M A I N   N E W S

Strategic command to decide on use of nukes
Tribune News Service

The Chiefs of Staff Committee, Admiral Madhvendera Singh, talks to NCC cadets during his visit to the NCC Republic Day Camp on Thursday.

New Delhi, January 16
Any ambiguity over the control of nuclear weapons was cleared today, with the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, Admiral Madhvendera Singh, clarifying that it would only be the newly set up Strategic Forces Command which would decide on the “utilisation and use” of nuclear weapons.

Speaking to reporters during his visit to the NCC Republic Day Camp here, the Admiral said, “There will be no problems over transfer of command and control of the nuclear weapons”. The Admiral, who leaves tomorrow on a five-day visit to Iran, said the chain of command had been listed with the Commander-in-Chief of the Strategic Forces Command reporting to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), who would report to the Nuclear Command Authority on the utilisation of the country’s strategic assets.

However, he clarified that the three services would not be transferring their entire nuclear assets to the Strategic Forces Command.

“The training in nuclear weapons and their delivery system as well as their servicing would remain the work of individual services”, he said.

The Admiral’s comments came in response to questions on whether there was resistance from the Army and the Air Force over the transfer of their nuclear delivery systems to the strategic command.

The Army has two regiments equipped with short-range surface-to-surface Prithvi missiles and longer-range Agni missiles, which will form the first assets to be transferred to the forces command.

Admiral Madhvendera Singh’s comments assume significance as the IAF is in the process of marking some of the Jaguar, Mirage 2000 as well as Su-30MKI squadrons for the Strategic Forces Command.

All three multi-role fighters are capable of nuclear weapons delivery system.

The Navy, which would form the third arm of the country’s nuclear triad, is also in the process of getting on lease two Russian advanced Akula class nuclear submarines and would be the first service to be armed with supersonic cruise missiles being jointly developed by Russia and India.

On the Krivak class stealth warships delivery rescheduling, the naval chief said the first of these most advanced warships would be delivered in the next two to three months.

He said during delivery trials in Russia defects had been found in one of the weapon delivery systems, which now had been identified and were being rectified.

“We would carry out user trials before taking possession of the stealth warships over the next two months before taking delivery of the first of these three warships”, he said.

The naval chief said the second warship was likely to be delivered by the middle of the year and the third and last one by the year-end. The naval chief inspected a guard of honour presented by NCC cadets in almost white-out conditions and later mingled with Indian and foreign cadets.