{"id":160805,"date":"2022-01-11T23:16:32","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T17:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=160805"},"modified":"2022-01-12T15:50:26","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T10:20:26","slug":"indias-nuclear-arsenal-recently-went-up-the-sophistication-curve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-nuclear-arsenal-recently-went-up-the-sophistication-curve\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s nuclear arsenal recently went up the sophistication curve"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/span><\/p>\n

News:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>India\u2019s nuclear capabilities have been strengthened recently due to new weapons testing. It has ignited debates around its implications for the regional stability.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last months of 2021, India conducted 2 missile tests: 1)\u00a0<\/span>Shaurya hypersonic<\/span><\/a>\u00a0weapon\u00a0test 2)\u00a0<\/span>Agni-P missile<\/span><\/a>\u00a0test. It has increased India\u2019s\u00a0sophisticated nuclear arsenal with greater diversity of\u00a0delivery systems.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hypersonic weapons such as Shaurya are likely to be highly\u00a0effective in taking out enemy early radars, static military\u00a0installations such as airbases and command and control\u00a0(C&C) facilities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whereas, Agni-P missile\u00a0capable of delivering multiple independent re-entry\u00a0vehicles (MIRVs) or multiple warheads against a single target.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it deteriorating\u00a0strategic stability\u00a0between India and Pakistan\u00a0in the region?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Some analysts are taking it as\u00a0<\/span>a shift from India\u2019s no-first-use policy<\/span><\/b>. However, India\u00a0has not officially shifted its policy from no-first use but\u00a0country\u2019s operational posture has undergone a shift in the form of\u00a0<\/span>higher readiness levels.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0For example, \u2018canisterization\u2019 of India\u2019s missiles of short, medium and long ranges enables their more rapid deployment.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some experts believe that it is\u00a0<\/span>leading to\u00a0strategic\u00a0instability in the region<\/span><\/b>. Because India could launch a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan\u2019s nuclear\u00a0facilities in the heat of a crisis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However,\u00a0<\/span>no-first-use policy, combined with a higher degree of operational readiness\u00a0<\/span><\/b>of its\u00a0nuclear tipped-missile forces provides India with nuclear deterrence\u00a0against its\u00a0two nuclear adversaries, China\u00a0and Pakistan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How Pakistan\u2019s policies are increasing the strategic instability?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

First,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Experts overlook the fact that Pakistan has a\u00a0larger nuclear arsenal than India\u2019s\u00a0and it has also not adopted a no-first-use policy.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Pakistan pursues an asymmetric escalation posture including development,\u00a0deployment of tactical nuclear weapons\u00a0and early use of atomic weapons. Which leaves India\u00a0exposed to stand-off missile\u00a0attacks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Third,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Pakistan\u00a0presumes\u00a0that the\u00a0<\/span>tactical and strategic use of atomic weapons can\u00a0be kept\u00a0separate<\/span><\/b>, is\u00a0the real reason behind\u00a0the\u00a0instability.\u00a0This\u00a0<\/span>decoupling has been rejected by India\u00a0<\/span><\/b>because there can be no real distinction\u00a0between\u00a0<\/span>counter value<\/span><\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>counterforce<\/span><\/b>\u00a0strikes.\u00a0Because Pakistan\u2019s military installments are not that distant from civilian settlements.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As per Wikipedia, in military doctrine,\u00a0C<\/span>ounter\u00a0value\u00a0<\/span><\/b>is the targeting of an opponent’s assets that are of value but not actually a military threat, such as cities and civilian populations.\u00a0<\/span>Counterforce<\/span><\/b>\u00a0is the targeting of an opponent’s military forces and facilities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are other reasons that justifies India\u2019s preparedness?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

China has developed a significantly superior capabilities than India. It has deployed Dong-Feng (DF)-26 IRBMs in the Xinjiang region.\u00a0India\u2019s Shaurya hypersonic weapon is an equal response to it.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

India\u2019s counter-force strike options are more effective against China then Pakistan. It is because China\u2019s military settlements are distant from civilians.\u00a0However, China\u2019s\u00a0submarine-based nuclear capabilities give it an invulnerable second-strike capability.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus,\u00a0India\u2019s\u00a0hypersonic and\u00a0canisterized\u00a0Agni SRBM and IRBM capabilities are steps in a right direction.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:<\/span><\/b>\u00a0This post is created based on the article \u201cIndia\u2019s nuclear arsenal recently\u00a0went up the\u00a0sophistication curve\u201d published in Live Mint on 11th Jan 2022.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News:\u00a0India\u2019s nuclear capabilities have been strengthened recently due to new weapons testing. It has ignited debates around its implications for the regional stability.\u00a0 In the last months of 2021, India conducted 2 missile tests: 1)\u00a0Shaurya hypersonic\u00a0weapon\u00a0test 2)\u00a0Agni-P missile\u00a0test. It has increased India\u2019s\u00a0sophisticated nuclear arsenal with greater diversity of\u00a0delivery systems.\u00a0\u00a0 Hypersonic weapons such as Shaurya are… Continue reading India\u2019s nuclear arsenal recently went up the sophistication curve<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10323,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10501],"class_list":["post-160805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-live-mint","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700776430,"cached_date":1704787800},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160805\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}