A Nuclear Strategy for India

A Nuclear Strategy for India

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Book Specification

Item Code: IDE623
Author: Rear Admiral & Raja Menon
Publisher: Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd.
Language: English
Edition: 2000
ISBN: 0761994610
Pages: 316
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5" X 5.5"

Book Description

From the Jacket:

This topical, and important book comes at a time when India's position on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) has aroused controversy in international undergoing significant changes, and when the world is taking rapid technological strides.

Perhaps the first effort to articulate a coherent nuclear strategy for India, the book begins by providing a framework that rests on a theory of international relations in which the use of force is postulated. Admiral Menon then discusses the experience of Western countries in acquiring tactical nuclear weapons and Indian criticisms of Western nuclear doctrines. This is followed by a discussion of India's journey to acquiring nuclear weapons which presents, for the first time, a coordinated analysis of the roles played by the military, the scientific establishment and diplomats combined with the technological and economic dimensions.

The next two chapters are devoted to strategy. The author introduces quantitative analysis into the nuclear debate as also discusses the little understood phenomenon of the technological pressures which influence the decision to introduce newer weapons. Admiral Menon describes India's arsenal and the rationale behind it and outlines deterrence theory. The book ends by locating India's nuclear strategy in the international environment in the light of the 1998 nuclear test.

This valuable and timely book, will numerous first to its credit, will interest all those interested in the nuclear debate, strategic and military studies, international relations, science and technology studies, and contemporary Indian politics and diplomacy.

About the Author:

Rear Admiral Raja Menon retired in 1994 as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) in which job he was responsible for formulating strategy. He is a visiting lecturer at India's foreign Service Training Institute, at the Defence Service Staff College, the Naval Higher Command Course and the National Defence College.

CONTENTS

List of Tables 10
List of Figures 11
List of Abbreviations 13
Preface 19
Acknowledgements 22
1. International Relations and India's Geopolitical Environment 23
The Idealism in Indian Foreign Policy 23
Freud vs Marx 26
The Status Quo Power and the Revisionist Power 27
Politics and Military Power 29
Coercive Nuclear Diplomacy 32
The Clausewitzian Divide 35
2. The Western Narrative: Western Nuclear Theology 41
Nuclear Diplomacy 41
Early Strategy 44
Deterrence 46
NSC-68 46
Arsenals 47
Massive Retaliation and the New Look 48
Strategic Vulnerability 49
The McNamara Years 49
The SIOP, Counter-force and Assured Destruction 52
Targeting Policy 54
McNamara's Legacy 54
Tactical Nuclear Weapons 55
Sufficiency and Finite Targeting 56
Flexible Targeting and Counter-force II 57
PD-59 and Countervailing Strategy 57
National Security Decision Directive No. 12 (NSSD-12) 59
The Soviet Strategy 60
The INF Controversy 60
The Irresistable Pull of Technology 62
The Lessons for Nuclear Strategy 63
3. The Indian Narrative 66
Homi Bhabha 66
The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Indian Rare Earths Limited 67
India, the USSr and China: The Early Years 68
The Beginnings of Rivalry 70
The End of Idealism 73
Take a Horse to Water 75
Alterations of Course with Sarabhai 77
A Fork in the Road 83
Pokhran I 85
The Late Fee for strategic Delays 87
The Subcontinental Straw 89
A Second Chance 92
Diplomacy First, Strategy Second 94
The Chinese Accelerate 95
Brasstacks 98
Thrashing About in the Bushes 100
The Dangers of Nuclear Ambiguity 102
Doing Nothing is Doing Something 104
The Military Shoot Themselves in the Foot - Again 107
The CTBT Imbroglio 108
Losing the way 111
Leading to Pokhran II 113
4. Pure Strategy and Technology 122
The Attractions of Technology 122
Nuclear Warheads 124
The Effects of Nuclear Weapons 124
The Technology of Missile Accuracy 128
Nuclear Weapons Development 136
Yield, Blast and Multiple Warheads 138
The Tripwire Strategy and First Use 140
The Future of Nuclear Weapons 142
Pure Strategy 145
Deterrence by Punishment 146
Deterrence By Denial 146
Arsenals Related to Deterrence 148
Rationality 151
Perception 152
Defensive Avoidance 154
Graduating to Nuclear Strategy 155
The Weakness of Massive Retaliation 156
Flexible Targeting 158
Brinkmanship 161
Counter-force, First Strike and Stabiligy 163
First Strike and Second Strike 164
The Unbreakable Merit of a Second Strike 167
The Dangers of Secretiveness 167
Counter force and Flexible Response 168
Conventional War and Flexible Response 169
Non-weaponised Deterrence or Recessed Deterrence 171
5. The Indian Arsenal 177
The Sino-Indian Political Scenario 177
The Old Chinese Arsenal 180
The New Chinese Arsenal 183
The Chinese Arsenal and India 186
The India-China Net Level of Expectation 190
The Indo-Pak Nuclear Calculus 192
The Merits and Demerits of Pakistan's Nuclear Logic 194
The Pakistan Arsenal 198
Reducing the Height of the Hill - Nuclear CBMs in South Asia 201
Indian Technological Levels 206
Fissile Material 207
Missile Accuracy 209
Warhead Design 215
Strategic Surveillance and the Degrading of Deterrence 218
The Mobile Launcher versus Silo Argument 220
The Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Force for India 224
The Indian Nuclear Submarine 226
The Indian Missile Force 228
The India-Pakistan Scenario, Flexible Response and the Cruise Missile 230
6. The Command and Control System 235
The Creation of Deterrence 241
Transiting from Conventional War to Deterrence 242
Managing the Conventional War, Centrally 245
Planning the Use of Nuclear Weapons 247
The Chiefs of Staff Committee's 'Country' Targeting List 248
Nuclear Staff Requirements (NSRs) 249
The Alerting System and Deterrence 252
Decapitation 254
Unwarranted or Accidental Nuclear Occurrence 256
The Serviceabiligy and Safety of Nuclear Weapons 259
Separating Ownership from Control 261
The Indian Early Warning System 261
Early Warning Over the Sea 264
Satellite Surveillance and Early Warning 266
The National Command Authority 269
Delegation of Authority 271
The National Command Post 271
Communications 272
The ICBM Launch Control Net 278
The SLBM Launch Control Net 279
The Hot Line 281
7. The Indian Nuclear Strategy and the International Environment 284
American Political Views 284
The Sanctions 288
The CTBT and the Future 290
The United States, Bus Diplomacy and Nuclear Restraint 292
Lowering the Heights of the Hill 296
The Future of Nuclear Weapons Use - The Superpowers 297
The European Arsenals 300
The Influence of International Agencies 301
The Future 303
Postscript 306
Index 309
About the Author 316


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