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Memories of Another day

Memories of Another day
While my Parents Pulin babu and Basanti devi were living

Monday, July 27, 2009

Nuclear Submarine Deal and Nuclear ARMS Race


Nuclear Submarine Deal and Nuclear ARMS Race
 
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, chapter 303
 
Palash Biswas
 
For details, Updates, Related Matter, Documents and Links Pl visist my Blog:
 
 
 
"We do not have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone. We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that is conducive to our peaceful development and the protection of our value systems," he said at the launch ceremony that was carried out in the dry dock of the Ship Building Centre (SBC) where the submarine has been under construction since 1998.
more by Manmohan Singh - 5 hours ago - Indian Express (388 occurrences)
 

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  1. News results for ARIHANT Nuclear Submarine


    'Launch of INS Arihant can trigger nuclear arms race'‎ - 2 hours ago
    ... in response to a question about India's launch of 'INS Arihant'. ... Navy spokesman told reporters that India's launch of a nuclear submarine was "a ...
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  4. VOA News - India Launches Nuclear Powered Submarine for Trials

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        1. Nuclear arms race - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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          'Launch of INS Arihant can trigger nuclear arms race'

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          China, India important to Citigroup: Pandit

          27 Jul 2009, 2240 hrs IST, AGENCIES

           

           

          Citigroup's Vikram Pandit hopes to continue with the expansion of biz in India and China. Gainers: BSE ( A, B ), NSE | Losers: BSE ( A, B ), NSE I 52 Week: High, Low

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          India following 'buy Chinese policy': L&T CMD to Govt
          27 Jul 2009, 2205 hrs IST, Times Now

          In a letter to FM, L&T Chairman pointed out that India is following the 'buy Chinese' policy in which international tenders are not floated to give China an advantage.

           

          Govt seeking report on attack on Indian journo: Ravi
          27 Jul 2009, 2318 hrs IST, IANS

          Overseas Indian Affairs Minister is in touch with the Indian high commission in Australia for a report on the incident. Full coverage: Indians attacked in Australia

           

          All headlines >>News on your MobileLog on to m.economictimes.com
           
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          Senate sides with Obama, defunds jet engine

          WASHINGTON (AP): The Senate voted Thursday to eliminate spending on a jet engine program the defense secretary says is superfluous, moving in step with Obama administration assertions that it is time to stop spending military dollars on programs that are not needed.

          The voice vote on an amendment to eliminate funds for a backup engine for the F-35 next-generation fighter plane came hours before the Senate completed a $680 billion bill that authorizes defense programs for the fiscal year starting in October. The defense bill passed 87-7.

          Just two days ago, the Senate went along with Defense Secretary Robert Gates' campaign to change the way the Pentagon buys weapons by stripping from the bill $1.75 billion to produce more F-22 fighters, the high-tech aircraft that eventually will be supplanted by the F-35 as the military's main attack plane.

          The White House has said that President Barack Obama would issue what would be the first veto of his presidency if the defense bill contained money for either new F-22s or the F-35 alternate engines.

           

          INS Arihant to take long time to become operational: Experts

          VISHAKAPATNAM: India's first indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine launched on Sunday will take much longer than the projected two years to
          India's first nuclear submarine launched
          PM Manmohan Singh, his wife Gursharan Kaur, defence minister A K Antony, Andhra Pradesh CM YR Reddy and others at the launching of India's first nuclear submarine, INS Arihant at Visakhapatnam. (PTI)
          become operational, according to naval experts, who say the real big test now is to ensure that the on-board reactor attains criticality.

          Noting there is still lot left to do, the experts said scientists had a onerous task to see that the on-board nuclear reactor - the heart of the submarine - attains criticality without any hitches.

          Naval officials said INS Arihant (Destroyer of Enemies) codenamed Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) will undergo two years of sea trials in the Bay of Bengal after which they hope to see the submarine commissioned for full service.

          "It is little optimistic only for one reasons because it the first of its class. In the first of the class there are a large number of checks to be carried out. It could take much longer time frame than the two years being projected (for INS Arihant)," said Vice Admiral A K Singh(retd) former Captain of INS Chakra, the Charlie-class nuclear submarine.

          The second ATV or the third ATV will definitely come out much faster, Singh said.

          C Uday Bhaskar, Director, National Maritime Foundation, said, " I don't think we should over-interpret the capability of the Arihant at this stage because there are many more complex technological steps before the particular nuclear reactor on the Arihant acquires criticality."

          Bhaskar said hopefully three to five years down the road India would be a credible naval power because the country would then have the capability to fit the submarine with nuclear propulsion.

          Former Naval Chief Admiral (retd) Arun Prakash said a lot of work lies ahead for the country's scientists and engineers.

          "The big day will however come when the nuclear reactor attains criticality," he said.

          Admiral (retd) Arun Prakash said painstaking series of trials are necessary because even a minor malfunction can cause catastrophic results as the Kursk(Russian Submarine) accident showed.

          "They will also be long drawn-out and time-consuming because each defect that appears will be carefully analysed and rectified," he said.

          Experts also said the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) could take two to three years to indigenously develop cruise and ballistic missiles which can be fired from the submarine.

           

          EDITORIAL COMMENT | Chinks In Our Armour

           

          http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090727/jsp/frontpage/story_11286811.jsp

          India, Israel ink Rs 10Kcr defence deal

           
           
          NEW DELHI: India has signed a $1.4 billion deal with Israel for the supply of an anti-missile air defence system in what is the biggest defence deal
          between the two countries.

          Under the deal signed on February 27, Israel will develop and manufacture seaborne and shore-based systems against missile attacks on India, Israeli business daily Globes said.

          Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (IAI) officially announced the deal on Thursday, more than a month after it was signed, because the company felt "early disclosure was liable to cause material difficulties in execution of the contract, and even result in its cancellation", according to the daily.

          IAI officials quoted by the daily felt that this risk would be substantially reduced once the advance payment was received.

          Part of the payment will be made during the development period, and the balance during the 66-month delivery period, which is slated to begin 90 months from the date the advance payment is received, the daily said.

          According to the contract, IAI has undertaken to procure military or aviation products and services from India and will invest in defence companies in India up to an amount equal to 30% of the contract.

          Israel has emerged as one of the largest suppliers of military hardware to India. Over the years, India has deftly balanced its ties with Israel with its relations with Middle East nations.
           

          India now 6th member of N-submarine club

            VISAKHAPATNAM: It may be a 'baby' but it's a 'boomer' all right. India's new stealth nuke weapon packs an awesome punch, armed with 12
          nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles in four silos on its 'hump', as also a wide array of anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles and torpedoes.

          India's first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine equipped with ballistic missiles, dubbed an SSBN or a 'boomer' in military parlance, INS Arihant was launched by flooding the dry dock at the Shipbuilding Centre here on Sunday.

          Though it has only a 6,000-tonne surface displacement, less than half the size of the SSBNs fielded by the Big-5 nations, the 110m long and 11m wide Arihant surely lives up to its Sanskrit name, 'destroyer of enemies'.

          Even as his wife Gursharan Kaur did the honours by breaking the auspicious coconut on the submarine's hull, PM Manmohan Singh said India had finally gatecrashed into the select club of five — US, UK, Russia, France and China — who can build and operate N-submarines.

          But it will take at least two years for India to sit on its high table. INS Arihant will have to undergo harbour, sea and weapon trials before being termed fully operational.
          QnA: How has India benefited from the Nuclear Deal with USA?
           

          Glaring lapses in Gorshkov, Scorpene, Hawk defence deals: CAG

           
           
          At the stroke of noon on Sunday, India demonstrated its capability to indigenously build and operate a nuclear-powered submarine with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launching INS Arihant for sea trials here.
           
