Free Republic

Indian nuclear submariners sail on US nuke sub Sandeep Unnithan The Obama administration may have yet to bridge a trust deficit with the Indian government but cooperation is galloping in the military sphere. In a first of its kind, three crewmembers from India's indigenously built nuclear submarine INS Arihant sailed for a week onboard the USS Annapolis, a Los Angeles class nuclear powered attack submarine, in the Arabian Sea last month. The attachment, kept under wraps, formed part of the annual Malabar joint Indo-US naval exercises which concluded off Goa in early May. The move is significant. Just as the...

India's indigenously designed and built nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, will assume an operational profile after two years, according to Indian Navy chief, Admiral Nirmal Verma. "Arihant, of course, will take about two years of trials before she is inducted in the navy," Adm Nirmal Verma has said in an interview for the forthcoming issue of defence journal Indian Defence Review. Verma said the Navy and the DRDO were looking into the challenges such as "proving of new technology, getting the submarine fully operational, developing doctrines and procedures" for the induction of Arihant. "We are actively working on all these issues,...