India completes nuclear triad with INS Arihant’s first patrol
Hindustan TimesPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday triumphantly announced that India’s first indigenous nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, INS Arihant, has successfully completed its first deterrence patrol and that the success of the submarine “gives a fitting response to those who indulge in nuclear blackmail”, in his first comments on the top-secret Advanced Technology Vessel project. “True to its name, INS Arihant will protect the 130 crore Indians from external threats,” Modi said in another tweet on India’s newest nuclear delivery platform, after meeting the boat’s crew on Monday. “INS Arihant has completed India’s nuclear triad and I would say it’s the biggest development of the century so far in the maritime domain,” said Admiral Robin Dhowan, also a former navy chief. The first functional patrol undertaken by INS Arihant is a significant landmark in India’s continuing and steady development of its nuclear triad of land-based, air-delivered and submarine-launched nuclear weapons, said Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary and ex-chairman of the National Security Advisory Board.