The base, located near Rambilli village, will serve as a hub for India\u2019s warships and nuclear-powered submarines, according to local media, enhancing its ability to project power in an increasingly contested region.<\/p>\n
The facility will support India\u2019s fleet of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, including the new INS Aridhaman, according to Walter Ladwig, a senior international-relations lecturer at King\u2019s College London who specialises in South Asian security.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would enhance the [navy\u2019s] ability while maintaining operational secrecy for their nuclear submarine fleet, which is crucial for a secure second-strike capability.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commissioning of the base at Rambilli coincides with plans to introduce the INS Aridhaman, India\u2019s third nuclear-powered submarine equipped with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, later this year. The 7,000-tonne vessel is larger than its predecessors, the INS Arihant and INS Arighaat, which currently form the backbone of India\u2019s nuclear deterrent at sea.<\/p>\n
India’s new nuclear submarine base<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It comes against the backdrop of escalating competition between New Delhi and Beijing for strategic influence in the Indian Ocean and broader Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n Located around 50km (31 miles) from the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam, the Rambilli base is designed with underground tunnels and a network of pens to discreetly house submarines.<\/p>\n This configuration allows vessels to access the Bay of Bengal undetected by spy satellites, enabling them to carry out deterrent patrols towards the Malacca Strait and beyond. The first phase of the base, code-named Project Varsha, is nearing completion, according to The Times of India.<\/p>\n Talks on the submarine base began as far back as 2014, according to Mayuri Banerjee, a research analyst at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses\u2019 East Asia Centre in Delhi, who emphasised the development\u2019s importance.<\/p>\n \u201cNew Delhi sees the Indian Navy playing an important role in India\u2019s security and regional security and stability,\u201d she said. \u201cThe naval base will enhance New Delhi\u2019s maritime deterrence posture as well as project India as a maritime power.\u201d<\/p>\n Banerjee noted the growing footprint of the Chinese navy, which has expanded its presence in the Indian Ocean in recent decades through overseas ports and other outposts. But she cautioned that a \u201cqualitative comparison\u201d between the naval capabilities of India and China would require a deeper assessment of their respective strategic outlooks and perceived threats.<\/p>\n India\u2019s naval ambitions extend beyond Rambilli. It is also upgrading its Karwar base in Karnataka on the country\u2019s west coast under Project Seabird. Following the completion of the project\u2019s first phase in 2011, the base can now accommodate 10 ships. Work on phase two, which began in 2017, is still under way and aims to expand its capacity to berth 32 ships and submarines, alongside 23 auxiliary vessels.<\/p>\n The two bases have complementary roles, according to former submariner Commodore Anil Jai Singh, vice-president of the Indian Maritime Foundation. Karwar is a comprehensive naval base housing aircraft carriers and destroyers, while the new base in Andhra Pradesh is specifically for nuclear submarines.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery country which operates SSBNs has specific bases for support and maintenance. Security and secrecy needs to be guaranteed,\u201d he said, using the abbreviation for ballistic missile submarines.<\/p>\n China\u2019s dominance<\/strong><\/p>\n Strategically, India\u2019s nuclear submarine programme aims to address a capability gap with China, whose navy is the largest in the world with at least 350 ships.<\/p>\n According to the US Congressional Research Service, China\u2019s submarine force is projected to grow to 76 submarines by 2030, including eight nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, 13 nuclear-powered attack submarines, and 55 diesel-electric submarines.<\/p>\n \u201cFacilities like Rambilli will help by magnifying the operational effectiveness of India\u2019s nascent nuclear submarine fleet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It takes time to build, and nobody shares that technology \u2013 you need to develop it yourself – Commodore Anil Jai Singh, former Indian submariner<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Commodore Singh stressed that India\u2019s approach was focused on strategic capability rather than numerical parity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Indian navy is going to be structured in a way that ensures it always retains a combat edge in its area of operation \u2013 the Indian Ocean \u2013 so that no other navy can come in and bully us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need to match submarine for submarine [with China]. We need to evaluate our abilities, concepts of operation, how we deploy the platforms we have, and what sort of capabilities are required to ensure that every base is covered.\u201d<\/p>\n Singh said that continuous sea-based deterrence required at least four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines \u2013 a capability akin to the naval forces of France and Britain that India was working towards.<\/p>\n He also highlighted the importance of nuclear-powered attack submarines to escort and protect ballistic missile submarines during their patrols.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes time to build, and nobody shares that technology \u2013 you need to develop it yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cBut India needs it not only to counter China but also for our own ability to project power in the Indian Ocean and its adjoining seas.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/8cbe91e3-a708-400a-8ba4-27681a66.jpg\")
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