Mighty India Power

Arihant, which translates as the 'destroyer of enemies" from Sanskrit, now has a new "heart" to take the battle to enemy shores. The miniaturized atomic reactor on board India's first indigenous nuclear submarine  INS Arihant h as "gone critical", in a big leap towards making the country's long-awaited "nuclear weapons triad" an operational reality. Sources said the 83mw pressurized light-water reactor, fuelled by enriched uranium, achieved "criticality" late on Friday night after months of "checking and re-checking" of all the machinery, systems and sub-systems of the 6000-tonne submarine at the heavily-guarded ship-building centre at Visakhapatnam. The green signal for the reactor to be "finally switched on" was apparently given by the top-secret meeting of the Nuclear Command Authority, chaired by PM  Manmohan Singh  and attended by Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) members, among others, on July 31....

 Nothing projects raw power like an aircraft carrier prowling on the high seas, capable of unleashing strike fighters against an adversary in a jiffy. A nuclear-powered carrier can make the punch even deadlier with much longer operational endurance. With its first  indigenous  aircraft carrier (IAC) set to be "launched" at Cochin Shipyard on August 12, and sea trials of the first nuclear submarine  INS Arihant  to begin shortly after, India is now examining the possibility of having a nuclear-powered 65,000-tonne carrier in the future. Navy vice-chief  Vice Admiral RK Dhowan  on Thursday said a "detailed study" was underway on the "size, type of aircraft and their launch and recovery systems, propulsion" and the like for the IAC-II project . "Yes, we are also considering nuclear propulsion. All options are being studied. No final decision has been taken," he said. There are huge cost issues with nuclear-powered carriers, which can easily take up...

India will launch its first indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, on August 12 from the Kochi shipyard. This will make India only the fifth country after the US, Russia, Britain and France to have the capability to build such vessels. "About 83 per cent of the fabrication work and 75 per cent of the construction work will be over when the ship goes into water," said Indian Navy's vice chief, Admiral Robin Dhowan. The rest of the work, including the flight deck, will be completed once the ship is launched, the Navy vice chief said. The aircraft carrier is expected to be inducted into the Indian Navy by 2018. Admiral Dhowan also said that the 40,000 tonne indigenous aircraft carrier is one of its most prestigious warship projects and unprecedented in terms of size and complexity. It has been designed by Indian Navy's design organisation. INS Vikrant will have two take-off runways and a landing strip with three arrester wires capable of opera...

India's space agency is planning to have a total of five rocket launches in 2013 from its rocket launch pad at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here. This will include a mission to Mars later this year. Four of the launches are expected to happen between June and December, including the launch of communication satellite G-Sat 14 using heavier rocket - Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) - powered with a domestic cryogenic engine. "Between June 10 and 15 we are planning to launch the first navigational satellite, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-R1A (IRNSS-R1A) and it will be followed by the launch of G-Sat 14 some time in July," a senior official at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS, preferring anonymity. According to officials, the assembling of two rockets is going on at a good pace at the rocket launch centre. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL (PSLV-XL) version that will carry the navigation satellite ...

The Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System, IRNSS-1A, the first of the seven satellites of the IRNSS constellation, will be launched next month. K Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), said the IRNSS would be launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on June 12 at 1:01 am. The Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system being developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which would be under complete control of the Indian government. The requirement of such a navigation system is driven by the fact that access to Global Navigation Satellite Systems, GPS, is not guaranteed in hostile situations. The IRNSS would provide two services, with the Standard Positioning Service open for civilian use and the Restricted Service, encrypted one, for authorised users (military). The full constellation is plann...

Moving towards completing its nuclear triad, India will activate the atomic reactor on-board the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant in the "next two to three weeks" paving way for its operational deployment by the Navy soon.  "The nuclear reactor on-board the INS Arihant would be made critical (activated) in next two to three weeks," DRDO chief VK Saraswat told PTI here on Saturday.  Nuclear triad is the ability to fire nuclear-tipped missiles from land, air and sea. He said after the nuclear reactor is activated, the agencies concerned can work towards readying the warship for operational deployments soon.  INS Arihant has been undergoing trials at Navy's key submarine base in Vishakhapatnam and would be launched for sea trials after the nuclear reactor goes critical.  The DRDO has also readied a medium-range nuclear missile BO-5 for being deployed on the Arihant and its last developmental trial was held on January 27 off the coast of V...

Here are 10 must-know points about India's Nirbhay: It is a sub-sonic cruise missile. It blasts off like a rocket, but then unlike a missile, it turns into an aircraft. Unlike other ballistic missiles like the Agni,Nirbhay has wings and pronounced tail fins.  In early flight after launch, the rocket motor falls off and the small wings get deployed.  At this point a gas turbine engine kicks in and it becomes like a full aircraft, explains P S Krishnan, Director, Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore.