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According to forbes, On August 28 the official Twitter account of the Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, tweeted photos of his visit to the country’s Naval Science & Technological Laboratory.

Among the missiles and unmanned vehicles is a sub-scale model of a submarine. And it appears to be not just any submarine – the model may offer the first visual clues to India’s next-generation ballistic missile submarine, the S-5 Class.

Went around an exhibition displaying Naval Weapons and Systems at Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), DRDO at Vizag, Andhra Pradesh today. I am here to participate in the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of NSTL. @DRDO_India pic.twitter.com/Zj6QcJPkV3 — VicePresidentOfIndia (@VPSecretariat) August 28, 2019

The new S-5 submarines will join the existing Arihant Class which are India’s first indigenous nuclear-powered submarines. INS Arihant undertook its first deterrence patrol late last year. The S-5 may enter service in the late 2020s after 4 Arihant Class boats have been constructed.

Significantly the new design will be a full-sized missile submarine with 12 or more launch tubes for the intercontinental-range ballistic missiles.

For comparison, the first generation Arihant Class are the smallest modern nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines and can only carry 4 standard-size missiles. That is still more than the new North Korean conventionally powered ballistic missile submarine revealed in July, which can only carry 3 missiles.

The model shows a taller and wider raised ‘turtleback’ deck casing over the missile tubes supporting the assessment that it will carry more missiles than the current design. Twelve missiles is four fewer than the U.S. Navy’s next-generation Columbia Class submarines, but the same number as Chinese SSBNs and also the Royal Navy’s next-generation Dreadnought Class.

The Indian Navy is already part of the exclusive club which operates nuclear-powered submarines together with the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China.