used to build the reactor vessel. The steam generator was provided by BHEL; and Audco India, Chennai built the pressure valves. Separately, infrastructure for testing the reactor subsystems was set up at the Machinery Test Center in Visakhapatnam. Facilities for loading and replacing the fuel cores of the naval reactors in berthed submarines were also established at the Ship Building Center.

Once the design was finalised, detailed engineering was implemented at Larsen and Toubro's submarine design centre at their Hazira shipbuilding facility using 3D modelling and product data management software. Tata Power SED built the control systems for the submarine. The steam turbines and associated systems integrated with the PWR were supplied by Walchandnagar Industries.

In a major step towards completing its nuclear triad, India activated the atomic reactor on-board the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant. The nuclear propulsion reactor on board INS Arihant, India’s first indigenous nuclear powered submarine, achieved criticality 10 August 2013, paving the way for its operational deployment by the Navy. INS Arihant had been undergoing trials at Navy's key submarine base in Vishakhapatnam and would be launched for sea trials soon since the nuclear reactor had gone critical.

On 13 August 2013 Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh stated "I am delighted to learn that the nuclear propulsion reactor on board INS Arihant, India’s first indigenous nuclear powered submarine, has now achieved criticality. I extend my congratulations to all those associated with this important milestone, particularly the Department of Atomic Energy, the Indian Navy and the Defence Research and Development Organization. Today’s development represents a giant stride in the progress of our indigenous technological capabilities. It was testimony to the ability of our scientists, technologists and defence personnel to work together for mastering complex technologies in the service of our nation’s security."

On 26 July 2009 India launched its first nuclear-powered submarine, the 367-foot long INS Arihant, which means "Destroyer of the Enemies" in Hindi according to the official news release. The name Arihant has its origins in the Jain religion, and unofficial news reports stating "Destroyer of Enemies" omitting the definite article. India became the sixth country in the world to have built one. Besides the US, which has 74 nuclear submarines, Russia (45), UK (13), France (10) and China (10) also possess nuclear-powered submarines - the US has nearly as many nuclear submarines as all other countries combined.

India was a nation that struggled to enter the select group of countries that build nuclear powered submarines. Its program ATV, or Advanced Technology Vessel, was initiated in 1974. But after three decades it had not presented results that could modify the current picture of the navies with nuclear propulsion.

The INS Arihant, India's first nuclear submarine that was till now known by the code name S 2, was launched at a simple ceremony in the port town of Visakhapatnam [Vizac] with the traditional breaking of a coconut on its hull by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife, Gursharan Kaur. It was expected to be ready for induction into the Navy by 2011 after a series of exhaustive trials.

The launch ceremony was attended by the prime Minister. Dr. Manmohan Singh, accompanied by Smt. Gursharan Kaur, Raksha Mantri Shri.AK Antony, Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. YS Rajasekhar Reddy, Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri MM Pallam Raju, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Smt. D Purandareswari, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sureesh Mehta and high ranking officials from the Navy, Department of Atomic Energy, and Defence Research and Development Organisation.

On this occasion, the Prime Minister congratulated the Director General of the ATV (Advanced Technology vehicle) Program Vice Admiral DSP Verma (Retd) and all personnel associated with it for achieving this historic milestone in the country's defence preparedness. He noted that they had overcome several hurdles and barriers to enable the country to acquire self reliance in the most advanced areas of defence technology. The Prime Minister made a special mention of the cooperation extended by Russia. The Prime Minister stated that the Government was fully committed to ensuring the Defence of our national interests and the protection of our territorial integrity. The Government would render all support to the constant modernization of our defence forces and to ensuring that they remain at the cutting edge of technology.

The project director, Vice Admiral (retd) D S P Verma, said that the Arihant was a 6,000-tonne submarine with a length of 110 meters and a breadth of 11 meters. The length was about 10 percent longer than previously published estimates, while the 11 meter beam was much less than the 15 meters of previous un-offcial estimates. Experts say the vessel will be able to carry 12 K 15 submarine launched ballistic missiles that have a range of over 700 km. The Indian nuclear powered attack submarine design was said in some reports to have a 4,000-ton displacement and a single-shaft nuclear power plant of Indian origin. By other accounts it would be 9,400 tons displacement when submerged and 124 meters long.

The MoD/PMO decided not to release any photographs of the submarine, and no filming or photography by the media was permitted inside the Matsya Dock. One report stated that the submarine was visibly based on the Russian Borei-class SSBN, and claimed that the official invitation had a silhouette of the submarine indicating that it's almost definitely based on the Borei. But the 935 Borei has a length of 170 meters (580 feet), a beam of 13 meters (42 feet), and a displacement of 11,750-12,250 tons Surfaced and 17,000 tons Submerged.

India had been working actively since 1985 to develop an indigenously constructed nuclear-powered submarine, one that was possibly based on elements of the Soviet Charlie II-class design, detailed drawings of which are said to have been obtained from the Soviet Union in 1989. This project illustrates India's industrial capabilities and weaknesses. The secretive Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project to provide nuclear propulsion for Indian submarines has been one of the more ill-managed projects of India.With the participation of involved Russian scientists and technician in the diverse phases of the program, came the possibility of that the first Indian submarine with nuclear propulsion can be operational in 2009, having been launched in 2006-2007.

