Source : Hindustan Times
In March, India carried out four important events linked to national security which also carried a message of Narendra Modi-led central government to the world.
With the successful test firing of the Agni-V missile or the core loading of the fast breeder reactor at Tamil Nadu’s Kalpakkam, India has showcased its ability to demonstrate top-level technologies as well as make sure that its national security is not compromised in any way.
The core loading of the fast breeder reactor prototype of 50 megawatts is something which people may have dismissed considering as a routine exercise. However, it is important to note that the reactor ensures that India has an ample supply of plutonium, which can be used for energy and military purposes. Further, it has been fed into the system through the mixed oxide fuel and it ensures that it plugs the gap which has occurred because of lower availability of uranium in the country. This is part of a three-stage nuclear cycle and signifies that India does not need help from a third country to have plutonium for power generation and for military applications. Besides India, only France and Russia have fast-breeding reactors at present.
The test firing of the Agni-V missile which had three multiple independently re-entry vehicles, was done on March 11 with NOTAM issued on March 7. The moment the NOTAM was issued, the Chinese moved their surveillance ship to track the missile. The Agni-V missile is capable of firing three warheads simultaneously with different velocities to evade the ballistic missile defence of the adversary.
Interestingly, Pakistan tried the launch of MIRV missiles three years ago but failed miserably as the three warheads actually fell within a vicinity of 2 km. However, India has the capacity to launch three warheads simultaneously within vicinity of 150 to 200 km range.
The Agni-V missile is actually part of the nuclear triad and it is a step towards building a minimum credible deterrent for India. Today, the country has submarine launched ballistic missiles through its submarines, air launch capability and hence the basic foundations of a nuclear triad are more or less complete.
The MIRV-equipped missiles are part of a natural progression of a nuclear weapon state, which India declared itself through the Shakti Pokhran test in 1999. More test firings, more operationalisation of Agni-V and then its induction into the land forces will ensure that nobody has expansionist plans for India and nobody casts an evil eye on India.
With these developments, India’s nuclear neighbours, Pakistan and China, realised that it cannot be treated lightly any longer. China got the lesson way back in 2017 when India stopped China from occupying the Doklam plateau, while Pakistan learned this lesson during the 2019 Balakot airstrike. When Pakistan captured wing commander Abhinandan and tried to brutalise him, PM Modi sent a message through RAW chief to then DG ISI Asim Munir, currently the chief of Pak army staff, saying that we have not got the missile for Diwali. If anything happens to Abinandan, then there will be serious consequences, and at that very moment, Prithvi nuclear missiles were moved to Rajasthan. As a result, the next day, then Pak PM Imran Khan announced in the national assembly that they would release the wing commander.
Another development which drew the attention was visiting Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, followed by visiting Pokhran’s Bharat Shakti exercises. PM Modi, as a ‘shanti doot’ and a ‘shakti doot’ conveyed the message that India loves peace but also has the capability to fight a conflict indigenously.
With these developments, China realised that it has to change its nuclear strategy towards India while Pakistan would now start leaning towards China all the more.
India with these military exercises sent a global message that Japan can no longer sit on the fence and look towards both India and China; European nations have to sort out their own internal conflicts before they start to cast aspersion on India on various issues including human rights.
It also delivered a message to the regional powers and the neighbours who particularly always played the China card against India including those who have recently decided that they want to go the China way that these developments are going to ensure that nobody can take India casually and India’s voice must be heard on the global table.
