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NEW DELHI: China is undertaking a “substantial expansion” of its nuclear weapons arsenal, which satellite images show includes the construction of more than 300 new missile silos, even as Pakistan also continues to be slightly ahead of India in the number of nuclear warheads.
China has an estimated 350 nuclear warheads, with new mobile missile launchers and another submarine becoming operational over the last one year, while Pakistan has 165 and India 160, as per the latest assessment of the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI) released on Monday.
The SIPRI report comes a day after Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghe at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore declared his country has made “impressive progress” in developing and deploying new nuclear weapons, including the Dong Feng-41 (DF-41) inter-continental ballistic missile with a strike range of over 12,000 km. But, he added, China will only use nuclear weapons in “self-defence” and never use them first.
The Pentagon’s report on China’s military capabilities had also earlier said Beijing’s “accelerating pace” of nuclear expansion will enable it to have up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027, with the stockpile touching 1,000 by 2030.
The US and Russia are of course in a different league, together accounting for 90% of all nuclear weapons around the globe. SIPRI said the nine nuclear-armed countries together possess an estimated 12,705 nuclear warheads, with the numbers being Russia (5,977), US (5,428), France (290), UK (225), Israel (90) and North Korea (20).
“All of the nuclear-armed states are increasing or upgrading their arsenals and most are sharpening nuclear rhetoric and the role nuclear weapons play in their military strategies… This is a very worrying trend,” said Wilfred Wan of SIPRI.
The warhead figures are estimates because most countries, including India, keep their nuclear weapons programmes shrouded in secrecy. Moreover, deterrence cannot be reduced to simplistic bean counting of the number of warheads.
India is steadily moving ahead to modernise its nuclear arsenal with better delivery systems, in tune with its declared policy of “credible minimum deterrence” and “no first-use”, officials say.
The induction of the 36 new Rafale fighter jets, for instance, has strengthened the “air vector” for delivery of nuclear gravity bombs after some Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s and Jaguars were earlier modified for that role.
The ongoing induction of the over 5,000-km range Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile, which brings the whole of Asia and China as well parts of Europe and Africa within its strike envelope, in turn, has boosted the “land vector”.
The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) already has Prithvi-II (350-km), Agni-I (700-km), Agni-II (2,000-km), Agni-III (3,000-km) and Agni-IV (4,000-km) missile units. The newer Agni missiles, like Agni-V and Agni-Prime (1,000-2,000 km), are also canister-launched to give the armed forces the requisite operational flexibility to store it for long periods, swiftly transport it through rail or road when required, and fire it from anywhere they want.
The third leg of the “nuclear triad”, however, is still fledgling. India currently has only one nuclear-powered and armed submarine (SSBN) INS Arihant, with 750-km range K-15 nuclear missiles. Countries like the US, Russia and China have SSBNs with well over 5,000-km range missiles.
India has three more SSBNs under development, with INS Arighat slated for commissioning this year after some delay. The developmental trials of K-4 missiles, with a strike range of 3,500-km, in turn, have been completed but the induction is still some distance away, as was earlier reported by TOI.
China has an estimated 350 nuclear warheads, with new mobile missile launchers and another submarine becoming operational over the last one year, while Pakistan has 165 and India 160, as per the latest assessment of the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI) released on Monday.
The SIPRI report comes a day after Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghe at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore declared his country has made “impressive progress” in developing and deploying new nuclear weapons, including the Dong Feng-41 (DF-41) inter-continental ballistic missile with a strike range of over 12,000 km. But, he added, China will only use nuclear weapons in “self-defence” and never use them first.
The Pentagon’s report on China’s military capabilities had also earlier said Beijing’s “accelerating pace” of nuclear expansion will enable it to have up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027, with the stockpile touching 1,000 by 2030.
The US and Russia are of course in a different league, together accounting for 90% of all nuclear weapons around the globe. SIPRI said the nine nuclear-armed countries together possess an estimated 12,705 nuclear warheads, with the numbers being Russia (5,977), US (5,428), France (290), UK (225), Israel (90) and North Korea (20).
“All of the nuclear-armed states are increasing or upgrading their arsenals and most are sharpening nuclear rhetoric and the role nuclear weapons play in their military strategies… This is a very worrying trend,” said Wilfred Wan of SIPRI.
The warhead figures are estimates because most countries, including India, keep their nuclear weapons programmes shrouded in secrecy. Moreover, deterrence cannot be reduced to simplistic bean counting of the number of warheads.
India is steadily moving ahead to modernise its nuclear arsenal with better delivery systems, in tune with its declared policy of “credible minimum deterrence” and “no first-use”, officials say.
The induction of the 36 new Rafale fighter jets, for instance, has strengthened the “air vector” for delivery of nuclear gravity bombs after some Sukhoi-30MKIs, Mirage-2000s and Jaguars were earlier modified for that role.
The ongoing induction of the over 5,000-km range Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile, which brings the whole of Asia and China as well parts of Europe and Africa within its strike envelope, in turn, has boosted the “land vector”.
The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) already has Prithvi-II (350-km), Agni-I (700-km), Agni-II (2,000-km), Agni-III (3,000-km) and Agni-IV (4,000-km) missile units. The newer Agni missiles, like Agni-V and Agni-Prime (1,000-2,000 km), are also canister-launched to give the armed forces the requisite operational flexibility to store it for long periods, swiftly transport it through rail or road when required, and fire it from anywhere they want.
The third leg of the “nuclear triad”, however, is still fledgling. India currently has only one nuclear-powered and armed submarine (SSBN) INS Arihant, with 750-km range K-15 nuclear missiles. Countries like the US, Russia and China have SSBNs with well over 5,000-km range missiles.
India has three more SSBNs under development, with INS Arighat slated for commissioning this year after some delay. The developmental trials of K-4 missiles, with a strike range of 3,500-km, in turn, have been completed but the induction is still some distance away, as was earlier reported by TOI.
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