28-481: The Strategic Forces Command ( SFC ), sometimes called Strategic Nuclear Command , forms part of India's Nuclear Command Authority (NCA). It is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile. It was created on 4 January 2003 by the Vajpayee Government . Air Marshal Teja Mohan Asthana became its first commander-in-chief . It
56-686: A Flying Instruction School (FIS) was formed here. In 1947, FIS Ambala was moved to Tambaram near Chennai in Tamil Nadu , at Tambaram Air Force Station . In both the 1965 and 1971 wars, Ambala Air Force Base was attacked by the Pakistani Air Force. In 1965, the Pakistanis struck Ambala and reportedly destroyed some 25 Indian planes just after they had returned from missions (the PAF did not initially claim any IAF aircraft during
84-542: A nuclear triad , which may have been deployed in 2015. The first is a submarine-launched system consisting of at least four 6,000 tonne ( nuclear-powered ) ballistic missile submarines of the Arihant class . The first vessel, INS Arihant , has been launched and will complete extensive sea-trials before being commissioned and declared operational. She is the first nuclear-powered submarine to be built by India. A CIA report claimed that Russia provided technological aid to
112-626: A uranium enrichment plant, fuel fabrication facilities, and extensive nuclear research capabilities. 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. On 4 January 2003, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) constituted the Political Council and the Executive Council of
140-592: A proposal to the Defence Ministry for setting up two dedicated squadrons of fighter aircraft which will act as a mini-Air Force. This will be the first time that the SFC, which at present depends on the Indian Air Force for delivering nuclear weapons under its command, will have its own aerial assets. Nuclear-armed fighter-bombers were India's first and only nuclear-capable strike force until 2003, when
168-509: 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 Indian Armed Forces operates
196-531: A sophisticated Command and Control (C2) mechanism to prevent their accidental or unauthorised use. The directives of the NCA are operationalised by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) under the control of a Commander-in-Chief of three-star rank . The SFC is in charge of the management and administration of the tactical and strategic nuclear forces. The NCA may be seen as the first stage in
224-778: Is considered one of the most strategically located bases of the IAF. The Indo-Pak border is around 220 km from there. In 1919, first airstrip was built in Haryana when RAF Ambala was created, after the First World War Ambala Air Force Station was established following the independence of India. Royal Air Force/Royal Flying Corps units include: No. 3 Squadron RAF , No. 5 Squadron RAF , No. 20 Squadron RAF , No. 28 Squadron RAF , No. 31 Squadron RAF , No. 60 Squadron RAF , No. 99 Squadron RAF , No. 114 Squadron RAF , No. 659 Squadron RAF In 1919,
252-576: Is planning a full-fledged test of the missile from a submarine and for this purpose may use the services of the Russian Navy . India's DRDO is also working on a submarine-launched ballistic missile version of the Agni-III missile, known as the Agni-III SL. According to Indian defence sources, the Agni-III SL will have a range of 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi). The new missile will complement
280-587: Is the responsibility of the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) to operationalize the directives of the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) under the leadership of a Commander-in-Chief who is a three-star rank officer . It will have the sole responsibility of initiating the process of delivering nuclear weapons and warheads, after acquiring explicit approval from the NCA. The exact selection of the target area shall be decided by
308-959: The Dassault Rafale which is capable of carrying out nuclear attacks. There are no open-source reports suggesting which if any of these planes have been equipped to deliver air-dropped atomic weapons. One or more of the following aircraft types might be used for this purpose. The MiG-27 and the Jaguar were originally designed to perform ground attack missions, and would require only modest modification to deliver nuclear weapons. The Indian Air Force also operates several other older and less capable types of ground-attack aircraft which would seem rather less likely candidates for delivering nuclear weapons. The MiG-29 , Sukhoi Su-30 MKI and Mirage 2000 were originally designed to perform air-to-air combat missions, though they could potentially be modified to deliver air-dropped nuclear weapons. Plans are also on for
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#1732773018574336-627: The National Security Advisor . India's first Nuclear test was conducted on 18 May 1974 with the code name Smiling Buddha . Since then India has conducted another series of tests at the Pokhran test range in the state of Rajasthan in 1998, which included a thermonuclear test, code named Operation Shakti . India has an extensive civil and military nuclear program, which includes at least 10 nuclear reactors , uranium mining and milling sites, heavy water production facilities,
364-720: The Prithvi missile family – the Prithvi-I. Additional variants of the Agni missile series have recently been inducted including the most recent, the Agni-IV and the Agni-V , which is currently being deployed. Agni-VI is also under development, with an estimated range of 8,000–12,000 km and features such as Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) or Maneuverable reentry vehicles (MARVs). The Prithvi missile inducted into India’s Strategic Forces Command in 2003,
392-492: The destroyer INS Rajput . The test was a success with the missile hitting the land based target. Nuclear Command Authority (India) The Nuclear Command Authority ( NCA ) of India is the authority responsible for command, control and operational decisions regarding India's nuclear weapons programme . It comprises a Political Council headed by the Prime Minister of India and an Executive Council headed by
