India expanding nuclear weapon facility, US thinktank claims

[OrionHunter]

That policy is no good for us.

I know we have massive retaliation capabilities but at the stage of war, the damage would have been done. We need to get rid of this no first use policy.

Pakistan & China both are nuclear capable and both don't have such defensive policies, India needs to get aggressive with its foreign policies.

Bro am i not right here?

China too has a policy of 'no first use'. It's only Pakistan that does not have such a policy due to a paranoid misconception that India would use nukes first and destroy Pakistan quickly, which has a far smaller geographical area resulting in its inability to strike back as it does not have a viable TRIAD as yet and therefore little capability for a second strike

Secondly, India does have a second strike capability - land, air and sub-surface, the last being the trump card. It is impossible for Pakistan to detect India's nuclear armed subs and thus vulnerable to a massive retaliatory nuclear strike from the sea.

 

[HariPrasad]

Yay!! We nukey the entire world now.

It is not a nuking the whole world but it is a question of having a credible nuclear deterrence.

And how do u know about that?

From My friend.I think it is a particle accelerator research facility.

 

[acid rain]

This makes perfect sense



What ?

Nuclear technology is much much complex than rocket science in the first place. If at all it wasn't, even countries like, Srilanka, Bangladesh would have got Nukes and would be threatening India by now It's an irony that, Pakis got nukes with the help of their all weather, greater than mountain, deeper than ocean friend Chinis

Dude a weapon that were developed during WW 2 is not exactly called high tech in todays world - one can practically pull our designs and models from the internet - the only complex part is designing and building large centrifuges to produce weapons grade fissile material and the more difficult part is buying Uranium which is under moratorium when all countries barring a few have signed the NPT.

One doesnt get to buy weapons ggrade uranium directly and even if a country has Nuclear power plants they get low grade uranium and the buying country needs to account for each gram of the bought uranium.

The second issue is testing of a nuke - once a country signs the restrictive clauses - it brings the country a ban on testing.

So countries like SL and BD cannot get their hands on the stuff and even if they do they'll not get parts for the centrifuges, and assuming that they even manage to do it then when they start building purification plants they'll be under observation - lets assume they pull that off as well then the question is how are they going to test it? what about the delivery systems for the nukes?

So basically the controls are in place for the development methods and not exactly on the designing part - which a small team consisting of a nuclear scientist, a lab technician, a computer operator and a chemical expert can come up with a decent design in a couple of hours.

 

[BATMAN]

Is it US gifting nukes to India?

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India nuclear test 'did not work'

 

[Not Sure]

In their latest report, David Albright and Serena Kelleher-Vergantini of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said that India appeared to be finishing construction of what appears to be a second gas centrifuge facility at the Rare Materials Plant (RMP) near Mysore in Karnataka.

ISIS had earlier lobbied against the India-US civic nuclear deal.

Lobbying against the Indo-US nuke deal, and then creating such reports... well, they are just doing what they get the money for.

But I do not understand those here who support the expansion of India's nuclear arsenal. It is highly unlikely they will be ever used as weapons, and even if they are, they will be in relatively short numbers.

Rest of the pile will become nothing more than a cash sucking liability.

 

[hari sud]

Do not believe in ISIS, it is a CIA front.

I remember this organization lobby against in INDO-US Nuclear deal.

President George Bush had to shut it up to prevent it from lobbying in the Congress against the passage of India specific Nuclear bill.

Yes, I do not expect it to be supporting any Indian effort in the nuclear field.

It is the same organization which went ahead and supported restoring aid to Pakistan after knowing fully well that if Korea, Iran and for some time Libya built a nuclear capability, it was Pakistan who peddled nuclear technology for a just a few million dollars. in case of North Korea for missile technology.

I do not wish to doubt for one moment that Indian Rare Earth has expanded Uranium enrichment facility. It had been overdue.

Three cheers to India to undertake any possible Uranium activities to feed its nuclear reactors including in the submarines and upcoming Aircraft Carrier.

Pay no,attention to US concerns. The Democratic Party in US had voted against the INDO- US nuclear deal. It is their interest which this ISIS is serving. All it's analysts are CIA agents or informers.

 

[indoPunjabi]

Yeh amreeki apne kam se kam kyu nahi rakte
India is an established nuclear power
If they have a problem they can kiss my Arse

Inko yeh bardaasht nahi hota k India ke paas itne saare nuclear bombs hai

 

[Broccoli]

What is the total number of Nuclear Warheads in India's possession as well its total yield

India has less than 150 warheads and if test data is reliable weapon yields are somewhere between 10-30kt. Yield is probable more if they use boosted weapons, but it's not known if India ever designed such weapons.


Pure fission warheads can have high yields... problem is that fission warheads are a lot more cumbersome. Here is few examples from France.