Although India has the capability of building the hull and developing or acquiring the necessary sensors, its industry had been stymied by several system integration and fabrication problems in trying to downsize a 190 MW pressurized water reactor (PWR) to fit into the space available within the submarine's hull. The Proto-type Testing Centre (PTC) at the Indira Gandhi Centre For Atomic Research. Kalpakkam, was used to test the submarine's turbines and propellers. A similar facility was operational at Vishakapatnam to test the main turbines and gear box.

In 1998, L&T began fabricating the hull of ATV but the struggle with the reactor continued. After BARC designs failed, India bought reactor designs from Russia. By 2004 the reactor had been built, tested on land at the IGCAR and had gone critical. Its modest size, around 6,000 tons (the Ohio class SSBN in the movie Crimson Tide weighs over 14,000 tons), led experts to call it a "baby boomer".

India had ample experience building Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) using natural un-enriched uranium as fuel, and heavy water as moderator and coolant. But this was the first time that India has built a PWR that used enriched uranium as fuel, and light water as both coolant and moderator. The electrical power reactors that India would be importing (potentially from Russia, France, and the US) would also be PWRs with enriched uranium as fuel, and light water as both coolant and moderator. Naval nuclear reactors typically use uranium that was enriched to much higher levels than was the case with shore-based power reactors.

While the present project reportedly ends at three units, defence officials have not ruled out building larger submarines on the basis of national strategic imperatives. These have changed since the conception of the project. By the time the first unit was launched in July 2009, the construction of the hull for the next one was reportedly already underway at the Larson and Toubro (L&T) facility at Hazira where the first hull was built. The cost of the three submarines was reported at over Rs3,000 crore, over US$600,000,000 [the Indian numbering system was denominated in Crore 1,00,00,000 and Lakhs 1,00,000, so Rs3,000 crore was Rs30,000,000,000, or US$623,104,807.77 the day INS Arihant was launched]. Another report said that the first submarine alone had cost Rs. 14,000 Crore [$US2.9 billion]. In April 2006, the larger American Virginia-class subs were priced at $2.4 billion apiece, at which time the goal was to cut the program's cost to about $2 billion per sub. The $2 billion figure was a baseline expressed in fiscal 2005 dollars. As of late 2008 the Procurement Cost for the first three units of the British Astute class SSN was forecast at £3,806 M (outturn prices) [US$6,275 B at 2009 conversion rates], for a unit cost of about US$2.1 billion.

The three submarines would be based at a facility being developed at Rambilli close to Vishakpatnam, where hundreds of acres of land had already been acquired. The Indian Navy hoped to commission the base by 2011 in time for INS Arihant's commissioning, and two of these submarines would be at sea at any given time while the third would be in maintenance at the base. Other reports claim that India plans to build a fleet of five nuclear-powered submarines. On report in 2009 stated that the government had given clearance for the construction of much bigger SSBNs, nuclear-powered submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles, each of them costing about $2 billion (approximately Rs 10,000 crore each). This would take off once the three Arihant class submarines were ready.

By 2004 it was reported that the first ATV would be launched by 2007. At that time it was reported that it would be an SSGN and displacing some 6,500 tons, with a design derivative of Russia's Project 885 Severodvinsk-class (Yasen) SSN. The ATV multirole platform would be employed for carrying out long-distance interdiction and surveillance of both submerged targets as well as principal surface combatants. It would also facilitate Special Forces operations by covertly landing such forces ashore. The ATV pressure hull will be fabricated with the HY-80 steel obtained from Russia.

This would have the possibility of multiple performance: it could use missiles of cruise of average reach (1,000 km), ballistic missiles of short reach (300 km), torpedoes and mines, besides participating of operations special.

The ATV was said to be a modified Akula-I class submarine. The Russian Akula-2 and Yasen are also modified Akula-1. By this line of reasoning the ATV would be in league of Yasen, so the ATV would be 6500 tons light, 8500 tons armed and surfaced and 10000 tons submerged. It would be the biggest and heaviest combat naval vessel built in India to date.

The 100-member crew, which will man the submarine, was trained at an indigenously-developed simulator in the School for Advanced Underwater Warfare (SAUW) at the naval base in Vizag. Hands-on training will be done on the INS Chakra, a 12,000-tonne Akula-II class nuclear-powered attack submarine being taken on a 10-year lease from Russia. SBC in Vizag was to become the assembly line for three ATVs, costing a little over Rs 3,000 crore each or the cost of a 37,000 ton indigenous aircraft carrier built at the Cochin Shipyard. Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has begun building the hull of the second ATV at its facility in Hazira, to be inducted into the navy by 2012.

As of 2007 the first of the five long-delayed ATVs was scheduled to be fully-ready by 2010 or so. In August 2008 it was reported that on January 26, 2009, the sluice gates of an enclosed dry-dock in Visakhapatnam were to be opened and the world was to take its first look at India's first nuclear-powered submarine, the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), as it entered the waters.

