India completes nuclear triad with INS Arihant

India on 18 October 2016 completed its nuclear triad by inducting country's first indigenously-constructed nuclear submarine INS Arihant into service.

INS Arihant was formally commissioned by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba in August 2016.

About INS Arihant

• INS Arihant is the lead ship of India's Arihant class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.

• The 6000 tonne vessel was built under the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project at the Ship Building Centre in the port city of Visakhapatnam.

• It was launched on 26 July 2009, the anniversary of Vijay Diwas (Kargil War Victory Day) by the then Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh.

• After fitting out and extensive sea trials, on 23 February 2016, Arihant was confirmed as ready for operations, and was quietly commissioned in August 2016.

• It first of the expected five in the class of submarines designed and constructed as a part of the Indian Navy's secretive ATV project.

What is nuclear triad?

• A nuclear triad refers to the nuclear weapons delivery of a strategic nuclear arsenal which consists of three components: strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

• The purpose of having a three-branched nuclear capability is to significantly reduce the possibility that an enemy could destroy all of a nation's nuclear forces in a first-strike attack.

• The triad also ensures a credible threat of a second strike, and thus increases a nation's nuclear deterrence.

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