          Pakistan today termed the launch of an indigenously-built nuclear-powered submarine by India as a "destabilising step" and warned that it could trigger a nuclear arms race in the region.
           
          Contrary to Much Hyped Indo Us Honeymmon, Exports from India to the US suffered a 23 per cent decline during the first five months in the current year 2009 due to the economic
          downturn, a top official of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce said on Monday.

          "Indian exports to the US saw a 23 per cent decline from January to May 2009. From $10.94 billion last year, it dropped to $8.5 billion from January to May 2009", Secretary General IACC R K Chopra told reporters here today.

          Indo-US trade in merchandised goods also witnessed a significant drop from $17.21 billion last year to USD 14.65 billion till May this year, he said.

          "However, Indian imports from the US were not impacted much as from $ 6.27 billion last year it touched USD 6.1 billion till May this year", he added.
           

          Tugged gently from its dry-dock base, the 110-metre-long, 11-metre wide vessel can displace 6,000 tonnes of water. Its journey towards the sea is the first step before eventual induction into the Navy that Dr. Singh said marked "years of hard work, dedication and perseverance."

          Aware that India's entry into the exclusive club will create ripples in the region, the Prime Minister said it was incumbent upon the country to take all necessary steps to keep pace with global advances.
           
          "We do not have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone. We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that, conducive to our peaceful development and the protection of our value systems. Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon us to take all measures necessary to safeguard our country and keep pace with technological advancements worldwide. It has rightly been said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," Dr. Singh said in his address.
           

          India, he said, now joined a select group of five countries, which possess the capability to build a nuclear-powered submarine. That the construction of a submarine was a highly demanding task in itself was known, but for a country to develop its first nuclear submarine was a "special achievement."

           
          A nuclear-powered submarine is a much more complex platform than any other vessel and India building one on its own is a great achievement. This is the unanimous assessment of officials, be they from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Department of Atomic Energy or the Indian Navy. What enhances the scale of the achievement is that INS Arihant, India's nuclear-powered submarine, will be fitted with India's own K-15 ballistic missiles that can be launched from under water. The K-15 missiles, which are already under production, can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads. They have a range of 700 km. They are 10.4 metres tall and weigh 6.3 tonnes each.
           
          "This is a very big capability," a DRDO official said. "It means we can launch missiles with nuclear warheads from ground, drop nuclear bombs from air and also fire them now from under water."
           
           India's first nuclear submarine remains shrouded in secrecy -- despite its public launch.


          The cloak of secrecy over the project, the existence of which has been denied by successive governments since its inception in 1984, was lifted Sunday when the defence ministry took journalists for the launch ceremony at this port city. However, no photography or filming of the submarine was allowed.

          The official photographs of the event did not show a clear image of the submarine either.

          The only glimpse of the vessel -- that has made India the only nation in the Indian Ocean region to have a nuclear submarine and the sixth in the world to have the capability to design and construct a nuclear submarine -- was in the photograph of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the ceremony.

          But the journalists, naval officers, 143 Russian technicians and diplomats could see the 110-metre-long and 11-metre-broad sea leviathan from the closest possible distance.

          The design of the submarine that has a surface displacement of 6,000 tonnes clearly resembles the Russian Borei class nuclear-submarine. Its surface is uneven and its hull sits on a mat rolled with black square tiles, which are capable of absorbing sound waves and help it in maintaining stealth.

          The white snub nose of the gleaming black submarine is the sonar (sound navigation and ranging) sheet of the vessel. It helps in recognising a vessel in the vicinity by receiving the reflected sound waves from its surface.

          The conning tower is closer to the bow rather than the centre as in conventional submarines.

          The orange beacon atop the conning tower came to life Sunday as the prime minister's wife Gursharan Kaur pressed the button to symbolise the launching of the vessel into water. On the conning tower stood the commander of INS Arihant Captain Anshuman Dutt.

          In the middle of the body -- comprising an outer hull through which the water goes in and and an inner pressurised hull -- on the starboard side are two rectangular vents, meant to take in water when the vessel dives into the sea. It is like a "cocoon within a cocoon", explained an official.

          INS Arihant is longer than any of the submarine in the Indian Navy's fleet so far. A nuclear submarine is powered by a nuclear reactor, which generates tremendous heat driving a steam turbine. It has unlimited underwater endurance and speed twice that of its conventional counterparts.

          "Miniaturising the nuclear reactor was a big task and if you want people inside the vessel, it has to be self sufficient in terms of energy and power," V.K. Mehra, director, Reactor Project Group, Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, said.

          The submarine can carry 12 nuclear missiles K-15 and is the sea-leg of the nuclear troika of India -- capability to launch nuclear weapons from land, air and sea. Keeping in line with its "no first use policy", the submarine will help India in developing a "credible second strike capability" in case of nuclear attack, said officials.

          Indian Navy has been operating conventional diesel-electric submarines, which have to surface to charge their batteries.
           
          A nuclear-powered submarine bestowed on India the status of a nation possessing a blue-water navy because the boat can travel far and wide.
           
          While the Navy designed INS Arihant, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) built the mini-nuclear reactor that powers the submarine, the DRDO developed the K-15 missiles. The K-15 missiles have been test-fired several times from submerged pontoons off the coast of Visakhapatnam. A missile emerging from the water without losing its fire was a technology in itself.
           

          A distinct advantage of a nuclear-powered submarine is that while it can remain under water for a long duration, a diesel-fired submarine has to rise to the surface every day for ejecting the carbon-dioxide produced by the diesel-generator. Otherwise, the boat's crew will face problem.

          "In a nuclear-energy system used in a submarine, there is no emission of carbon-dioxide. It is a clean form of energy," a DRDO official explained. "The turbine operating on enriched uranium in INS Arihant is a clean system. But a diesel-generator emits carbon-dioxide. You cannot discharge it into the water. So the submarine has to be brought up to the surface every day to eject the carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere."
           
          India on Sunday reached a milestone when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur launched the country's first
          India's first nuclear submarine launched
          PM Manmohan Singh, his wife Gursharan Kaur, defence minister A K Antony, Andhra Pradesh CM YR Reddy and others at the launching of India's first nuclear submarine, INS Arihant at Visakhapatnam. (PTI)
          indigenous nuclear-powered submarine 'INS Arihant' for sea trials. ( Watch )

          Prime Minister arrived at the ENC's airbase INS Dega in Visakhapatnam by a special IAF plane along with his wife at 11 am and drove straight to the naval dockyard to commission INS Arihant into the sea.

          The 6000-tonne submarine will first be put on sea trials for two years before being commissioned into full service.

          In these two years, the submarine will also undergo harbour trials of its nuclear reactor and other systems.

          Sunday's launch coincides with Vijay Diwas marking India's triumph over Pakistani intruders in Kargil.

          With the launch of the submarine India will join the exclusive club of US, Russia, China, France and the UK with similar capabilities.

          The ENC headquarters in Visakhapatnam has been decked up for this historic event, navy sources said.

          INS Arihant has been built under the advanced technology vessels (ATV) programme at a cost of $2.9 billion at the naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam.
          Code-named Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV), the submarine christened 'INS Arihant' (destroyer of enemy) was launched for sea trials at the Matsya naval dockyard here.
          As India has declared "no first use" of nuclear weapons, the country's weapons system must survive a first strike for retaliation. Therefore, Arihant's primary weapon is stealth as it can lurk in ocean depths of half a kilometre or more and fire its missiles from under the sea.
          The 6000-tonne submarine is powered by an 85 megawatt capacity nuclear reactor and can acquire surface speeds of 22 to 28 kmph (12-15 knots) and submerged speed upto 44 kmph (24 knots). It will be carrying a crew of 95 men and will be armed with torpedoes and missiles including 12 ballistic missiles.
          Four more nuclear-powered submarine of this class have already got government's nod and these would add to the Navy's underwater combat potential in the years to come.
           
