Nuclear-capable K-4 undersea ballistic missile successfully test fired from INS Arihant

Nuclear capable undersea ballistic missile, code named K-4, was successfully test fired on 31 March 2016 from an undisclosed location in the Bay of Bengal. The test was conducted nearly 45 nautical miles away from Vishakhapatnam coast in Andhra Pradesh.

The trial was carried out with the support of the personnel of Strategic Forces Command (SFC) while the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) provided all logistics.

The missile was fired from 20-meter deep and covered more than 700 km before zeroing on the target with high accuracy reaching close to zero Circular Error Probability (CEP).

The K-4 missile was fired from onboard silos of the Ship Submersible Ballistic, Nuclear (SSBN) submarine. The maiden test represented the capability of the newly built underwater warship to fire long range nuclear capable missiles and the killing efficiency of the most advanced state-of-the-art weapon system.

Key highlights of K-4 missile

• K-4 is a nuclear capable intermediate-range submarine-launched ballistic missile under development by DRDO to arm the Arihant-class submarines.

• The missile has a reported effective range of over 3500 km.

• The development of the K-4 was undertaken after facing significant difficulties in compacting similarly capable Agni-III to equip INS Arihant, which has a limited 17-metre diameter hull.

• K-4 has range comparable to Agni-III with major length reduction from 17 metres to 12 metres.

• The gas-booster designed for K-4 was successfully tested from a submerged pontoon in 2010.

• The missile is reported to be 12 metres long with a diameter of 1.3 metres and weighs nearly 17 tonnes.

• It can carry a warhead weighing up to 2 tonnes and is powered solid rocket propellant.

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