India Joins Nuclear Deterrent Club

India Joins Nuclear Deterrent Club

www.presstv.ir

India has successfully test-fired its first nuclear-capable missile named K-15 from an undersea platform, the Defense Ministry said.

The launch from a submerged pontoon took place off India's southeast coast near the port city of Visakhapatnam Tuesday around 1:00 p.m. (0730 GMT), a ministry spokesman said.

"The test was successful. We are waiting further details," the spokesman added.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This club is gaining more and more members. The arms race most certainly continues.

www.presstv.ir
(visit the link for the full news article)

Here's my favorite parts of the article..

India, a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), wants a guarantee for 'uninterrupted fuel supply' by the IAEA and giving it the right for corrective measures in case of disruption, DPA reported Monday.

...

The deal, they say, undermines the NPT giving a bad example to other countries pursuing nuclear weapons.

...

The bilateral India-US deal, concluded by Presidents Manmohan Singh and George W. Bush in 2005 met with strong resistance by India's Left, which vowed to withdraw its support to the government should the deal go ahead.

Here are some comments from a Washington Post article about the US-India nuclear agreement from 2005.

Source
Bush and Singh praised the deal at a joint news conference, but they did not mention that it would allow India to produce vast quantities of fissile material, something the United States and the four other major nuclear powers -- China, Russia, France and Britain -- have voluntarily halted. The pact also does not require oversight of India's prototype fast-breeder reactors, which can produce significant amounts of super-grade plutonium when fully operating.

The Bush administration originally sought a plan that would have allowed India to continue producing material for six to 10 weapons each year, but the new plan would allow India enough fissile material for as many as 50 weapons a year. Experts said this would far exceed what is believed to be its current capacity.

"The nuclear options that India insisted on protecting in this deal cast serious doubt on its declared policy of seeking only a credible minimum deterrent," said Robert J. Einhorn, a former assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

So once again, the Bush administration is rewarding the countries that have given the IAEA and the NPT the finger from day one (India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel), while going after Iran who's currently in compliance with the NPT.

Seems the submarine to carry the missile is not even ready yet, this launch was from an underwater pontoon.

According to senior scientist, S Prahlada, chief controller of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the experimental missile will be fired from a submerged pontoon. "We have completed all preparations for the first-ever test launch of the missile and are awaiting the government's nod," Prahlada told reporters on the sidelines of the DefExpo 2008, a major arms fair being hosted in the Indian capital.

link

Seems to be a message that they will very soon have submarine nuke capability.