, Sāgarikā

IAST

The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by the Sanskrit language.-Popularity:...

 Oceanic) is a nuclear-capable submarine launched ballistic missile with a range of 700 kilometres (435 mi).

Development

Development of the K-15 missile started in the late 1990's with the goal of building a submarine-launched ballistic missile for use with the Indian Navy

Indian Navy

The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...

 nuclear-powered Arihant class submarines. Sagarika has a length of 10 metres (33 ft), diameter of 0.74 metres (2 ft), weighs 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of up to 1000 kilograms (2,205 lb) over 700 kilometres (435 mi). It was developed at the DRDO

Defence Research and Development Organisation

The Defence Research and Development Organisation is a agency of the Republic of India, responsible for the development of technology for use by the military, headquartered in New Delhi, India...

’s missile complex in Hyderabad.

The missile forms a part of the triad

Nuclear triad

A nuclear triad refers to a nuclear arsenal which consists of three components, traditionally strategic bombers, ICBMs and SLBMs. The purpose of having a three-branched nuclear capability is to significantly reduce the possibility that an enemy could destroy all of a nation's nuclear forces in a...

 in India's nuclear deterrence, and will provide retaliatory nuclear strike capability.

The development of the underwater missile launcher, known as Project 420, was completed in 2001 and handed over to the Indian Navy

Indian Navy

The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the armed forces of India. The President of India serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff , usually a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral, commands the Navy...

 for trials. The missile launcher is developed at Hazira in Gujarat.

The missile was successfully test fired six times, and tested to its full range up to three times. The tests of February 26, 2008 was conducted from a submerged pontoon 50 metres (164 ft) beneath the surface off the coast of Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam is a major sea port on the south east coast of India. With a population of approximately 1.7 million, it is the second largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and the third largest city on the east coast of India after Kolkata and Chennai. According to the history, the city was...

.

A land-based version of the K-15 Sagarika was successfully test-fired on November 12, 2008.

The Sagarika missile is being integrated with India's nuclear-powered

Nuclear marine propulsion

Nuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship by a nuclear reactor. Naval nuclear propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval warships...

 Arihant class submarine that began sea trials on the 26 July 2009.

The DRDO is developing a K-4 underwater-launched missile, which will have a range of 3,000 km. Developmental tests of the missile's gas-booster have taken place from a pontoon.

See also

• Arihant class submarine
• Integrated Guided Missile Development Program