420-527: 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
448-490: The Haryana government to park their spillover "Non-scheduled Air Operations" (NSOP) aircraft from the congested IGI airport at Delhi to Bhiwani and Narnaul airport. Some of this development work at Hisar, Bhiwani and Narnaul airports is already underway. Hisar will be extended to 10,000 ft by March 2022 for large air crafts. On Feb 26, 2019, for India's 2019 Balakot airstrike in Pakistan, Mirage fighters took off from
476-535: The NCA. The Executive Council gives its opinion to the Political Council, which authorises a nuclear attack when deemed necessary. While the Executive Council is chaired by the National Security Advisor (NSA), the Political Council is chaired by the Prime Minister . This mechanism was implemented to ensure that Indian nuclear weapons remain firmly in civilian control and that there exists
504-434: The SFC through a calibrated, cumulative process involving various levels of decision-making, and with formal approval by the NCA. The SFC manages and administers all strategic forces by exercising complete command and control over nuclear assets, and producing all contingency plans as needed to fulfill the required tasks. Since its inception, the SFC's command, control and communication systems have been firmly established, and
532-788: The attack on Ambala due to non-availability of damage in night bombing). Indian Air Force rejected the Pakistani claim and stated that no aircraft were lost in Ambala during the war. It is also the home to the SEPECAT Jaguar of No. 5 Squadron IAF and No. 14 Squadron IAF , and aging MiG-21bis of No. 21 Squadron IAF . In January 2019, it was announced to set up a civil enclave and extend runway of all five existing government airports in Haryana to at least 5,000 feet for midsize aircraft and business jets , and night landing and parking hangars will be constructed as airlines have approached
560-570: The command has attained a high state of operational readiness. The estimated 68 nuclear warheads of land-based nuclear weapons of India are under the control of and deployed by the Strategic Forces Command, using a variety of both vehicles and launching silos. They currently consist of three different types of ballistic missiles , the Agni-I , the Agni-II , Agni-III , Shaurya and the Army's variant of
588-618: The country's first land-based nuclear ballistic missiles were fielded. In addition to their ground-attack role, it is believed that the Dassault Mirage 2000s and SEPECAT Jaguars of the Indian Air Force are able to provide a secondary nuclear-strike role. The SEPECAT Jaguar was designed to be able to carry and deploy nuclear weapons and the Indian Air Force has identified the jet as being capable of delivering Indian nuclear weapons. The most likely delivery method would be
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#1732773018574616-635: The delivery of nuclear weapons via the Arihant class submarine using the SLBM / SLCM Sagarika . India and Pakistan set up their own nuclear hotline on Sunday, 20 June 2004. Ambala Air Force Station The Ambala Air Force Station is an Air Force base situated north of the urban Ambala Cantt area in Haryana , India . The Ambala Air Force Station is the home to the first batch of advance multirole fighter jet Dassault Rafales that have been inducted to Indian Air Force . Ambala Air Force Station
644-484: The development of an effective and robust Command and Control (C2) and Indications-and-Warning (I&W) systems and infrastructure for its strategic nuclear forces. The current status of delivery systems for Indian nuclear weapons is unclear and highly classified. India has developed and tested nuclear weapons that could be delivered on the Prithvi and Agni missiles, although its extent and operational preparedness in this respect remains unclear. India first tested
672-486: The first missile to be developed under India’s prestigious IGMDP strengthens India’s nuclear deterrence A missile unit of the elite Strategic Forces Command (SFC) successfully launched a Prithvi missile on 7 January 2014 from the test range at Chandipur. It was reported by Hindustan Times on 12 September 2010 that to increase its lethal power, India's tri-services strike force is planning to acquire 40 fighter planes capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The SFC has submitted
700-405: The naval nuclear propulsion program. The submarines will be armed with up to 12 Sagarika (K-15) missiles armed with nuclear warheads. Sagarika is a submarine-launched ballistic missile with a range of 700 km. This missile has a length of 8.5 meters, weighs seven tonnes and can carry a pay load of up to 500 kg. Sagarika has already been test-fired from an underwater pontoon, but now DRDO
728-462: The older and less capable Sagarika submarine-launched ballistic missiles. However, the Arihant class ballistic missile submarines will be only capable of carrying a maximum of four Agni-III SL. The second is a ship-launched system based around the short range ship-launched Dhanush ballistic missile (a variant of the Prithvi missile ). It has a range of around 300 km. In the year 2000 the missile
756-538: The use of bombs that are free-falling and unguided . Three airbases with four squadrons of Mirage 2000H (about 16 aircraft with 16 bombs from 1st and 7th squadrons of the 40th Wing at Maharajpur Air Force Station ) and Jaguar IS/IB (about 32 aircraft with 32 bombs from one squadron each at Ambala Air Force Station and Gorakhpur Air Force Station ) aircraft, are believed to be assigned the nuclear strike role. The Indian Navy has developed two sea-based delivery systems for nuclear weapons, completing Indian ambitions for
784-399: Was test-fired from INS Subhadra (a Sukanya class patrol craft ). INS Subhadra was modified for the test and the missile was launched from the reinforced helicopter deck. The results were considered partially successful. In 2004, the missile was again tested from INS Subhadra and this time the results were reported successful. In December 2005 the missile was tested again, but this time from
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