          Defence Minister A K Antony, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy witnessed the event.
           
          The Prime Minister flew to Vishakapatnam this morning by the IAF's newly acquired Boeing business jet and reached the venue of the submarine launch by road.
           
          Sea trials of the submarine will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal off Vishakapatnam, where the vessel was under construction for the last two decades.
           
          The Rs 30,000-crore secret nuclear submarine project was started in the 1980s though it was conceived by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the 1970s.
           
          The first official admission of the project nearing completion came this February when Antony had announced it during the AeroIndia show in Bangalore.
           
          INS Arihant can also be armed with cruise missiles. The DRDO is already working on an equally secretive Sagarika project for a 700-km K-15 missile, capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
          With US, Russia and China already fielding 5,000-km range SLBMs, the DRDO too has recently tested an SLBM based on the design of 3,500-km range Agni-III.
           
          The induction of ATV will help India to complete the nuclear weapons triad, as envisaged under its nuclear doctrine to deliver nuke-tipped missiles from land, air and sea.
           
          India has land-based nuclear-capable Agni ballistic missiles, apart from IAF fighters such as Mirage-2000 that can deliver tactical nukes.
           
          Two decades ago, India had operated a Charlie-class nuclear submarine, christened INS Chakra, leased from Russia for three years between 1989 and 1991.
           
          Moscow will again lease out two Akula-class nuclear submarines to New Delhi for 10 years. Plans to deliver the submarines this June were hit by a mishap during sea trials late last year. But hopes have soared for its delivery in 2010 after Russia took out the repaired vessel for sea trials again early this month.
           
          Trials to follow

           

           

          DRDO officials cautioned that while INS Arihant entering water from the dry-dock in the Ship-Building Centre of the Visakhatpatnam harbour on Sunday was an important step forward, making the boat operational would take time. "The submarine will now go for harbour acceptance trials (HATs). Then it will go for sea acceptance trials (SATs). Later it will go down to a certain depth and come up," they said.
           
          A nuclear-powered submarine was a highly complex platform and safety regulations had to be adhered to. "There are hundreds of systems on the boat. They have to work one after another. This is called setting-to-work. The HATs and SATs will last about a year-and-a-half. This is the most difficult period of activity and you have to do it perfectly. Then the K-15 missiles will be fitted into the boat."
           
          M. Natarajan, Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, was present when the INS Arihant was launched on Sunday.
           
          The project has been named the "Advanced Technology Vessel" (ATV) programme. Vice-Admiral (retired) D.S.P. Varma is the Director-General of the ATV programme.
           
          Obama continues Bush's 'good work' in building India ties: Hillary

          Washington (IANS): Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says in building a "most comprehensive engagement" with India, the Obama administration was continuing with the "good work" done by his predecessor George Bush.

          "We're building on some of the good work that's been done in a bipartisan way with India, starting with my husband (Bill Clinton)" the former first lady said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday. "And in fact, in this case, continuing with President Bush with India. So that we have now announced the most comprehensive engagement we've ever had with that country," she said.

          Asked what she meant when she said during her trip to Asia that "the United States is back and we're ready to lead", Ms. Clinton said: "Well, what I meant was that in many parts of the world, the priorities that were pursued the last eight years did not seem to include them.

          "So just going, for example, to Asia, as I did on my first trip, as I just did, was viewed as a very positive statement of participation."

          When told that Obama Administration policy in Asia was not that different from the Bush Administration policy in Asia Ms. Clinton disagreed. "I mean, part of what we have done is to organise ourselves so that we can concentrate on many important issues at the same time."

          "And I think the feeling on the part of much of the world was that the prior administration, for understandable reasons, focused so much on some of the specific issues, like Iraq, et cetera, that really grabbed it and required a lot of attention, that much of the rest of the world felt that they were kind of second tier."

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          Karat rules out change in Left's stance against imperialism

           

          Special Correspondent

           

           

          CPI(M) cadre urged to look to Cuba for inspiration and carry on its fight

           

           

          — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

          Cuban Minister of Council and Deputy Chief of Mission Eduardo Iglesias Quintana and CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat launching a website at the inauguration of the 'Cuba Festival,' organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, in Bangalore on Sunday.

          BANGALORE: CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has ruled out any change in the Left's stance against "imperialism and neo-liberal policies" despite the electoral setback.

          Addressing the "Cuba Festival" organised here on Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, he said the Left parties would cease to be a "force for progressive change" if they gave up their fight against imperialism and neo-liberal policies.

          After the setback the Left parties suffered in the Lok Sabha elections, many "friends and critics" suggested that their fight against imperialism and neo-liberal policies had become "irrelevant in the 21st century," he said. But he rejected their appeal to the Left parties to "accommodate" themselves. "If we do that, we cease to be what we are; we cease to be a force for progressive change."

          He called upon the cadre to look to Cuba for inspiration and carry on its fight despite the electoral setbacks. "We in India [the Left and progressive forces] should also learn from Cuba and not surrender."

          Remarkable progress

           

          Lauding the Cuban people's "indomitable courage and heroic endeavours," Mr. Karat said Cuba was not only a symbol of resistance to imperialism but also a source of inspiration for all countries which had faced colonialism and "imperial exploitation." Cuba had made remarkable progress in various fields, especially in health and education: the country had not only wiped out illiteracy but also had more physicians for every one lakh population than the U.S. "It has an education system which India cannot even dream of." While India spends just one per cent of its GDP on health, Cuba spends 6.5 per cent.

          Cuban Minister of Council and Deputy Chief of Mission Eduardo Iglesias Quintana felt that the Left parties in India should look to Cuba and turn their setbacks into victories by regaining the people's support. He also called for the immediate release of five Cubans arrested by the United States.

          U.S inspections

           

          Speaking to journalists later, Mr. Karat regretted the absence of concern in the Manmohan Singh regime at the inspection of defence equipment India would purchase from the U.S. under the Indo-U.S. military collaboration.

          He wondered how India could allow U.S. inspectors access to sites where military equipment had been installed. "They [U.S. inspectors] will come here and we will have to give them access to the areas where they have their equipment … These matters concern the country very much, but the government does not seem to be worried."

          India was getting into a "deeper and strategic entanglement" with the U.S., he said referring to the recent visit to India of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

          He said the G8 summit had decided to deny certain types of technologies to non-NPT countries, while the Nuclear Suppliers Group would frame certain guidelines. "But the government does not seem to be worried about this."

           

          N-submarine to give India crucial third leg of nuke triad

           
          VISAKHAPATNAM: There's still a long way to go for INS Arihant to become fully-operational. "Each and every system has to be tested and flushed
          clean. It will take four sets of flushing and a year before the miniature 80 MW nuclear reactor, and its containment vessel fitted in the submarine's hull, attains criticality," said a senior officer connected with the ATV (advanced technology vessel) project.

          Moreover, at present, it will be armed with only the 700-km range two-stage K-15 SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles), which pale in comparison to the well over 5,000-km range missiles of the US, Russia and China.

          The Chinese fleet of 62 submarines, with at least 10 of them nuclear-powered, for instance, is readying itself for its new JL-2 SLBM, which has a strike range of over 7,200-km, capable of rattling even the US. India is still some distance away from the extended range K-5 missile with a 3,500-km strike range.