MR-31 Warhead

his missile warhead was in the stockpile from 1970 to June 1980. It was test fired 11 September 1966. It armed the SSBS S2 IRBM, and entered operational service with the first nine S2s in August 1971. The remaining nine S2s went operational in April 1972. It remained in service until the last SSBS S2 was retired, the S2/MR-31 combination being replaced by the SSBS S3/TN-61.

The warhead was an pure fission plutonium warhead with a yield of 120 kt and a weight of 700 kg. This is probably the highest yield plutonium fission device ever developed. The warhead was unhardened, it is probably a practical impossibility to harden a large pure fission warhead like this against predetonation effects.

MR-41 Warhead

The MR-41 was France's first boosted fission warhead, and its highest yield non-thermonuclear warhead. The MR-41 was in the stockpile from 1971 to 1979 and armed the MSBS M1 and M2 SLBMs. The initial development of the warhead began in 1963, and a second development stage ran from 1966 to 1971. This design was based on highly enriched uranium boosted with deuterium and tritium. It was tested 15 July 1968 and 3 August 1968. The final design was tested 12 June 1971. It had a surprisingly light weight for a high yield fission bomb, about 700 kg, and had a yield of 500 kt. Fabrication of warhead components began in 1969. The MR-41 went into operational service with the first patrol of Le Redoubtable on 28 January 1972. About 35 warheads were built to support two sets of strategic submarine missiles loads (16 MSBS M1/M2 missiles each for two subs). The MR-41 was replaced by the TN-60, which armed the MSBS M20, between 1977 and 1979.

AN-51 CTC Warhead

The AN-51 was based on a pure plutonium fission warhead design called the MR-50 CTC (charge tactique commune, or common tactical charge). The MR-50 design was tested 2 July 1966 with a yield of 30 kt, the AN-51 was proof tested 5 June 1971 with a yield of 15 kt. The AN-51 was used to arm the Pluton tactical missile which went into service 1 May 1974. The last AN-51 was manufactured January 1977, the warhead was stockpiled from 1973 to 1993. There were two yield variants - one with a 10 kt yield, and a high yield version of 25 kt. The warhead was relatively light, weighing about 500 kg. A total of 70 warheads were manufactured, one for each of 70 missiles (assigned two to a launcher).

PRC's DF-31 RV (thermonuclear weapon) weights 470kg's and has yield of "several hundred" kilotons.

 

[vivINDIAN]

A US-based thinktank has claimed that India is expanding its ability to produce highly enriched uranium for military purposes, including more powerful nuclear weapons, citing satellite imagery of an under construction gas centrifuge facility near Mysore.

In their latest report, David Albright and Serena Kelleher-Vergantini of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) said that India appeared to be finishing construction of what appears to be a second gas centrifuge facility at the Rare Materials Plant (RMP) near Mysore in Karnataka.

The report said that India is also in the early stages of building a larger unsafe guarded centrifuge complex, the Special Material Enrichment Facility (SMEF).

Noting that India's enrichment plants are not under international safeguards or committed to peaceful uses, the report said the governments and suppliers of nuclear and nuclear related dual use goods throughout the world should be vigilant to prevent efforts by Indian trading and manufacturing companies to acquire such goods for the new centrifuge complex in Karnataka as well as for the RMP.

ISIS had earlier lobbied against the India-US civic nuclear deal.

ISIS said April 2013 high resolution commercial imagery shows that the previous year witnessed further progress at India's RMP. The building containing the suspected new enrichment facility appears externally to be nearly complete.

The report said that if it is a new facility, in addition to one that India built in 2010, the country could have more than doubled its enrichment capacity.

"Whether the plant is near operation cannot be determined from the image. The construction of other buildings appears externally complete as well, and the two storage areas seem to have developed further. Other buildings show signs of continued construction.

"The construction of two new buildings seems to be complete, while other surrounding construction continues. The construction staging area continues to be present," it said.

India expanding nuclear weapon facility, US thinktank claims - The Times of India

its just 10 kms away from my home....some construction work was going 3-4 years ago...security was huge which u don't see that normally from outside...

 

[gslv mk3]

Is it US gifting nukes to India?

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India nuclear test 'did not work'

Haha troll,US gifted nukes to India,?..Dont spew cr@p on every thread about India...

 

[faithfulguy]

China too has a policy of 'no first use'. It's only Pakistan that does not have such a policy due to a paranoid misconception that India would use nukes first and destroy Pakistan quickly, which has a far smaller geographical area resulting in its inability to strike back as it does not have a viable TRIAD as yet and therefore little capability for a second strike

Secondly, India does have a second strike capability - land, air and sub-surface, the last being the trump card. It is impossible for Pakistan to detect India's nuclear armed subs and thus vulnerable to a massive retaliatory nuclear strike from the sea.

US has no such policy. And we have better striking capability than any one out there as we have an established triad.

Also, India as of now has no sub armed nuclear missile. Just because it plans to test one does not mean that India has one.

Do not believe in ISIS, it is a CIA front.

I remember this organization lobby against in INDO-US Nuclear deal.

