New Delhi: Adding more firepower to Indian Navy and strengthening capabilities of hitting targets from Submarines India has successfully testfired the nuclear-capable submarine-launched ballistic missile K-4 (SLBM) on Sunday. The launch of the 3500 km strike range missile took place off the coast in Andhra Pradesh. The testfire was carried out from an underwater platform in the sea during the daytime on Sunday, official sources told news agency ANI.
The missile under development by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be equipped on indigenous INS Arihant-class nuclear-powered submarines of Navy tweeted the news agency.
The strategic strike nuclear submarine vessel INS Arihant is the only vessel currently operational for the Indian Navy. Though India has intentions to carry out further more tests before the final deployment of the ballistic missile K-4 in INS Arihant.
Missile K-4 is one of the two underwater missiles that were being developed by DRDO. The other one is the over 700-kilometre strike range BO-5 missile. The K family of missiles have been named after former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. The development of the K-4 was undertaken after facing significant difficulties in compacting similarly capable Agni-III to equip INS Arihant which has a limited 17-metre (56 ft)-diameter hull. K-4 has a range comparable to Agni-III with major length reduction from 17 metres (56 ft) to 12 metres (39 ft). It has a dia of 1.3 metres (4 ft 3 in) and weighs nearly 17 tonnes (19 tons).
The information about the K series family of missiles is generally kept classified. It is reported that K missiles are faster, lighter and stealthier than their Agni missile counterparts.