A successful trial of the nuclear capable Shaurya missile was conducted by India, the press agency ANI reported Saturday. Shaurya may be a land-based parallel of the submarine launched K-15 missile. These ballistic weapons belong to the K missile family — codenamed after late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam — which are launched from Arihant class of nuclear submarines.
A look at what this family of missiles is, their strategic importance as a nuclear deterrent and their recent tests.
The K Family of missiles
The K family of missiles are primarily Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs), which are indigenously developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and are named after Dr Kalam, the centre figure in India’s missile and space programmes who also served because the 11th President of India.
The development of those naval platform launched missiles began within the late 1990s as a step towards completing India’s nuclear triad — the potential of launching nuclear weapons from land, sea and air based assets.
Because these missiles are to be launched from submarines, they're lighter, smaller and stealthier than their land-based counterparts, the Agni series of missiles which are medium and intercontinental range nuclear capable ballistic missiles. While K family are primarily submarine-fired missiles to be fired from India’s Arihant class nuclear powered platforms, the land and air variants of a number of its members have also been developed by the DRDO.
Shaurya, whose user trial was conducted on Saturday, may be a land variant of short range SLBM K-15 Sagarika, which features a range of a minimum of 750 kilometers.
India features a lso developed and successfully tested multiple times the K-4 missiles from the family which has a range of 3500 km. It is reported that more members of K-family — reportedly to possess been codenamed K-5 and K-6 — with ranges of 5000 and 6000 km also are under development. The early development trials of K-15 and K-4 missiles had begun within the early 2010s.
The strategic importance of SLBMs
The potential of having the ability to launch nuclear weapons submarine platforms has great strategic importance in context of achieving a nuclear triad, especially in the light of ‘no first use’ policy of India. The sea-based underwater nuclear capable assets significantly increases the second strike capability of a rustic and thus boosts its deterrence . These submarines can't only survive a primary strike by the adversary but can also launch a strike in retaliation thus achieving Credible deterrence . The 2016 commissioned nuclear powered Arihant submarine and its class members which within the pipeline, are the assets capable of launching missiles with nuclear warheads.
The development of those capabilities is vital in light of India’s relations with the 2 neighbours China and Pakistan. With China having deployed many of its submarines, including some which are nuclear powered and nuclear capable, this capacity building is crucial for India’s deterrence . In November 2018, after INS Arihant became fully operational, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tweeted, “In an era like this, a reputable deterrence is that the need of the hour. The success of INS Arihant gives a fitting response to those that enjoys nuclear blackmail.”
The recent tests
Within the third week of January this year, DRDO conducted two successful tests of the K-4 missile from submerged platforms off the coast of Andhra Pradesh during a span of six days. These tests were a key step towards ultimately deploying K-4 on INS Arihant, which already has K-15 onboard. In the Saturday’s test, Shaurya was examined for several advanced parameters compared to its earlier tests, consistent with sources.
Shaurya, like many of the fashionable missiles, may be a canister-based system, which suggests that it's stored and operated from specially designed compartments. In the canister, the within environment is controlled thus along side making its transport and storage easier, the time period of weapons also improves significantly.
While DRDO has been conducting these tests, there has not been any official communication from the agency about them, possibly due to classified nature of K family missile projects and their close link to the Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) project of which Arihant class vessels are a part of . These recent tests of those systems also can be checked out as a robust message to China and Pakistan in light of this situation within the region.
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