 "INS Arighat's K-4 missile test: A giant leap in India’s naval defence")
India’s successful test of its newly inducted nuclear-powered INS Arighaat, equipped with a K-4 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), marks a significant milestone in its defence capabilities. The K-4 missile boasts an impressive range of 3,500 kilometres, significantly enhancing India’s nuclear deterrence strategy and bolstering its second-strike capability (SSC). This achievement, achieved just months after INS Arighaat’s commissioning in August 2024, underscores India’s growing military prowess in general and naval strength in particular in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The Indo-Pacific and IOR are becoming increasingly important in the global geopolitical arena, with competing interests from the international powers. India’s growing naval capabilities, particularly in the domain of nuclear-powered submarines and SLBMs, offer significant leverage in the ongoing balancing act between these powers while enhancing India’s deterrence capability and ensuring strategic stability in the region.
The K-4 Test and Its Strategic Significance
India’s nuclear-powered submarine INS Arighaat, which carries the K-4 missiles (developed by DRDO), is now the second vessel in India’s fleet to be equipped with these advanced ballistic missiles, following INS Arihant (commissioned in 2016). The successful test of the K-4 missile off the Visakhapatnam coast is crucial because it demonstrates India’s ability to conduct full-range tests of its strategic weapons from operational submarines, not just from submersible pontoons or other platforms.
The missile, capable of striking targets up to 3,500 kilometres away, significantly enhances India’s nuclear triad, which comprises land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), air-launched weapons, and now, sea-based SLBMs. The K-4 missile system is key in India’s strategic deterrence doctrine. By providing India with a credible SSC, the K-4 ensures that the country can maintain a nuclear deterrent even in the face of a first strike by an adversary. This is crucial for India’s no-first-use (NFU) policy, which commits the country to using nuclear weapons only in retaliation to a nuclear attack. With a more extended range and the ability to be launched from a submerged submarine, the K-4 increases India’s atomic deterrent’s survivability and operational flexibility. It allows Indian nuclear-powered submarines (SSBNs) to remain in secure waters, such as the northern Bay of Bengal, far from potential adversaries’ detection and counter-strike capabilities.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe K-4’s range expands India’s strike potential across large parts of both China and Pakistan, ensuring that the country can target high-value assets in these nuclear-armed neighbours while maintaining the operational advantage of its sea-based assets. By boosting the reach of its SSBN fleet, India significantly improves its ability to respond in the event of a nuclear conflict, reinforcing the credibility of its deterrence.
Global Peers
As India builds and refines its nuclear deterrence capabilities, its growing strategic footprint in the Indo-Pacific and IOR intersects with the interests of other global powers, particularly the United States, China, and Russia. Each nation maintains a unique approach to its respective defence postures and regional influence (Russia has zero or less influence in this region). Still, they also share some common objectives, such as ensuring regional stability and maintaining a robust naval presence in the strategically critical maritime routes that pass through the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea (SCS).
The United States, as a global superpower with extensive naval capabilities, has long maintained a strategic presence in the Indo-Pacific. It views the region as critical to its broader geopolitical objectives, particularly in countering China’s increasing influence. The US Navy’s fleet is heavily deployed in this region, and its focus on freedom of navigation and the preservation of regional security has often put it in direct competition with China’s growing maritime assertiveness, particularly in the South China Sea.
India and the US share common interests in ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, particularly as both nations seek to counterbalance China’s rising power. The US has been a vital partner in India’s defence modernisation efforts, with increased cooperation in naval exercises, arms sales, and technology sharing.
The US recognises India’s burgeoning nuclear deterrence as a pivotal stabilising force in the region, serving as a counterbalance to China’s nuclear and missile capabilities. Nevertheless, the development of India’s K-4 missile and expanding submarine fleet underscores India’s growing independence in defence matters, even as it fortifies its security ties with the US.
On the other hand, China perceives India’s advancements in submarine-launched missile systems as a direct challenge to its regional and global ambitions. China has invested heavily in its naval and missile capabilities, including developing its SSBN fleet equipped with long-range SLBMs capable of reaching deep into Indian sea territory. The K-4 missile’s range of 3,500 kilometres is especially significant because it extends India’s reach into China, including critical sites like Beijing, which are within striking distance from secure positions in the Bay of Bengal.
This operational advantage significantly alters the security calculus in the region.
China’s naval activities in the Indian Ocean have grown in recent years, driven partly by its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and increasing presence in crucial maritime chokepoints. With Chinese naval vessels frequently operating in the Indian Ocean, India views its growing nuclear capabilities as essential for ensuring its strategic autonomy and maintaining a balance of power in the region.
India’s successful test of the K-4 missile from INS Arighaat has solidified its position as a critical player in the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions. The test not only strengthens India’s nuclear deterrent but also enhances its ability to project power and influence in an area where the interests of the major powers, such as the US and China, are intertwined. By ensuring its ability to launch nuclear strikes from the sea, India has bolstered its second-strike capability, making it a formidable force in regional security dynamics.
As the security environment in the Indo-Pacific continues to evolve, India’s strategic autonomy, coupled with its growing defence capabilities, will ensure that the country remains an important and influential actor in the region. The K-4 missile test is just one of many steps India takes to safeguard its position as a regional power capable of deterring any adversary and maintaining peace and stability in the face of emerging challenges from global powers like China and the US.
The author is a PhD candidate at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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