Asia-Pacific

Indian nuclear triad to be ready by 2012

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-03 14:27

NEW DELHI - India's nuclear triad, which is the nation's capability to deliver strategic weapons from land, air and submarine, will be ready by 2012, the head of the Indian Navy said Thursday.

"The nuclear triad will be complete only when India has strategic nuclear missiles that could be launched from land, air and sea. It is a triad only when you have a strategic weapon on the platform. When India's nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant is commissioned and goes to sea it will be on deterrent patrol. The triad would be there when Arihant is commissioned," Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma told the media in the national capital.

INS Arihant was a top secret project till its launch at Visakhapatnam in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in July last year. It would be the first in the series of three nuclear-powered submarines that India is building indigenously with Russian help.

"We have a declared policy of no-first-use, but we have Arihant. We have a triad in place now, but we have to use it as effectively as possible. We will have Arihant going within two years and there is progress in the project, despite some hiccups. We will be within time and commission the vessel by 2012," Admiral Verma said.