          Be that as it may, India with INS Arihant has taken a big leap forward towards developing the all-important third leg of its nuclear triad — the ability to fire nukes from the land, air and sea. The first two legs, in the shape of fighters like Mirage-2000s jury-rigged to deliver nuclear warheads and the Agni series of rail and road mobile missiles, are already in place.

          What makes a nuclear submarine the most preferred option is that it's extremely difficult to detect and target by an adversary. Unlike conventional diesel-electric submarines, a nuclear-powered submarine can operate underwater for unlimited periods of time. This is especially important for a country like India, which has a declared no-first-use nuclear doctrine and, hence, must have a survivable and lethal second-strike capability to retaliate against a conceivable first pre-emptive strike by an enemy.

          The PM clarified, "We do not have any aggressive designs, nor do we seek to threaten anyone." He added, "We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that which is conducive to our peaceful development and the protection of our value systems. Nevertheless, it's incumbent upon us to take all measures necessary to safeguard our country and to keep pace with technological developments worldwide. It has been rightly said that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

          Obliquely pointing to the two more ATVs already sanctioned by the government under a budget of around Rs 30,000 crore and much bigger SSBNs after them, the PM said the "lessons learnt from this launch" would enable the ATV programme to "achieve better results in the coming years".

          Defence minister A K Antony, on his part, said INS Arihant was a "significant step" towards a potent and credible second-strike capability. The PM, Antony, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta, DAE chief Anil Kakodkar, ATV director-general Vice-Admiral (retd) D S P Verma praised Russia for their "consistent and invaluable cooperation" in India's nuclear submarine programme.

          What was left unsaid was that India would also get an Akula-II class nuclear submarine, the 12,000-tonne 'K-152 Nerpa', on a 10-year lease by end-2009 as part of a secret contract signed with Russia in January 2004, along with the package deal for refit of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and MiG-29K fighters. India's eventual goal is to field three SSBNs of its own much before 2020.
           
          IAF played a 'pivotal' role in Kargil victory

           

           

          Fighter jets changed course of battle

           

           

          DRASS: While the Army jawans fought the Pakistani troops on the ice-covered heights of Drass and Kargil, the Indian Air Force (IAF) was called in for its "most difficult operation ever," — to carry out precision strikes without breaching the Line of Control (LoC).

          "The fighter planes changed the course of the battle and the use of precision weapons destroyed the enemy fortification," recalled Air Officer Commanding, Jammu and Kashmir, Air Marshal J. Chauhan.

          After a helicopter gunship was shot down, "we inducted fighter planes including Jaguar and Mirage 2000 and used precision weapons. We analysed the results and they were very positive. This helped us and the troops go ahead and recapture the positions," he told PTI.

          Various fighter planes such a MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-27, Jaguar, Mirage 2000, MiG-29, Canberra, Avro and Mi-17 were utilised as part of 'Operation Safed Sagar' launched by the IAF in support of 'Operation Vijay' of the Army.

          It was for the first time that the IAF was called upon to undertake these missions at such high altitudes. The officer said they never expected that the IAF would be required to assist in the operation. "But we geared up at such a short notice."

          Biggest challenge

           

          The biggest challenge for the IAF was in the Drass sector. "We had to improvise a lot and work out various plans for perfect targets," he said.

          "We were working in a very tight spot. It was to have pin point targets. If a bomb fell in the plains, it would have destroyed various areas. If the bomb fell in the valley, it would have targeted our own troops," Mr. Chauhan said.

          The IAF was pressed into service mid-May in 1999 to facilitate recapture of territory by the Army in Mushko Valley, Drass, Kaksar Batalik and Turtok areas.

          The Western Air Command responded quickly. Prompt air support was provided. Numerous sorties were launched to airlift and reinforce positions in the area.

          Precision strikes

           

          Mirage 2000s flew precision strike missions and dropped laser-guided bombs.

          Offensive posturing by the IAF deterred the Pakistani Air Force from intervening in this area, the officer said.

          The IAF held majestic flypasts by MiG-21s and Mi-17s and para-dropping displays on Sunday, paying homage to the Kargil heroes. — PTI


          US armtwists Israeli firm on IAF deal: Report



          Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post reported that US has pressurised Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to back out of partnership with Swedish aerospace company Saab, which is fielding its Gripen fighter for the MMRCA contract.

          The Israeli defence ministry ordered IAI to pull out of the deal with Saab after Pentagon expressed concern that US technology would be integrated into the Gripen offered to India. "The stated concern was that western technology in Israeli hands would make its way to the Indians," an Israeli official told the newspaper.

          But what was found "strange" with the US request was that American aviation majors Boeing and Lockheed Martin are themselves in the fray for the lucrative MMRCA deal.

          Israeli officials said US had probably intervened because if IAI competed for the deal with Saab, it would force Boeing and Lockheed Martin to lower their prices.

          Incidentally, Gripen is considered to be one of the cheapest among the six contenders, which include the American F/A-18 `Super Hornet' (Boeing) and F-16 `Falcon' (Lockheed Martin), French Rafale (Dassault), Russian MiG-35 (United Aircraft Corporation) and Eurofighter Typhoon (consortium of British, German, Spanish and Italian companies).

          All the contenders have already mounted high-voltage campaigns in the hotly-contested race, worth around $10.4 billion, in which India is sure to factor in its geo-political considerations as well, as reported by TOI earlier.

          The six fighters are to be put through the paces in two sets of field trials conducted in summer and winter, ranging from the snow-capped peaks of Leh, scorching Rajasthan desert (Jaisalmer) and humid conditions of south India (Bangalore).

          Moreover, the fighters will also be evaluated in the countries of their origin. So, in effect, the trial results will be out only by mid-2010 at the earliest.

          The commercial bids will only be opened, examined and compared after a shortlist is made of the top two or three contenders following the extensive field trials and staff evaluation.

          With the final negotiations to begin thereafter, the entire process is expected to take a minimum of two years before the deal is actually inked. While 18 jets will be bought off-the-shelf, the rest will be manufactured in India under transfer of technology.
          http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4741294.cms

          India worried as Russia grounds MiG-29 fleet


          Moreover, the Indian Navy is soon to get 16 MiG-29Ks—the fighter's naval variant designed to operate from an aircraft carrier's deck—as part of the original $1.5 billion package deal signed with Russia in 2004 for Admiral Gorshkov.

          Sources said a navy team recently returned empty-handed from Russia after the delivery of its 16 MiG-29Ks was postponed because of Moscow's decision to ground its own MiG-29s. Russia apparently grounded its entire fleet of about 300 MiG-29s, codenamed 'Fulcrum' by Nato during the Cold War, after a couple of them crashed in southern Siberia in October-December due to the disintegration of their tail fins.

          Subsequently, around 90 MiG-29s have so far been found unsafe to fly during ongoing checks, while 100 have been cleared to take to the skies. Incidentally, Algeria had last year returned its 15 MiG-29s to Russia, holding that their quality was poor, which was strongly contested by Moscow.

          This does not augur well for India. As earlier reported by TOI, the IAF is already grappling with a huge dip in the number of its fighter squadrons, down to just 32 from the "sanctioned strength" of 39.5. The IAF hopes to reach its "desired strength" of 42 squadrons only by 2020 or so.

          Another reason is that even as India haggles with Russia over its additional $2 billion demand for Gorshkov's refit, the defence ministry has cleared the navy's proposal to buy 29 additional MiG-29Ks for Rs 5,380 crore.

          The procurement has been approved because both Gorshkov and the indigenous aircraft carrier, being built at the Cochin Shipyard, will operate MiG-29Ks once the two desperately needed warships are inducted into service in the next decade.

