Managing Indian nuclear forces | Security Wise
Managing Indian nuclear forces-Summarized
Secured a copy of Vice Admiral Verghese Koithara's book — 'Managing India's Nuclear Forces'.
The only original stuff — and the core of the book — is in the penultimate two chapters dealing with nuclear force management and operationalization. His implication, however, that the Indian nuclear forces are stuck somewhere between "launch readiness" and "combat preparedness" while, perhaps, correct within the theoretical parameters of his choosing, surely does not mirror reality in that the Strategic Fores Command (SFC) must surely have worked out the more practical aspects of weapons use.
I was particularly struck, moreover, by how closely Koithara adheres to the official US viewpont, now subscribed to by the powerful non-proliferation lobby in Washington as well that India does not need (1) to resume nuclear testing, (2) proven, reliable, and upgraded, nuclear and thermonuclear armaments, (3) a force elastic enough to keep pace with the qualitative and quantitative Chinese strategic force augmentation (continue to keep the deterrence minimal, he advises, in effect), and (4) delivery options, such as MIRVs, etc!!
