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India's nuclear arsenal failed by 'dud' missiles

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The most authoritative non-governmental assessment of world nuclear forces has revealed that India's nuclear capabilities are seriously lagging behind those of its putative adversaries, Pakistan and China. The evaluation by Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists called "Indian nuclear forces, 2012", reveals that for New Delhi, the principal means of weapons delivery remains fixed-wing aircraft like the Mirage-2000 and the Jaguar.

Unlike Pakistan and China which have substantial deployed missile arsenals, India's missile force is lagging, despite the test-launch of the Agni V in 2012. As the Bulletin notes, "the Agni I and Agni II , despite being declared operational, both have reliability issues that have delayed their full operational service".

The other missiles in the Agni series - the Agni III, IV and V - all remain under development. Indeed, the report notes that "the bulk of the Indian ballistic missile force is comprised of three versions of Prithvi missiles, but only one of these versions, the army's Prithvi I, has a nuclear role".

Considering that the lumbering Prithvi I requires hours to get ready for launch and has a range of just 150 km, it indicates that the Indian nuclear weapons capability is short-legged indeed.

Nevertheless, the Bulletin notes, the development of the Agni V has introduced "a new dynamic into the already complex triangular security relationship between India, Pakistan and China".

Lt Gen (retd) V.R. Raghavan, advisor with the Delhi Policy Group, does not agree with the Bulletin analysis fully. According to him, "The Agni I is operational and tested, and Agni II and III are almost there and all three can be used if necessary."

According to him, the lack of authoritative information on India's capability "is part of our posture of ambiguity" on matters nuclear.

But Admiral Arun Prakash, former navy chief and chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, has another view. "We have to rely on the word of our DRDO/DAE scientists as far as performance, reliability, accuracy and yield of missiles and nuclear warheads are concerned. Unfortunately, hyperbolic claims coupled with dissonance within the ranks of our scientists have eroded their credibility," he said.

As of now, according to the Bulletin, "we estimate that India has produced 80-100 nuclear warheads". In the case of Pakistan, whose evaluation was done in 2011, the Bulletin analysis has said that "it has the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile", estimating that Pakistan "has 90-110 nuclear weapons".

The Pakistani arsenal, too, consists of mainly aircraftdropped bombs, but with its Chinese-supplied missiles, it has a deployed arsenal of missiles like the Ghaznavi, Shaheen I and Ghauri and is developing longer-range missiles.

Significantly, Pakistan's Indiaspecific arsenal comprises of the Nasr short-range (70 km) ballistic missile, which can use nuclear weapons to take out troop formations and Pakistan is in the advanced stage of developing two cruise missiles - the Babur and the Raad.

If this is dismaying for New Delhi, the comparison with China is positively alarming. Beijing has an arsenal of 240 or so warheads and it is adding to this number, though not at the pace Pakistan is. Its nuclear weapons are primarily delivered through a mature missile arsenal with ranges from 2,000-11,000 km.

A large number of Chinese missiles, including their cruise missiles, are primarily for use in nonnuclear conventional battle role. Raghavan acknowledges that "China is a different kettle of fish", but he says even so, with the Agni V test, "India's progress has been commendable".

But the really big difference between India and China arises from the fact that India's thermonuclear weapon capability is suspect. A Mail Today report (August 27, 2009) had cited K. Santhanam, the DRDO scientist who ran the country's nuclear programme at the time of the Pokhran tests, to say that the single thermonuclear test carried out at the time was a "fizzle".


Responsibility for this state of affairs rests with the government. According to Admiral Prakash, "India's National Command Authority (NCA) not only meets infrequently, but is loath to take decisions when it does. This has an adverse impact on decision-making, financial approvals and production-rate of missiles/warheads".

He says that the management of our deterrent "by a sub-optimal troika consisting of scientists (in the driving seat), bureaucrats and soldiers" is also a debilitating factor.


Read more at: India's nuclear arsenal failed by 'unreliable' missiles : India, News - India Today
 
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but intelligence can't be getten through imports. Its given by nature.

Yeah, the world is aware of your contribution to mankind in terms of technology and science.

but useless, fail, of no work.

ok. Thaks for your insight and time.

Look at that a pakistani talking about intelligence :rofl:

He will now give you a list of all tech and science inventions pakistanis have done. Also all the research work there madarsa do and the list of theories they derived.
 
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but intelligence can't be getten through imports. Its given by nature.

but useless, fail, of no work.

So..... you just take a walk in the park to gain your intelligence, yooooooooooou smarty pants!
 
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Threads merged.

The Pakistani arsenal, too, consists of mainly aircraftdropped bombs, but with its Chinese-supplied missiles, it has a deployed arsenal of missiles like the Ghaznavi, Shaheen I and Ghauri

Wild obsession has no cure.

and is developing longer-range missiles.

Evidence of that is?
 
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And it will take hundreds of nuclear missiles to extinguish the great Hindu nation :rolleyes:



Errm, no they arent... I guess youre right Russian dont supply to them to you, Russian make them and Indian painters go to Russia to paint em ;)

Great Indian Nation ,You r disregarding our minority who equals the Pak population.

Please replace Russia with China and Indian with Pakistani.............

the issue here is that Indian thermonuclear bomb is a dud as proven by the '98 test
If its dud.......Then Good for you :drag:............all indian missile and nukes are dud...so please feel free to do whatever you want to .....................
 
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India behind China, Pakistan in missiles race; Agni unreliable: Report

Updated Sep 04, 2012 at 04:41pm IST

New Delhi: With only 80-100 nuclear warheads as opposed to China's 240 and Pakistan's 90-110, India's military preparedness is not upto the mark. A report by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says that India's missile force too is lagging behind both Pakistan and China. The report also points out that despite being operational, the 700-km range Agni-I and Agni-II, capable of hitting targets upto 2000 kms, are unreliable.

According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists a majority of India's missiles like Agni-III, IV and V are still under development. India had successfully tested its latest nuclear capable surface-to-surface Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) missile Agni-V in April. Agni-V with 5000-km range and capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads catapulted India into an extremely select club of countries possessing such a deadly weapons platform.

Although Agni-V along with nuclear attack submarine the Akula II class Nerpa rechristened INS Chakra and Sukhoi-30 MKI air superiority fighter give India the much-needed muscle and a strong deterrence against its nuclear-armed adversaries, but both Pakistan and China are way ahead in the arms race. But Agni-V will need several more tests to be declared operational


The bulk of the Indian ballistic missile force consists of three versions of Prithvi missiles, but only one of these versions, the Army's Prithvi I, has a nuclear role. Given its small size (9 meters long and 1 meter in diameter), the Prithvi I is difficult to spot on satellite images, and therefore little is known about its deployment locations. The Prithvi I is a short-range missile (up to 150 kms) and is the mainstay of the Strategic Forces Command, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

The induction of INS Chakra, the impending sea trials of the indigenous nuclear submarine INS Arihant that will be armed with torpedoes and the 700-km range nuclear K-15 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the shortlisting of the Rafale for Indian Air Force’s (IAF) 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), induction of two squadrons of the front-line Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets in the North East at the Tezpur and the Chabua air bases are just some of the moves the government and defence forces have taken to counter the Chinese threat.

India will have an assured second strike capability once Agni-V and INS Arihant become operational as the country has already a declared policy of no first use of nuclear weapons. INS Arihant will complete the crucial third leg of nuclear triad as a nuclear-powered submarine can stay underwater for a very long duration, remain undetected and file a submarine launched nuclear missile.

India behind China, Pakistan in missiles race; Agni unreliable: Report - India News - IBNLive
 
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