President George Bush had to shut it up to prevent it from lobbying in the Congress against the passage of India specific Nuclear bill.

Yes, I do not expect it to be supporting any Indian effort in the nuclear field.

It is the same organization which went ahead and supported restoring aid to Pakistan after knowing fully well that if Korea, Iran and for some time Libya built a nuclear capability, it was Pakistan who peddled nuclear technology for a just a few million dollars. in case of North Korea for missile technology.

I do not wish to doubt for one moment that Indian Rare Earth has expanded Uranium enrichment facility. It had been overdue.

Three cheers to India to undertake any possible Uranium activities to feed its nuclear reactors including in the submarines and upcoming Aircraft Carrier.

Pay no,attention to US concerns. The Democratic Party in US had voted against the INDO- US nuclear deal. It is their interest which this ISIS is serving. All it's analysts are CIA agents or informers.

I'm sad that US is allowing nuclear proliferation. Anyone country that do not sign NPT should not get any assistance. Since India is not legally allowed to have nukes, it is still possessing them illegally. India sign NPT, shall give up all its nukes, and behave like a responsible country. Bush's decision to give India a hall pass is the worst decision of his presidency. Now, all other countries can demand a hall pass because India has one.

 

[gslv mk3]

India has less than 150 warheads and if test data is reliable weapon yields are somewhere between 10-30kt. Yield is probable more if they use boosted weapons, but it's not known if India ever designed such weapons.


Pure fission warheads can have high yields... problem is that fission warheads are a lot more cumbersome. Here is few examples from France.

MR-31 Warhead


MR-41 Warhead


AN-51 CTC Warhead




PRC's DF-31 RV (thermonuclear weapon) weights 470kg's and has yield of "several hundred" kilotons.

From where did you get those yield figures?And who told that India doesnt have FBF warheads?

The missile range of all Indian missiles are stated wrt to 1000 kg payload-corresonding to 200 kT FBF warhead.

And about TNWs & RVs

Re-Entry Vehicle: RV-Mk.4
Agni-III RV supports a wide range of weapons, with total payload mass ranging from 600 to 3,490 Kg. The missile range is a function of payload (see graph below).
This is the first Re-Entry Vehicle (RV) that is designed & optimised for the new lighter 200Kt thermonuclear payload weapon and corresponding to a very long range. The 200Kt yield weapon reportedly weights less than 450 Kg, however some sources indicate a mass of between 300 to 200 Kg4. The sharp high‘²’ (Ballistic coefficient5) RV design employs 17 cm diameter blunt nose with a nose cone section 2 meter long and half angle of 11°, followed by a 0.65 meter long cylindrical section that is terminated by with a 0.5 meter long, 1.5 meter diameter interface to the missile adapter.
Compared to Agni-II this RV is shorter, more voluminous and just 3.3 meter long. The high ‘²’ RV in combination with an all carbon composite body enables higher re-entry speed even with a lighter weight payload6.
With joint Indo-Russian revival of GLONASS, India will have access to military grade precision19 from GLONASS that will be very useful for Agni-III.
Instead of conventional bus architecture, the RV Mk-4 is self-contained with high altitude thrusters, navigation and re-entry control systems, making it very accurate. It is world’s first all composite RV and uses no metal backup7. The all carbon composite re-entry heat shields with multi-directional ablative carbon-carbon re-entry nose tip make it very light and tough8. The new lightweight composite case can withstand temperatures of up to 5,000º centigrade9 thus its conic half angle choice is more aggressive, yet capable of all re-entry velocities. This very light RV mass uniquely enables disproportionate large increase in missile’s range. The RV has been flight tested before its use in Agni-III10.India’s Long Range Missile » Indian Defence Review

 

[Broccoli]

From where did you get those yield figures?And who told that India doesnt have FBF warheads?

The missile range of all Indian missiles are stated wrt to 1000 kg payload-corresonding to 200 kT FBF warhead.

And about TNWs & RVs

As I said FBF weapons are more cumbersome than thermonuclear weapons with same yields, and there is no evidence that India actually tested purpose build FBF warheads during the 1998 test series. Because of lack of testing it's unlikely that Indian scientist would willing to risk building weapons never tested or military accepting such (potentially dangerous to handle) weapons in their service.

 

[Alfa-Fighter]

As I said FBF weapons are more cumbersome than thermonuclear weapons with same yields, and there is no evidence that India actually tested purpose build FBF warheads during the 1998 test series. Because of lack of testing it's unlikely that Indian scientist would willing to risk building weapons never tested or military accepting such (potentially dangerous to handle) weapons in their service.

Well, Today Computer simulation reached to that stage where one don't need to conduct actual things and those are not avaliable in the past.

 

[ice bomb]

Well, Today Computer simulation reached to that stage where one don't need to conduct actual things and those are not avaliable in the past.

How you run computer simulations on things you have not tested before? Even computer simulations have to based on something.