India’s Evolving Nuclear Force And Its Implications For U.S. Strategy In The Asia-Pacific

As India rises in the international system, its foreign and defense policies are attaining greater influence in shaping global security. This Letort Paper explores Indian nuclear policy approaches and views, and makes a major contribution to our understanding of this factor of growing significance in Asian security. India’s nuclear arsenal development is generating new technical options for its nuclear strategy. India is developing intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)-range Agni-V and Agni-VI ballistic missiles, and is claiming that these will be able to host multiple nuclear warheads. It is also building a new generation of short-range and potentially nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and fielding an indigenous naval nuclear force. However, as these advancements interact with those of India’s strategic rivals, China and Pakistan, they threaten to blur nuclear thresholds and elevate the risk of inadvertent nuclear escalation due to misperception.