India and weapons of mass destruction
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The beginning
As early as June 26 1946, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India's soon to be Prime Minister announced "As long as the world is constituted as it is, every country will have to devise and use the latest devices for its protection. I have no doubt India will develop her scientific researches and I hope Indian scientists will use the atomic force for constructive purposes. But if India is threatened, she will inevitably try to defend herself by all means at her disposal."
The Smiling Buddha
Three decades later in 1974, India, under the leadership of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Nehru's daughter), conducted an underground nuclear test called Operation Smiling Buddha in the Pokhran region of the north Indian state of Rajasthan. India termed it a "peaceful nuclear explosion". Reports on the actual yield of these tests vary from official accounts of 12 kt, to Western intelligence reports that place the yield to be between 4-6 kt. The device tested was essentially a nuclear fission device.
India is believed to have begun work on a thermonuclear weapon in 1980. According to reports, by 1989 India was making efforts to isolate and purify the lithium-6 isotope, a key requirement for the production of a thermonuclear device.Template:Fact
Shakti
A second series of tests, called Operation Shakti was suddenly carried out in Pokhran under a newly elected BJP government on May 11 and 13, 1998, and took the entire world community by surprise. After the blasts, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced that this was "India's due, the right of one-sixth of humankind". The devices tested were two fission devices, three low-yield devices and one thermonuclear device (the "H-bomb"). Again, reports of the actual yield vs. reported yield vary, with the yield of fission devices ranging from 4-15 kt and the thermonuclear device ranging from 12-60 kt.
Nuclear Policy
Template:Main Very little is known about India's nuclear weapons program. India maintains a "no-first-use" "minimum nuclear deterrent," nuclear policy in the event of war as enunciated in its Nuclear Doctrine, released in 1999.
India's Strategic Nuclear Command was formally established in 2003, with an Air Force officer, Air Marshall Asthana, as the Commander-in-Chief. The joint services SNC is the custodian of all of India's nuclear weapons, missiles and assets. It is also responsible for executing all aspects of India's nuclear policy. However, the civil leadership, in the form of the CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security) is the only body authorized to order a nuclear strike against another offending strike: In effect, it is the Prime Minister who has his finger "on the button".
Delivery Systems
In general, nuclear weapons can be "delivered" to their targets by missiles or by fighter aircraft such as bombers.
Missiles
Image:Agni-II missile (Republic Day Parade 2004).jpeg India's DRDO has dedicated considerable resources to the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. Currently this program has produced two classes of missile designs inducted into the Army and Air Force and have been deployed by specially formed missile corps. It is unclear if the Agni has been deployed, but Agni I and II are believed to have been inducted into the Army. The Agni III is scheduled for testing by year end 2005. Further, analysts believe India is developing an SLBM (Submarine-launched ballistic missile) 'Sagarika'. The Indian DRDO has successfully launched a version of the Prithvi from an underwater pontoon launcher as well as from the deck of an offshore patrol vessel indicating work on SLBM technology.
The Deccan Herald and Carnegie Endowment reported that India is developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) called Surya. India claims the ICBM is not only "intended to deter Europe and the U.S.", but also the People's Republic of China. It is expected to have a flight range of 9,000-12,000 km.
The missile is meant as a first-strike, "derived directly from its civilian satellite launch system (the Polar Space Launch Vehicle)". It is projected to be a “three-stage ballistic missile with solid fuel rockets in the first and second stages, and a liquid propellant rocket in the third stage”. The expected launch weight of the missile could “reach 270-275 tonnes and an impact error of around 2 to 2.8 km”. The ICBM is "likely to be test-fired by 2008", and expected to be included into "the Indian armed forces’ deterrence arsenal by 2015". [1] [2]
Aircraft
India also has large numbers of fighter-bomber aircraft and supersonic cruise missiles that could potentially deliver nuclear weapons to their targets. India is expected to rely heavily on Russian-built aircraft such as the MiG-29 for air defense in a raid, the MiG-27 for long-range bombing and the multi-role Sukhoi Su-30MKI, French Mirage 2000 and Anglo-French Jaguars for actual weapon delivery. As of 2001 India also leases 4 Tu-22M "Backfire" from Russia for maritime reconnaissance and strike purposes [3]. These are long range bombers that are capable of delivering nuclear payloads. In December 2005 Russia offered to let India buy the planes[4].
India and Nuclear Treaties
Image:Striking ranges.gif India acceded to the Geneva Protocol in 1930, the Biological Weapons Convention on July 15, 1974 and the Chemical Weapons Convention on September 3, 1996. It is not yet a signatory to either the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), but did acceed to the Partial Test Ban Treaty in October 1963.
External links
- Nuclear Notebook: India's nuclear forces, 2005, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Sept/Oct 2005.
- Indian Nuclear Weapons program A good article with very detailed information
- Nuclear Files.org India's nuclear conflict with Pakistan- background and the current situation
- Nuclear Files.org Current information on nuclear stockpiles in India