In February 2009 defence minister A K Antony confirmed that India's nuclear-powered submarine was in the final stages. "The Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project is in the final stage. We had some problems with the raw material in the initial phase. But now the project is in its final stage," he said at the ongoing Aero-India show. This was a rare admission by the defence minister - not only on the existence of the secretive project to build an indigenous nuclear submarine, but also on its developmental status. The submarine, modelled on the Russian Charlie class submarine, was slated for a sea trial in 2009. Officials in the navy and atomic energy department are hopeful of meeting the deadline this time. In the long run, the government planned to buy three nuclear submarines to provide the navy with capability to stay underwater for a very long time. Though defense and nuclear scientists had been working on this project since 1985, they had initial setbacks with the material and miniaturisation of the nuclear reactor which would be fitted into the submarine's hull.

The director-general of Defence Research and Development Organisation Avinash Chander, scientific advisor to the Defence Minister confirmed the existence of India’s second nuclear-powered submarine, which was under construction at a military dockyard in Visakhapatnam for several years now. “The first submarine (Arihant) took 18 years. We hope to have the second submarine, which is under development, in 12 years,” he told Deccan Herald February 05, 2014.

INS Aridhaman is the second Arihant-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine being built by India. She is being built under the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project to build nuclear submarines at the Ship Building Centre in Visakhapatnam. This submarine will have double the number of missile hatches than its predecessor INS Arihant giving it the ability to carry more missiles. This will have a more powerful reactor than its predecessor. The boat will have one seven-blade propeller powered by a pressurised water reactor. She can achieve a maximum speed of 12–15 knots when on surface and 24 knots when submerged. The submarine has eight launch tubes in its hump. She can carry up to 24 K-15 Sagarika missiles with a range of 750 km, or 8 of the under-development K-4 missiles with a range of 3,500 km. Aridhaman will be fitted with the sonar ISS (Integrated Sonar Suite), state-of-the-art sonar developed by NPOL DRDO. It is a unified submarine sonar and tactical control system, which includes all types of sonar (passive, surveillance, ranging, intercept, obstacle avoidance and active). It also features an underwater communications system. The hull features twin flank-array sonars and Rafael broadband expendable anti-torpedo countermeasures. If everything goes as per schedule, INS Aridhaman after clearing trials will join the Indian Navy by 2018-end", said a navy source.

A civilian worker of Larsen & Toubro was killed and another two injured when the hatch of a "tank" to be installed in INS Aridhaman — the follow-on submarine to the first one, INS Arihant — blew off during its "hydro-pressure testing" in building number 5 of the SBC on 09 March 2014. The accident comes at a time when the "hull and full form" of INS Aridhaman, designated 'S-3' at present, is ready for "launch" into water. As of 2013 India was said to be constructing a nuclear submarine base on its eastern coast that will be named INS Varsha, for which Rs 160 crore was sanctioned in the 2011-12 budget (Rs 58 crore for civil works and the remaining for setting up a VLF communication system.) These will berth the INS Arihant, the INS Chakra as well as the new nuclear submarines under construction.

An Indian company reportedly sought partnership with Russia to locally manufacture nuclear submarines and stealth warships. Indian company Reliance Infrastructure sought a partnership with Russia to locally manufacture nuclear submarines and stealth warships, the Economic Times newspaper reported 22 May 2015.

The company's executives were in Moscow, according to the newspaper. They had already met senior officials in Russia's Defense Ministry, and were also likely to meet Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and name a desirable Russian partner. According to the newspaper, Reliance Infrastructure and the Russian Defense Ministry had been negotiating the building of six modern conventional submarines at India's Pipavav Defense, country's largest defense shipyard, through technology transfer from Russia.

The Russian government was open to talks with Indian partners "on various projects,' the newspaper said citing Sergei Karmalito, the Senior Counselor of the Russian Embassy in India. The initiative was related to Make In India project launched in 2014. Through this program India plans to attract financing to 25 sectors of the economy, with 100 percent direct foreign investments allowed in most areas.

India will commission the construction of six nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs), India's navy chief Adm. Robin Dhowan said. The boost to India's navy will renew the country's submarine fleet currently composed of 13 aging diesel-powered submarines and one Nerpa SSN, called Chakra locally, on lease from Russia. "The six SSNs will be constructed under the Make in India program," Dhowan said, as quoted by The Times of India on 03 December 2015. Technical parameters are being drawn up, and a shipyard for the construction was yet to be selected, according to the newspaper. Another three Scorpene-class submarines will be ordered from the French DCNS company.

By December 23017 India had kicked off their production of six new nuclear-powered attack submarines, which will greatly increase New Delhi's naval power projection once completed. The secretive New Delhi program to build their own nuclear submarines was approved in February 2015. "It has kicked off and I will leave it at that. It is a classified project. The process has started," said Admiral Sunil Lanba, Indian Navy commander, on 01 December 2017.