LT.GEN (RETD) PRAN PAHWA COMMAND AND CONTROL OF INDIAN NUCLEAR FORCES

Abstract

While the Indian nuclear tests at Pokhran in May 1998 gave a new dimension to the “strategic culture†it also posed new challenges of devising a command and control system to ensure their effective use and safety. India has made considerable progress in missile development programme but not much has been written about the subject of nuclear command and control. It has been government policy to focus on “hard kill†weapons rather than expend funds on “ soft kill†systems like command and control whose benefits are intangible and difficult to quantify. A command and control system is however, of vital importance as it enables the leadership to analyze the threat, plan responses and above all achieve “ deterrenceâ€. Apart from this it helps to guard against accidental or inadvertent launch of nuclear weapons by laying down foolproof procedures and safety measures. Notwithstanding the cardinal importance of command and control systems, this subject remains abstract and very little material is available to researchers. The author has therefore relied mainly on the US and Russian the USSR nuclear command and control systems and has based his knowledge of the Indian command and control systems largely on assumptions and conjectures.