Nuclear Command Authority (India)
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2003 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of India |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Agency executive | |
The Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) of India is the authority responsible for command, control and operational decisions regarding India's nuclear weapons programme.[1] It comprises a Political Council headed by the Prime Minister of India and an Executive Council headed by the National Security Advisor.[2]
Introduction
India's first Nuclear test was conducted on 18 May 1974 with the code name
Though India has not made any official statements about the size of its nuclear arsenal, different country estimates indicate that India has anywhere between 150 and 300 nuclear weapons.[3][4]
On 4 January 2003, the
Strategic Forces Command
The directives of the NCA are operationalised by the
The NCA may be seen as the first stage in the development of an effective and robust
Delivery of weapons
The current status of delivery systems for Indian
India first tested the 150 km range Prithvi-1 in 1988, and the 250 km range Prithvi-2 in 1996, and the Prithvi missiles were inducted into the Indian armed forces by the early to mid 1990s. India was slow to develop the Agni missiles. It first tested the Agni technology demonstrator in 1989, the two-stage 2000 km range Agni-2 in 1999, single-stage 700 km range Agni-1 in 2001, the 3,000 km range three-stage Agni-3 in 2006, Agni-4 with a range of 4,000 km in 2011 and Agni-5 with an estimated range between 5,000 and 8,000 in the year 2012. The successor, Agni-6 is said to be under development with a speculated range of 10,000 km.
Since India had a few nuclear weapons prior to the availability of these missiles, especially the Agni, it is probable that the current Indian nuclear weapons inventory includes weapons designed for delivery using airplanes. The
New Delhi-Islamabad nuclear hotline
India and Pakistan set up their own nuclear hotline on Sunday, 20 June 2004.[6]
See also
- Integrated entities
- Defence Planning Committee, tri-services command at policy level with NSA as its chief
- Defence Cyber Agency, tri-services command
- Integrated Defence Staff, tri-services command at strategic level composed of MoD, MEA and tri-services staff
- Armed Forces Special Operations Division, tri-services command at operational level
- Defence Space Agency, draws staff from all 3 services of Indian Armed Forces
- Strategic Forces Command, nuclear command of India
- Indian Nuclear Command Authority, Strategic Forces Command
- Special Forces of India, tri-services, RAW and internal Security each has own units
- Andaman and Nicobar Command, first operational tri-services command
- Assets
- Indian military satellites
- List of Indian Air Force stations
- List of Indian Navy bases
- List of active Indian Navy ships
- India's overseas military bases
- Other nations
- Special Operations Forces Command (KSSO) - Russian equivalent command
- Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) - U.S. equivalent command
- General concepts
- Joint warfare, general concept
- Minimum Credible Deterrence
- List of cyber warfare forces of other nations
References
- ^ a b "Indian Army wants sole right over post of Strategic Forces Commander". Zee News. 29 July 2013. Archived from the original on 4 September 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
- ^ "PIB Press Releases". archive.pib.gov.in. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ Norris, Robert S. and Hans M. Kristensen. "India's nuclear forces, 2005 Archived 2008-11-19 at the Wayback Machine," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 61:5 (September/October 2005): 73–75.
- ^ India's Nuclear Weapons Program - Present Capabilities Archived 10 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Independent—Monday, June 21, 2004--"India and Pakistan to Have Nuclear Hotline": Archived 4 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine