The China threat continues to resonate in the strategic partnership between India and the USA, points out Rup Narayan Das.
"Agni-1, surface-to-surface single stage missile with 700 km range, will be taken up for test on Sunday," sources said, adding that Defence Research Development Organisation and operational strategic units of army and naval forces would jointly conduct the operation.
During last week's Nuclear Security Summit, President Obama asked the media to leave and then screened videos depicting plausible scenarios pertaining to nuclear terrorism.
Defence exports have grown by 334 per cent in the last five years and India is now exporting to over 75 countries due to collaborative efforts, the government said on Sunday. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a tweet: "The Indian Defence sector, the second largest armed force is at the cusp of revolution." "Defence exports grew by 334 per cent in the last five years; India now exporting to over 75 countries due to collaborative efforts," it said.
Negotiating a sustainable compromise with Iran is not getting any easier, and this delay might not yield the desired result of bringing Tehran's nuclear programme under stringent limits, says Claude Smadja
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla Shukla says Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma -- the first Indian to travel to space --has been advising him about the space flight.
Maintaining that its strategic capabilities were not targeted against any particular country, India has said that it abides by all applicable international obligations and expects others do the same, while responding to Chinese reaction to its test-firing of Agni V missile.
'With Punjab and Kashmir in flames, it would not have been politically wise to alienate the West.' 'It would have inclined Western countries towards Pakistan.' 'It would have been a self-goal.'
"India is capable of indigenously building the most viable commercial nuclear reactors for producing 220 MW and 540 MW power. Small reactors are the best bet to export," he told media persons at the Koodamkulam Nuclear power plant site near Tirunelveli replying to a question on feasibility of exporting nuclear reactors to countries like Egypt.
It's a strategic approach in which the country's military and defence mechanisms evolve continuously in tandem with emerging threats. The new strategy anticipates events and prepares to counter those proactively.
The Indian position on the Russia-Ukraine war and the unconditional treaty between China and Russia appear to have caused some ripples in India-US relations and led to a reappraisal of India's usefulness to the US in the eventuality of a conflict with China, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India's nuclear strategy, which has traditionally focused on Pakistan, now appears to place increased emphasis on China, the two experts claimed.
India failed to extract the 'price' from Pakistan for its Kargil misadventure.
The price could have been military in terms of loss of territory/soldiers/equipment or destruction of terrorist training infrastructure. Giving a 'face saving' option to Pakistan proved disastrous for the future, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Pakistan has alleged that India was pursuing conventional, nuclear and missile development programmes which can lead to nuclearisation of the Indian Ocean and can disturb the "balance of power" in the region.
AQ Khan, a controversial scientist known as the father of Pakistan's clandestine nuclear programme, passed away here on Sunday after a brief illness. He was 85.
The 119 nearly identical construction sites, that could potentially house powerful weapons capable of reaching the American mainland, are similar to those seen at existing launch facilities for China's arsenal of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, the report said.
China has flight tested an upgraded version of its 10,000-km range Dongfeng missile which can reach most of the US and European cities, demonstrating its nuclear capability, media reports said.
'Why should we disclose classified information to satisfy those who doubt our Hydrogen Bomb capability?'
The Babur or Hatf VII missile can carry conventional as well as non-conventional nuclear warheads.
Amid escalation of maritime tensions with neighbours and a US military focus shift to Asia Pacific, Chinese military is stepping up its conventional missile capability, polishing its ability to carry out multiplelaunches while preserving its strategic nuclear deterrence.
The US president said new sanctions would be imposed, adding 'America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail'.
Reports (not denied by India) that the USA had 'for the first time provided real-time details to their Indian counterparts on the Chinese positions and force strength in advance of a PLA incursion' into Tawang at the LAC in December 2022, helping India thwart China's expansionist designs, show how operationally effective the USA-India friendship has become on the ground. A engaging excerpt from Sreeram Chaulia's must-read new book, Friends: India's Closest Strategic Partners.
"The United States and Chinas Asian neighbours remain concerned about the pace and scope of Chinas current military modernisation efforts, including its quantitative and qualitative modernisation of its nuclear capabilities," the Obama administration said in its Nuclear Posture Review report released by it on Tuesday.
Describing India's non-proliferation record as "solid", the United States has asked all nuclear-capable states to exercise restraint regarding their atomic capabilities.
The missile has a strike range of 2000 km, the sources said soon after it blasted off from a mobile launcher at the Launch Complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range, the sources said.
'In this regard, the future stability of Pakistan remains a wild card,' said the report.
To enhance its nuclear capability, Pakistan is developing non-strategic nuclear weapons and thus joining the ranks of countries like the United States and Russia, a leading American think-tank has said.
According to the report, Russia tops the table with 6,375 warheads, followed by the United States with 5,800, and the United Kingdom with 215 warheads.
Estimated to have more nuclear weapons than India, Pakistan is rapidly developing and expanding its atomic arsenal, spending about $2.5 billion a year to develop such weapons, a report has said.
'Once the military starts to draw up plans for using nuclear weapons, then nuclear weapons could be used earlier in a crisis than otherwise.'
Rejecting Biden's comments, Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal at a press conference here said that Pakistan was following the global standards.
rediffGURU Dr Ashish Sehgal counsels individuals on how to resolve conflicts and prioritise mental wellbeing.
With this new induction, the country has the capability to launch nukes from land, air and sea.
Is North Korea really dismantling its nuclear programme? Rajaram Panda explains the many challenges to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.
According to recently declassified CIA data, obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act, the CIA had evidence suggesting close Pakistan-China nuclear cooperation, to the point of facilitating a nuclear weapons capability, although the intelligence community saw this as possibly a special case based on an alliance that had existed since 1963.
'Only when India's adversaries are convinced that India has both the necessary political and military will and the hardware to respond to a nuclear strike with punitive retaliation that will inflict unacceptable loss of human life and unprecedented material damage, will they be deterred,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The missile can carry a nuclear warhead weighing up to 1,500 kg.
Ahead of his much-anticipated visit to conflict-torn Ukraine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India firmly believes that no problem can be solved on the battlefield and it is ready to extend all possible cooperation for the restoration of peace and stability in the region.
