Submarines and Fighter Jets: India Accelerates Massive Military Buildup – Kris Osborn

The following article first appeared in Warrior Maven, a Military Content Group member site. 

The last two weeks have been a landmark for India’s military, which is undergoing a rapid modernization as it tries to counter a growing threat from China.

India’s second nuclear missile submarine was launched, the air force announced plans to speed up the acquisition of 26 French warplanes to be deployed on the country’s latest aircraft carrier and the government okayed the purchase of seven stealth frigates and almost 1,700 main battle tanks.

The naval component of these acquisitions are crucial. There’s concern over control of the Indian Ocean, which India use for 80 per cent of its oil imports and 95 percent of its trade.

The submarine, INS Arighat, is going into service roughly seven years after it was launched at the Indian Navy’s Ship Building Center in Visakhapatnam. Arighat was built with Russian steel and is powered by a pressurized light water reactor developed with Russian assistance. According to Janes, the sub is armed with 12 K-15 Sagarika ballistic missiles, a two-stage solid-propellant weapon with a range of more than 430 miles.

India is expected to build as many as six nuclear-powered submarines. Three of them will eventually fire the K-4 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which have a range of more than 2,100 miles. If fired from the Indian Ocean, those missiles could hit targets in China.

That could prove critical to deterring China in the Indo-Pacific. The Pentagon is counting on that at a time when the US Navy has yet to deploy its Columbia-class submarines, which will replace the Ohio-class ballistic subs. The first one isn’t expected to go into service until 2031.