New Delhi: India successfully test fired the submarine-launched ballistic missile, the K-4, off the coast of Visakhapatnam today. This was the second test of the K-4 which could strike targets within 3, 500 kms. The missile once inducted would be equipped on INS Arihant-class nuclear submarine build by indigenously.
In an earlier statement the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), which developed the missile said, “The K-4 is an intermediate-range SLBM (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile). It is a 10-metre-long missile weighing 20 tonnes, capable of carrying a 1 ton payload up to a range of 3,500 kms.”
The range of 3,500 kms of K-4 will make many cities in India’s neighbourhood under the scanner.
Once the INS Arihant is inducted into the Indian Navy, our country becomes the sixth nation in the world to have a nuclear triad, which means that we possess land-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-missile-armed submarines and strategic aircraft with nuclear bombs and missiles.
K-4 along with BO-5 are the two submarine-launched ballistic missiles developed by India.