          The immediate concern, however, is for the IAF, which operates three MiG-29 squadrons along the western front for air defence purposes. "We have received no word from Russia. We are continuing to fly our MiG-29s from Halwara and Jamnagar," a senior officer said.

          The IAF had inducted over 70 twin-engined MiG-29s from 1986 onwards but has lost several of them in crashes, though these fighters are not as accident-prone as the single-engined MiG-21s or the recently phased out MiG-23s.

          Military logistics pact with US on backburner?



          This, however, does not mean there will be any slowdown in the already quite expansive military ties between India and US. The flurry of joint combat exercises, high-level exchanges, defence deals and other things will continue as usual.

          India is also on course to ink two other military pacts, End-Use Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) and Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum Agreement (CISMOA), being pushed by US to smoothen New Delhi's acquisition of military hardware and software from Washington.

          Bilateral defence and security cooperation, apart from other areas like civil nuclear technology and trade, in fact, will figure high on the agenda when US secretary of state Hillary Clinton comes visiting later this month. The EUMA, incidentally, may well get the final nod during the visit.

          "But LSA is firmly on the backburner for now... there are political sensitivities involved. Moreover, given its military operations in our neighbourhood, it's felt US is likely to use our bases and facilities much more than we will ever use theirs," said a top official.

          Modelled on the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreements the US has inked with scores of countries, LSA envisages Indian and American militaries providing logistic support, refuelling and berthing facilities for each other's warships and aircraft on a barter or an equal-value exchange basis.

          Though US has been repeatedly asking India to `conclude' LSA for well over two years now, the UPA remains reluctant to do so, even though the Left is no longer breathing down its neck. Earlier, CPI(M) and CPI had contended it would give US unfettered access to Indian military bases.

          EUMA, however, is a different matter. The UPA-2 government says it understands that EUMA is required under US domestic laws which basically govern sensitive technology control requirements.

          India, however, wants "mutuality" to underscore EUMA instead of "intrusive" clauses in the pact and its "enhanced version" which relate to "onsite physical verification" by US inspectors.

          "Since we are increasingly buying US military equipment, an overarching standard EUMA is an essential pre-condition for defence deals. Our position is that the inspections should take place at mutually decided dates and places, and that too only for `very valid' reasons," said the official.

          "After exchange of drafts four times, EUMA's final text, with acceptable legal language factoring in concerns of both sides, is being finalised now. It might be ready by Clinton's visit," he added.

          Till now, like for the three VVIP Boeing Business Jets and their self-protection suites inducted by IAF to ferry around the President and PM, India has signed standalone end-use pacts with US.

          The omnibus EUMA, once inked, will pave the way for high-end sensors, radars and weapon systems to be fitted on the aircraft being purchased under the already-inked $2.1 billion contract for eight Boeing P-8I maritime reconnaissance planes and the $962 million one for six C-130J `Super Hercules' planes. It will, of course, also govern all future deals.

          India in n-sub club, Arihant to be inducted in next 2 yrs

          Manu Pubby

          Posted: Jul 26, 2009 at 0846 hrs IST
           Visakhapatnam As the dark, sleek, almost shark-like vessel entered the Vizag harbour for the first time on Sunday morning, India marked its entry into an exclusive club of nations that can build and operate nuclear-powered submarines — a vital part of the nuclear triad that gives India the ability to launch a "second strike" nuclear attack from land, air and now, the sea.

          The INS Arihant, India's first nuclear submarine that was till now known by the code name S 2, was launched at a simple ceremony in this port town with the traditional breaking of a coconut on its hull by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife, Gursharan Kaur. It is expected to be ready for induction into the Navy by 2011 after a series of exhaustive trials.

          Once inducted, the 6,000-tonne Arihant — the name means destroyer of enemies — would be the vital third leg of India's nuclear policy that hinges around the "second strike" theory — which says that India will only use nuclear weapons as a retaliatory measure against a first strike by the enemy.

          Re-stating the doctrine, the Prime Minister tried to assuage fears of neighbouring countries by saying that the submarine was not aimed at threatening anyone. "We do not have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone. We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that is conducive to our peaceful development and the protection of our value systems," he said at the launch ceremony that was carried out in the dry dock of the Ship Building Centre (SBC) where the submarine has been under construction since 1998.

          This is the first time that the Prime Minister has spoken on the project, which has been top secret since the late 1970s when it was cleared by Indira Gandhi. In fact, while funding to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore is said to have gone into the project, successive governments have refused to even acknowledge its existence.

          For the first time, the dimensions of the submarine have been made public. The project director, Vice Admiral (retd) D S P Verma, said that the Arihant is a 6,000-tonne submarine with a length of 110 metres and a breadth of 11 metres. Experts say the vessel will be able to carry 12 K 15 submarine launched ballistic missiles that have a range of over 700 km.

          What makes a nuclear powered submarine even more important in India's context is its commitment to never use a nuclear weapon unless it is attacked first. This requires the need of a credible under-sea second strike capability in case the first strike wipes out missile bases and air-based assets.

          "Our voluntary commitment to 'no first use' nuclear weapon policy also necessitated acquiring a credible second strike capability to safeguard our national interests," said Defence Minister A K Antony.

          Significantly, all three dignitaries who spoke at the function — the PM, Defence Minister and Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta — made special mention of the Russian "cooperation" received in the project.

          While it is an open secret that Russia helped in the design of the submarine and miniaturisation of the reactor, this is the first time that its help has been openly acknowledged. The entire Russian design team and the Russian Ambassador to India, V I Trubnikov, were present at the function.

          Interestingly, the size of the Arihant is similar to the first nuclear submarine in the world that was launched four decades ago by the US. Besides the US, which has 74 nuclear submarines, Russia (44), UK (13), France (10) and China (10) also possess nuclear-powered submarines. The last nation to enter the nuclear submarine club was China when it launched its Han class submarines in the early 1980s.

          China has started mass producing its second generation of nuclear submarines. India has a lot of catching up to do as the new "Shang" and "Jin" class submarines — details of which emerged earlier last year — are a big leap ahead of their older and noisier Hans class submarines.

          However, before India gets its own nuclear submarine fleet, the Navy will train its personnel on a Russian Akula class nuclear submarine that India is getting on a 10-year lease towards the end of this year.

           

          59k bulletproof vests for central forces; from now on, only the best

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          Amitabh Sinha

          Posted: Jul 27, 2009 at 0839 hrs IST

          New Delhi In one of the biggest orders of its kind in recent times, the government has invited bids for procuring 59,000 bulletproof jackets for the central paramilitary forces.

          It is understood to have also decided that all bulletproof vests purchased subsequent to this order would be of Level 4 quality — the best available, designed to protect the wearer from close-range fire from most automated rifles and grenade sharpnel, and from multiple shots.

          The current tender, floated in the first week of July, is for 59,000 jackets of Level 3A variety. These can stop AK-47 and self-loading rifle fire from about 10 metres away. Security forces already have some vests of this grade, including the 20,000 ordered immediately after the Mumbai terror attacks.

          The order has come after years of delay. Three big tenders floated in 2002, 2004 and 2006 were scrapped due to technical errors. Police forces around the country are estimated to be in need of around 6 lakh jackets.

          The Home Ministry is currently evaluating several Level 4 jackets weighing 3-5 kg (the ones being ordered now would weigh about 6 kg), capable of taking automatic rifle fire from as close as 10 metres. They would protect the wearer's front, back, neck and areas under the armpits.

