K-4 ballistic missiles & Sukhois: Why the armed forces need to protect the Indian Ocean Region

On Sunday, India launched the successfully test-fired the K-4 submarine-launched ballistic missile off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. 

The K-4 missile has a range of 3,500-kilometres and it is nuclear-capable missile means it is now in the same league as the US, Russia and China in submarine-launched ballistic missiles with a similar range.

The Indian Air Force(IAF) on Monday inducted the first Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft squadron at the Thanjavur airbase in Tamil Nadu with the new Air chief RKS Bhadauria declaring that the decision to deploy the supersonic fighters at Thanjavur was a taken due to its "strategic location".

IAF has also announced the resurrection of the 222 Squadron also called the ''Tigersharks'', earlier this month with the Sukhois.

The jets inducted in the  222 "Tigersharks" fighter squadron are being seen as a force to "balance" China's ambition in the Indian Ocean region and to keep an eye on Pakistan's Karachi port.

The indigenously built Strategic Strike Nuclear Submarine (SSBN) Arihant is capable of carrying 12 K-15 submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

The submarine has the capability to stay underwater for months powered by a nuclear reactor.

The Arihant is meant not just as a second-strike capable vessel in an event of a strike but can carry out a premptive attack at short notice.

The Arihant was inducted into the Navy in 2016 built by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The Shaurya K-4 missiles were first test launched in 2014.

It is seen as a nuclear deterrent to China and Pakistan. 

China is expected to rapidly ramp up its nuclear powered submarines in the 2020s, a scenario which worries both India and the US.

China's Shang-class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) present a clear danger to India's maritime security.