Nuclear arsenals: India, China, Pakistan
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India, China, Pakistan: nuclear arsenals
India, China, Pak add to nuke arsenal
Chidanand Rajghatta TNN The Times of India 2013/06/04
China, India, and Pakistan bumped up their nuclear arsenal, adding 10 to 20 weapons each in 2012, a handbook released by arms watchdog SIPRI noted.
India increased its nuclear warheads from 80-100 in 2012 to 90-110 in 2013, keeping pace with Pakistan, which went from 90-110 weapons to 110-120. China piled up 10 more weapons from 240 in 2012. “India’s expansion of missile capabilities isn’t targeted at Pakistan, but at China,” a SIPRI staff said
The status in 2012
With eye on China, India ramps up N-arsenal
SIPRI Says Delhi, Beijing And Islamabad Added 10-20 Weapons Last Year
Chidanand Rajghatta TNN
Washington: China, India, and Pakistan all added 10 to 20 nuclear weapons to their arsenal last year even as the top four nuclear nations — US, Russia, UK and France — appear determined to retain their nuclear arsenals indefinitely even if they didn’t add to their inventory, the Swedish arms watchdog SIPRI said in its 2013 handbook.
SIPRI’s world nuclear forces chart showed India bumping up its nuclear warheads from 80-100 in 2012 to 90-110 in 2013, keeping pace with Pakistan, which went from 90-110 weapons to 110-120. China, in the meantime, went from 240 nuclear weapons in 2012 to 250 in 2013.
However, SIPRI said, Russia and the US, along with the three other nuclear powers — France, Britain and China — are either deploying new nuclear weapon delivery systems or have announced programmes to do so, and appear determined to retain their nuclear arsenals indefinitely.
As a result, although the total number of nuclear weapons in the world dropped from approximately 19,000 in 2012 to 17,265 in 2013, there was little to inspire hope that states are genuinely willing to give up their nuclear arsenals, the SIPRI report said.
With greater insecurities and fears of survival, Pakistan is long thought to possess more nukes than India, although suggestions that it has or will overtake the weapons count of Britain and France seem misplaced. India, on the other hand, appears to be ramping up its arsenal with China in its calculations since Pakistan’s smaller land mass has few targets.
“With India we see the gradual expansion of its longer-range ballistic missile capabilities which are not really targeted at Pakistan but rather at China,” Kile said.
Cluster bombs
India continues to stock cluster bombs
Kounteya Sinha TNN
London: India is among a handful of nations that continues to stock cluster bombs used for carpet bombing.
Cluster munitions have a wide-area effect which makes them inaccurate. Also, unexploded duds pose a hazard for civilians long after the conflict.
Supporters of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) were unable to persuade any new states to sign the convention.
SIPRI says major cluster munitions producers that have not signed or ratified the convention include Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Israel, South Korea, Russia and the United States. “In 2012 there were credible reports of the use of cluster munitions by Sudan and Syria,” SIPRI added.
Ten states ratified the CCM in 2012 — Australia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Honduras, Hungary, Mauritania, Peru, Sweden, Switzerland and Togo — bringing the total number to 77, alongside 34 states that have signed but not ratified the convention. In comparison, 18 states had ratified the CCM in 2011.