          Afghanistan rubbishes Pak claims of Indian interference in Balochistan

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          ANI

          Posted: Jul 27, 2009 at 1222 hrs IST

          New Delhi Pakistan's claims of India interfering in Balochistan have been rubbished by visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta.

          Spanta is in the Indian capital to meet External Affairs Minister S M Krishna for discussions on issues of mutual importance to the two countries. He is also expected to undergo a medical check up.

          He said there was no truth to Islamabad's claims of India fuelling unrest in southwestern Balochistan province or that New Delhi was backing the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).

          "This is not a new claim by Pakistan but we need to have closer relation against international terrorism in our region. Afghanistan never allowed other countries to take some interference in domestic issue of Pakistan and India has never used Afghan territory against Pakistan. This is only an empty claim," Spanta said.

          Spanta was responding to the tabling of a statement in the Pakistan Senate last week by Rehman Malik, the Pakistan Prime Minister's Adviser on Interior Affairs, suggesting that Islamabad has enough proof that India and Afghanistan are involved in the ongoing unrest in Balochistan.

          The documents state that New Delhi is providing tactical support and was funding and training terror groups in Pakistan.

          Malik also told the house that some of the militants who were arrested from Balochistan had also admitted 'on-camera' to being trained in Afghanistan on India's behalf.

          Malik used a used a multimedia system to show images of terrorists arrested from Balochistan and other areas.

          He also presented documents to prove the nationality of the Baloch leaders who were killed recently.

          "One of the three leaders, Ghulam Muhammad, was wanted by Tehran, while another, Sher Baloch, was an Iranian national," Malik said while tabling the documents.

          However, Senators said there was nothing new in the claims. One of the Senators said that he was already aware of all anti-Pakistan conspiracies hatched by India and some other neighbouring countries.

          Earlier, Malik had told Senate members that India is backing the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) to cause disturbance and ignite insurgency in the region.

          He also suggested that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to the mention of Balochistan in the joint statement after his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani confronted him in Sharm-el-Sheikh with a dossier detailing India''s covert activities in Balochistan.

          Malik also alleged in the Senate that India was responsible for the attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team and the Manawan police academy in Lahore last March.

          Malik had then said: "The BLA was raised with funding from the Soviet Union (during the Soviet-Afghan war) and it is now backed by India."

          Malik said he had informed Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai of this development, and added that Karzai had agreed to shut down terror camps in Afghanistan.

          Malik claimed that Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti has sought both Indian and American support for securing the independence of Balochistan from Pakistan.

          Referring to Brahamdagh Bugti''s recent interview to a Pakistani TV channel, Malik said the Baloch nationalist leader had even said that he was denying that he was getting help from India in Balochistan".

          Malik quoted Bugti as replying: "We are not denying it. We want somebody should support us. I am appealing through your channel to the Indians, Americans and UN to support us. We will welcome any support."

          India's Home Minister P. Chidambaram, however, has categorically denied Pakistan's charge of New Delhi's involvement in terrorist attacks in Balochistan.

          "We are not involved in Balochistan, we have nothing to do with Pakistan''s internal problems in Balochistan. In fact, the Balochistan leader has said that he gets no support from India. Besides, why should we get involved when we have enough problems on our western borders with Pakistan," Chidambaram told the media over the weekend.

          "Pakistan must produce evidence before making such allegations," he added.

          Indian official sources have also vehemently denied media reports that a dossier had been given by Islamabad to New Delhi which contained "evidence" of Indian involvement in Balochistan.


          Singh tells the world an open secret

          Visakhapatnam, July 26: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was "honoured to be present here today on the occasion of the launch of India's first nuclear submarine", announcing to the world that the country was developing such a capability now enjoyed by only five other nations in the world.

          The Prime Minister's words were the first acknowledgement from the Indian government's leader, 25 years after the project was officially begun but more than 30 years after it was conceptualised.

          Singh's wife, Gursharan Kaur, ceremonially unveiled a plaque on the vessel moored inside the Ship Building Centre at the naval dockyards here. The submarine is now "put to water" for trials. It will take at least four years for it to be operational.

          It is said to be not only nuclear-powered, that would enable it to stay undersea for weeks, possibly months, depending on supplies and crew fatigue, but it would also be armed with nuclear warheaded missiles.

          The Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, explained its significance. "This is the third and final leg of our nuclear triad." It meant that India had the capability to launch nuclear weapons from land and from the air but the INS Arihant was now arming it with a massive second-strike capability.

          India follows a doctrine of no first-use of nuclear weapons. Intrinsic to the doctrine is the development of a credible nuclear deterrent — a weapons platform capable of surviving a first strike from an adversary and launching a massive second strike in retaliation. A nuclear submarine, India's military planners believe, is the answer because it is silent and undetectable.

          Here on the 10th anniversary of the Kargil war of 1999 in which the Indian Army drove out Pakistan-backed intruders from the rare heights in Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister said: "We do not have any aggressive designs nor do we seek to threaten anyone. We seek an external environment in our region and beyond that is conducive to our peaceful development and protection of our value systems. Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon us to take all measures necessary to safeguard our country and to keep pace with technological developments worldwide."

          The first official admission of the project nearing completion came this February from defence minister A.K. Antony during the Aero India show in Bangalore.

          Antony, referring to India's non-aggression and no first-use nuclear policy, said the situation in the region had necessitated the need for a credible second-strike capability.

          Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, asked whether India would get enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology, said: "We should not be targeted. We are non-proliferating. I hope we have the same status as the G8 countries."

          The G8 had recommended to the Nuclear Suppliers Group earlier this month that ENR should be restricted to Nuclear Proliferation Treaty signatories but US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had said in Delhi that India should not worry.

          The reactor of the Arihant is to generate 80-odd megawatts. It needs highly enriched (above 20 per cent) uranium as fuel. But it has to be refuelled only after 8-10 years.

          Under the pact with the US, India's military and civilian nuclear programmes must be clearly separated. ENR technology for civilian energy cannot be used for military purposes.

          A question mark remains on the sustainability of the military nuclear capacities. India has domestic reserves of uranium that are not adequately mined.

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          Nuclear arms race

          From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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          U.S. and USSR/Russia nuclear stockpiles
          Nuclear weapons
          One of the first nuclear bombs.

          History
          Warfare
          Arms race
          Design
          Testing
          Effects
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          Espionage
          Proliferation
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          Nuclear-armed states

          United States · Russia
          United Kingdom · France
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          The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War. During the Cold War, in addition to the American and Soviet nuclear stockpiles, other countries also developed nuclear weapons, though none engaged in warhead production on nearly the same scale as the two superpowers.

          Contents

          [hide]

          [edit] World War II

          The first nuclear weapon was created by the American Manhattan Project during the Second World War and was developed for use against the Axis powers[1]. Scientists in the Soviet Union, then an ally of the United States, were aware of the possibility of nuclear weapons and had been doing some work in that direction[2].

          The Soviet Union was not officially informed of the American experiments until Stalin was informed at the Potsdam Conference on July 24, 1945[3][4]. The Americans did not trust the Soviets enough to keep the information from German spies; there was also deep distrust of the Soviets and their intentions, despite the wartime partnership. Even during the war many government and military figures in the USA saw the USSR as a potential enemy in the future.

          Despite this, the Soviets were well aware of the program due to a spy ring operating within the American nuclear program.[5] The atomic spies (including Klaus Fuchs [6] and Theodore Hall) kept Stalin well informed of American developments [7]. When U.S. President Harry S. Truman informed Stalin of the weapons, he was surprised at how calmly Stalin took the news and thought that Stalin had not understood what he had told him. In fact Stalin had long been aware of the program[8]. The American program had been so secret that even Truman did not know about the weapons until he became president; Stalin had thus known about the Manhattan Project before Truman himself did[8].

