20 years after Kargil War: How India readied nuclear weapons in IAF’s Mirage

The Indian Express
July 23, 2019
Written by Sushant Singh |

With no experience to fall back upon, it was in the heat of the conflict that India conjured up a ‘primitive’ air delivery system for nuclear weapons on Mirage-2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

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A casing of nuclear weapon was concocted and fitted on the centre line of fuselage of Mirage-2000 aircraft, where the central ventral fuel tank is fitted, according to officials who were involved in that effort two decades ago. (IAF website)
Barely a year after India and Pakistan officially went nuclear with the Pokharan-2 tests in May 1998, India was posed with the unenviable challenge of possible use of nuclear weapons in case of an unintended escalation during the Kargil War. With no experience to fall back upon, it was in the heat of the conflict that India conjured up a ‘primitive’ air delivery system for nuclear weapons on Mirage-2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

With the war being limited to the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC), use of a nuclear weapon was highly unlikely, but the need to be prepared for any contingencies was incumbent upon New Delhi. Although India conducted five nuclear tests in May 1998 to become a declared nuclear power, the structures and processes for development, deployment and employment of nuclear forces were still being put in place.

In fact, New Delhi was to release even its first draft nuclear doctrine in August 1999 after the end of Kargil War.

But Indian officials, scientists and military officials dealing with nuclear forces accepted the challenge to be prepared for any eventuality during the Kargil conflict, should the need arise.

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