India’s nuclear weapons arsenal, its command and control structures as well as the state of operational readiness came up for a detailed review at a toplevel meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday. Sources said the “top-secret” meeting of the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA), attended by ministers who are part of the Cabinet committee on security, national security advisor and the three Service chiefs, among others, stressed the need for ‘faster consolidation’ of India’s nuclear deterrence.
The “delay” in the longstanding aim to have a fully operational nuclear triad — the ability to fire nukes from land, sea and air — also figured in the meeting of the “political council” of NCA, which is the country’s solitary body that can authorize the use of nuclear weapons.
The NCA meeting, barely held twice a year to assess the steps being taken to “manage” the nuclear arsenal, comes in the backdrop of Pakistan once again brandishing its “tactical nuclear weapons” with another test of its 60-km Nasr missile in May.
The “delay” in the longstanding aim to have a fully operational nuclear triad — the ability to fire nukes from land, sea and air — also figured in the meeting of the “political council” of NCA, which is the country’s solitary body that can authorize the use of nuclear weapons.
The NCA meeting, barely held twice a year to assess the steps being taken to “manage” the nuclear arsenal, comes in the backdrop of Pakistan once again brandishing its “tactical nuclear weapons” with another test of its 60-km Nasr missile in May.
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