          In August of 1945, atomic bombs were dropped per Truman's order on designated Japanese cities. The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and then another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki by the B-29 bombers Enola Gay and Bock's Car respectively.

          [edit] Early Cold War

          In the years immediately after the Second World War, the United States had a nuclear monopoly on both specific knowledge and, most importantly, raw materials. Initially, it was thought that uranium was relatively rare in the world, but this was discovered to be incorrect. While American leaders hoped that their exclusivity would be able to draw concessions from the Soviet Union, this proved ineffective. Behind the scenes the Soviet regime was working furiously to build their own atomic weapons. During the war Soviet efforts had been limited by a lack of uranium, but new supplies in Eastern Europe were taken and provided a steady supply while the Soviets developed a domestic source. While American thinkers had predicted that the USSR would not have nuclear weapons until the mid-1950s, the first Soviet bomb was detonated on August 29 of 1949, shocking the entire world. The weapon (called "Joe One" by the West) was more or less a copy of the weapon which the United States had dropped on Japan ("Fat Man").

          Governments devoted massive amounts of resources to increasing the quality and quantity of their nuclear arsenal. Both nations quickly began work on hydrogen bombs and the United States detonated the first such device on November 1, 1952. Again the Soviets surprised the Americans by exploding a deployable thermonuclear device of their own the next August, though it was not actually a "true" multi-stage hydrogen bomb (that would wait until 1955). The Soviet H-bomb was almost completely a product of domestic research, as their espionage sources in the USA had only worked on very preliminary (and incorrect) versions of the hydrogen bomb.

          A chart of the Space Race as driven by the nuclear threat, graphing how the U.S. started behind but eventually caught up and surpassed the Soviet Union.

          The most important development in terms of delivery in the 1950s was the introduction of ICBMs. Missiles had long been seen as the ideal platform for nuclear weapons and in 1957 on the 4th of October with the launch of Sputnik the Soviet Union showed the world that they had missiles that could hit anywhere in the world. The United States launched their own on the 31 October 1959. The Space Race showcased technology that was critical to nuclear weapons delivery (the ICBM boosters) while maintaining the Beginning and ages of science and exploration.

          This period also saw attempts begin to defend against nuclear weapons. Both powers built large radar arrays to detect incoming bombers and missiles. Fighters to use against bombers and anti-ballistic missiles to use against ICBMs were also developed. Large underground bunkers were constructed to save the leadership of the superpowers, and individuals were told to build fallout shelters and taught how to react to a nuclear attack (civil defense). These bombs could kill millions in the event of an attack by either side.

          [edit] Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

          For a detailed article about Mutually Assured Destruction, see Mutual Assured Destruction

          All of these defensive measures were far from foolproof and by the 1950s both the United States and Soviet Union had the power to obliterate the other side. Both sides developed a "second-strike" capability [9], i.e. they could launch a devastating attack even after sustaining a full assault from the other side (especially by means of submarines). This policy was part of what became known as Mutually Assured Destruction: both sides knew that any attack upon the other would be suicide for themselves as well, and thus would (in theory) refrain from attacking one another.

          Both Soviet and American thinkers hoped to use nuclear weapons to extract concessions from the other side, or from other powers such as China & India, but the risk of any use of these weapons was so large that both sides refrained from what John Foster Dulles referred to as brinkmanship. While some like General Douglas MacArthur argued nuclear weapons should be used during the Korean War both Truman and Eisenhower disagreed.

          Both sides were also unaware of how their relative arsenals compared. The Americans tended to be lacking in confidence, in the 1950s they believed in a non-existent "bomber gap" (aerial photography later discovered that the Soviets had been playing a sort of Potemkin village game with their bombers in their military parades, flying them in large circles to make it appear they had far more than they truly did), and the 1960 American presidential election saw accusations of a wholly spurious "missile gap" between the Soviets and the Americans. The Soviet government structure tended to exaggerate the power of Soviet weapons to the leadership and Nikita Khrushchev.

          An additional controversy formed in the United States during the early-1960s over whether or not it was known if their weapons would work at all if it came down to it. All of the individual components of nuclear missiles had been tested separately (warheads, navigation systems, rockets), but it had been infeasible to test them all as a whole. Critics charged that it was not really known how a warhead would function in the gravity forces and temperature differences encountered in the upper atmosphere and outer space, and Kennedy was unwilling to run a risky test of an ICBM with a live warhead. The closest thing to an actual test, 1962's Operation Frigate Bird, in which the submarine USS Ethan Allen launched a Polaris A1 missile over 1,000 miles to the nuclear test site at Christmas Island, was challenged by critics (including Curtis LeMay, who used doubt over missile accuracy to encourage the development of new bombers) on the grounds that it was a single test (and could therefore be an anomaly), was a lower-altitude SLBM (and therefore was subject to different conditions than an ICBM), and that significant modifications had been made to its warhead before testing.

          Strategic nuclear missiles, warheads and throw-weights of United States and USSR, 1964-82
          Year Launchers Warheads Megatonnage
          USA USSR USA USSR USA USSR
          1964 2,416 375 6,800 500 7,500 1,000
          1966 2,396 435 5,000 550 5,600 1,200
          1968 2,360 1,045 4,500 850 5,100 2,300
          1970 2,230 1,680 3,900 1,800 4,300 3,100
          1972 2,230 2,090 5,800 2,100 4,100 4,000
          1974 2,180 2,380 8,400 2,400 3,800 4,200
          1976 2,100 2,390 9,400 3,200 3,700 4,500
          1978 2,058 2,350 9,800 5,200 3,800 5,400
          1980 2,042 2,490 10,000 6,000 4,000 5,700
          1982 2,032 2,490 11,000 8,000 4,100 7,100
          Source: Gerards Segal, The Simon & Schuster Guide to the World Today, (Simon & Schuster, 1987), p.82

          in: Edwin Bacon, Mark Sandle, "Brezhnev Reconsidered", Studies in Russian and East European History and Society (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)

          [edit] Initial nuclear proliferation

          In addition to the United States and the Soviet Union, three other nations, the United Kingdom[10], People's Republic of China[11], and France[12] also developed far smaller nuclear stockpiles. In 1952, the United Kingdom became the third nation to possess nuclear weapons when it detonated an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane[13] in Australia on October 3, 1952. During the Cold War, British nuclear deterrence came from submarines and nuclear-armed aircraft. The Resolution class ballistic missile submarines armed with the American-built Polaris missile provided the sea deterrent, while aircraft such as the Avro Vulcan, SEPECAT Jaguar, Panavia Tornado and several other Royal Air Force strike aircraft carrying WE.177 gravity bomb provided the air deterrent.

          France became the fourth nation to possess nuclear weapons on February 13, 1960, when the atomic bomb Gerboise Bleue was detonated in Algeria[14], then still a French colony. During the Cold War, the French nuclear deterrent was centered around the Force de frappe, a nuclear triad consisting of Dassault Mirage IV bombers carrying such nuclear weapons as the AN-22 gravity bomb and the ASMP stand-off attack missile, Pluton and Hades ballistic missiles, and the Redoutable class submarine armed with strategic nuclear missiles.

          The People's Republic of China became the fifth nuclear power on October 16, 1964, when it detonated a uranium-235 bomb in a test codenamed 596[15]. Due to Soviet/Chinese tensions, the Chinese might have used nuclear weapons against either the United States or the Soviet Union in the event of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union[citation needed]. During the Cold War, the Chinese nuclear deterrent consisted of gravity bombs carried aboard H-6 bomber aircraft, missile systems such as the DF-2, DF-3, and DF-4[16], and in the later stages of the Cold War, the Type 092 ballistic missile submarine.

