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K-6 is an intercontinental submarine-launched ballistic missile under development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India. The missile has a planned range of around 10,000 to 12,000 kilometres.

Requirement

Admiral Arun Prakash wrote in 2018 that the missile range of the Arihant-class submarines is not sufficient to target potential adversaries of India; a missile with a range of around 6,000-8,000 kilometres would be required for this task to be performed by a submarine patrolling in a "safe haven".

When the missile payload limitations of the Arihant-class were realised, India began developing the S5-class of submarines and the K-6 ballistic missiles. The developmental work for these missiles started in February 2017 at the Advanced Naval Systems Laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), with a completion target of less than ten years.

Description

The K-6 is an intercontinental submarine-launched ballistic missile. It is a three-stage missile and is solid fuelled. It is planned to armed with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles and will have a range of around 8,000 to 12,000 kilometres with a three-tonne payload. It has a planned length of over 12 metres and a diameter of over 2 metres.

Development

The K-6 is being developed by the Advanced Naval Systems Laboratory of (DRDO) since 2017. Testing of the K-5 missile will assist in developing the K-6.

See also

• K Missile family
• S5-class submarine
• India and weapons of mass destruction

References

1. ^ Unnithan, Sandeep (10 December 2017). "A peek into India's top secret and costliest defence project, nuclear submarines". India Today. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
2. "Agni VI, ISRO and Radio Silence on India's 10,000 KM Range ICBM". 17 November 2022.
3. Prakash, Arun (7 November 2018). "The significance of Arihant". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
4. "Nuclear submarine INS Arihant completes patrol, country's N-triad operational". The Times of India. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
5. Gady, Franz-Stefan (13 December 2017). "India Launches Second Ballistic Missile Sub". The Diplomat. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
6. "DRDO on long range Pralay, K5 to stalemate China soon". The New Indian Express. 15 December 2018. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.

• Submarine-launched ballistic missiles
• Defence Research and Development Organisation
• Ballistic missiles of India
• Nuclear weapons programme of India
• Nuclear missiles of India