SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
India will have four operational nuclear-powered ballistic missile-carrying submarines become operational by 2026 as a second (S3) SSBN is likely to become operational in the Indian Navy next year, which will be followed by a third (S4) and a fourth (S4*) submarine by 2026. India’s 3rd generation S5 class submarine program might enter the production stage sometime in 2027 onwards.
The S5 program officially started in 2015 and In 2019, a hydrodynamic test model of a submarine leaked online that didn’t resemble any other older design suggesting considerable initial work has been carried out. S-5, a 13000-ton displacement submarine will require a new bigger dockyard at Ship Building Centre (SBC) in Visakhapatnam before production work commences.
S5 will be powered by a 190-MW Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) that Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) will be developing. 190-MW PWR is likely first be used as a land-based PWR on a 1:1 scale for testing purposes for 2-3 years before it will be cleared to be integrated into first submarines.
190-MW Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) is also critical for not only the S5 SSBM program but also for India’s SSN program since BARC will be developing a modified high-power tuned variant of the 190-MW PWR for India’s Nuclear attack submarine program.
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