          [edit] Détente

          Economic problems caused by the arms race in both powers, combined with China's new role and the ability to verify disarmament led to a number of arms control agreements beginning in the 1970s. This period known as détente allowed both states to reduce their spending on weapons systems. SALT I and SALT II and all limited the size of the states arsenals. Bans on nuclear testing, anti-ballistic missile systems, and weapons in space all attempted to limit the expansion of the arms race through the Partial Test Ban Treaty.

          These treaties were only partially successful. Both states continued building massive numbers of nuclear weapons, and new technologies such as multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (also known as MIRVs) limited the effectiveness of the treaties. Both superpowers retained the ability to destroy each other many times over.

          [edit] Reagan and the Strategic Defense Initiative

          Towards the end of Jimmy Carter's presidency, and continued strongly through the subsequent presidency of Ronald Reagan, the United States rejected disarmament and tried to restart the arms race through the production of new weapons and anti-weapons systems. The central part of this strategy was the Strategic Defense Initiative, a space based anti-ballistic missile system derided as "Star Wars" by its critics. During the second part of 1980s, the Soviet economy was teetering towards collapse and was unable to match American arms spending. Numerous negotiations by Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to come to agreements on reducing nuclear stockpiles, but the most radical were rejected by Reagan as they would also prohibit his SDI program.

          [edit] Post-Cold War

          With the end of the Cold War the United States, and especially Russia, cut down on nuclear weapons spending. Fewer new systems were developed and both arsenals have shrunk. But both countries still maintain stocks of nuclear missiles numbering in the thousands. In the USA, stockpile stewardship programs have taken over the role of maintaining the aging arsenal.

          After the Cold War ended, a large amount of resources and money which was once spent on developing nuclear weapons in USSR was then spent on repairing the environmental damage produced by the nuclear arms race, and almost all former production sites are now major cleanup sites. In the USA, the plutonium production facility at Hanford, Washington and the plutonium pit fabrication facility at Rocky Flats, Colorado are among the most polluted sites.

          United States policy and strategy regarding nuclear proliferation was outlined in 1995 in the document "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence".

          Despite efforts made in cleaning up uranium sites, significant problems stemming from the legacy of uranium development still exist today on the Navajo Nation in the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Hundreds of abandoned mines have not been cleaned up and present environmental and health risks in many Navajo communities. In addition to this, Navajo communities now have to face proposed new uranium solution mining that threatens the only source of drinking water for 10,000 to 15,000 people living in the Eastern Navajo Agency in northwestern New Mexico. The Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) aims to provide the public with information on resource exploitation on the people and their cultures, lands, water, and air of the American Southwest.

          [edit] India and Pakistan

          The South-Asian states of India and Pakistan have also engaged in a nuclear arms race. India detonated what it called a "peaceful nuclear device" in 1974 ("Smiling Buddha") [17] much to the surprise and alarm of the world who had been giving India nuclear technology for civilian, energy producing and peaceful purposes. The test generated great concern in Pakistan, which feared that it would be at the mercy of its long-time arch rival and quickly responded by pursuing its own nuclear weapons program. In the last few decades of the 20th century, Pakistan and India began to develop nuclear-capable rockets, and Pakistan had its own covert bomb program with Chinese proliferation which extended over many years since the first Indian weapon was detonated. In 1998 India, under Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, test detonated 5 more nuclear weapons. While the international response to the detonation was muted, domestic pressure within Pakistan began to build steam and Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif ordered the testing of its own nuclear weapons in a tit-for-tat fashion and to act as a deterrent.

          [edit] Israel

          Israel is widely believed to possess a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons and maintains intermediate-range ballistic missiles to deliver them. The Israeli government refuses to officially confirm or deny that it has a nuclear weapon program, and has an unofficial but rigidly enforced policy of deliberate ambiguity, saying only that it would not be the first to "introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East". Israel is widely believed to be one of the nuclear-armed nation-states not within the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the other three being India, Pakistan and North Korea.In a December 2006 interview, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Iran aspires "to have a nuclear weapon as America, France, Israel and Russia." Olmert's office later said that the quote was taken out of context, in other parts of the interview, Olmert refused to confirm or deny Israel's nuclear weapon status. According to The Nuclear Threat Initiative, based on Vanunu's information, Israel had approximately 200 nuclear explosive devices by 1980 and a Jericho missile delivery system .

          [edit] Milestone nuclear explosions

          The following list is of milestone nuclear explosions. In addition to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first nuclear test of a given weapon type for a country is included, and tests which were otherwise notable (such as the largest test ever). All yields (explosive power) are given in their estimated energy equivalents in kilotons of TNT (see megaton). Putative tests have not been included.

          Date  ↓ Name  ↓ Yield (kT)  ↓ Country  ↓ Significance
          1945-07-16 Trinity 19 Flag of the United States USA First fission device test, first plutonium implosion detonation
          1945-08-06 Little Boy 15 Flag of the United States USA Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, first detonation of an enriched uranium gun-type device
          1945-08-09 Fat Man 21 Flag of the United States USA Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan
          1949-08-29 RDS-1 22 Flag of the Soviet Union USSR First fission weapon test by the USSR
          1952-10-03 Hurricane 25 Flag of the United Kingdom UK First fission weapon test by the UK
          1952-11-01 Ivy Mike 10,400 Flag of the United States USA First cryogenic fusion fuel "staged" thermonuclear weapon, primarily a test device and not weaponized
          1953-08-12 Joe 4 400 Flag of the Soviet Union USSR First fusion weapon test by the USSR (not "staged")
          1954-03-01 Castle Bravo 15,000 Flag of the United States USA First dry fusion fuel "staged" thermonuclear weapon; fallout accident
          1955-11-22 RDS-37 1,600 Flag of the Soviet Union USSR First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the USSR (deployable)
          1957-11-08 Grapple X 1,800 Flag of the United Kingdom UK First (successful) "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the UK
          1960-02-13 Gerboise Bleue 70 Flag of France France First fission weapon test by France
          1961-10-31 Tsar Bomba 50,000 Flag of the Soviet Union USSR Largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested—scaled down from its initial 100 Mt design by 50%
          1964-10-16 596 22 Flag of the People's Republic of China PR China First fission weapon test by the People's Republic of China
          1967-06-17 Test No. 6 3,300 Flag of the People's Republic of China PR China First "staged" thermonuclear weapon test by the People's Republic of China
          1968-08-24 Canopus 2,600 Flag of France France First "staged" thermonuclear test by France
          1974-05-18 Smiling Buddha 12 Flag of India India First fission nuclear explosive test by India
          1998-05-11 Pokhran-II 45 Flag of India India First potential fusion/boosted weapon test by India; first deployable fission weapon test by India
          1998-05-28 Chagai-I 40 Flag of Pakistan Pakistan First fission weapon test by Pakistan
          2006-10-09 2006 North Korean nuclear test <1 Flag of North Korea North Korea First fission device tested by North Korea; resulted as a fizzle
          2009-05-25 2009 North Korean nuclear test uncertain Flag of North Korea North Korea First successful fission device tested by North Korea

          "Staging" refers to whether it was a "true" hydrogen bomb of the so-called Teller-Ulam configuration or simply a form of a boosted fission weapon. For a more complete list of nuclear test series, see List of nuclear tests. Some exact yield estimates, such as that of the Tsar Bomba and the tests by India and Pakistan in 1998, are somewhat contested among specialists.

          [edit] See also

          [edit] References

          [edit] External links


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