All set for a quiet launch of India's first indigenous Nuclear submarine

More than two decades after it was conceived, India’s first indigenously built nuclear submarine, for long called the Advanced Technology Vehicle project, is set for a quiet launch towards the end of this month. Christened INS Chakra after the Charlie class nuclear submarine taken on lease from the Soviet Union in 1988 for three years, it will be put out in the waters of the Bay of Bengal in Visakhapatnam harbour for sea trials.

Top government sources told The Indian Express that the Navy has been cleared for two more 7,000 tonne-Chakra class submarines with an in-principle clearance for another two of the same class. Completing the nuclear triad as envisaged in the Indian nuclear doctrine, INS Chakra will carry intermediate range submarine-launched missiles that have already been tested twice on the eastern coast.

The submarine was scheduled to be launched on July 26 but the date has now been changed because it also happens to be Kargil Victory Day and the government has no intention of sending any message to the neighbourhood.

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