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India’s Nuclear Command to be in place by June |
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The Government of India has given the go-ahead for the country’s nuclear arsenal to be placed under the new Strategic Nuclear Command (SNC) by June this year.
Revealing this, defence analyst Vishal Thapar reports that the development comes even as the 2500-km. Agni-II Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) is being inducted into a specially raised missile unit of the Indian Army. The Nuclear Command will function under the Integrated Defence Staff set up. The first Commander-in-Chief of the SNC is likely to be from the Indian Air Force which had earlier expressed its reservations about the decision to hand over the Agni to the Army.
The IAF has shortlisted Air Marshal T.M. Asthana, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command, to head the country’s Nuclear Command.
The analyst quoting Defence Ministry sources said while the Army has been allowed to raise an Agni missile group, the IAF and the Navy have been asked to submit proposals for creating missile units.” As recommended by the Arun Singh Committee, an Army Strategic Rocket Command to handle surface-based nuclear weapons is also on the anvil. “An elaborate command and control structure for handling India’s nuclear arsenal has been worked out,” confirmed a top official.
The nuclear forces chief will report to the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) until the Chief of Defence Staff is appointed. The final authority on decisions regarding nuclear weapons will be the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister which will convey its orders to the COSC Chairman (currently General S. Padmanabhan.)
IAF to name new Chief of Strategic Formation
Meanwhile, reports indicate that the Indian Air Force appears to be taking its own time in naming a new commander for a strategic Delhi-based formation whose former chief was removed for crossing into Pakistani airspace while on a flight to Jammu and Kashmir.
Air Marshal Vinod K. Bhatia was removed as Commander-in-Cchief of the Western Air Command, responsible for guarding northern borders with Pakistan and China, and given the peripheral post of Inspector General (Flight Safety). “The posting will be effective on April 29. A new chief for the Western Air Command will be named by then,” said a senior Air Force official. Most combat units of the Western Air Command are on alert as part of the military build-up along the western border with Pakistan. Bhatia’s removal came after a dragging controversy over the intrusion into Pakistani airspace by a transport aircraft piloted by him. He is second in seniority to only the Air Force Chief, ACM S. Krishnaswamy.
The An-32 aircraft on a flight from Delhi to Kargil, the scene of a border conflict between India and Pakistan in 1999, was hit by Pakistani fire when Bhatia accidentally crossed the Line of Control (LoC) on February 19.
The aircraft, which was to touch down at Kargil airstrip, made an emergency landing at the nearby Leh airbase. With India and Pakistan engaged in a tense military standoff since December last year, the possible downing of Bhatia’s aircraft could have precipitated a major crisis.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Army traded charges over whether the aircraft had been hit by fire from Indian ground forces before an internal inquiry established that Bhatia had crossed the LoC.
There was speculation for the past few weeks that Bhatia, who retires from service in October, would be removed from the Western Air Command. The government, however, did not want to be perceived as acting too harshly against him, Defence Ministry sources said.
Despite his new posting to a relatively unimportant post, Bhatia — decorated for bravery during the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan - will continue to hold the status of a commanding officer.
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