India's nuclear deterrence capacity is in placeDefence research chief

[Sickular Gandhi]

New Delhi: In a big step towards securing India's
capabilities for nuclear
deterrence, the reactor on
board India's indigenously
made nuclear-powered
submarine INS Arihant will become operational in three
weeks. After that, INS Arihant
will be ready for sea-trials and
will subsequently be
commissioned to the Indian
Navy. (Read) Dr VK Saraswat, the chief of the
Defence Research and
Development Organisation or
DRDO, shared these exclusive
details with NDTV's Science
Editor Pallava Bagla and asserted that India's nuclear
deterrence is robust. He also
spoke about the Agni-V missile
project, and made a pitch for a
shift from global buying to
indigenous technology development and procurement
of defence equipment. Here is
the full transcript of the
exclusive interview:


NDTV: What is happening with
the Agni series of missiles now?
What is the next phase? VK Saraswat: Agni Series of
missiles are in an advanced
stage of production. Today, as
you remember, we have
completed development of Agni
I, Agni II, and Agni III. Agni IV and Agni V are in an advanced
stage of development. And this
year, you will see two more
launches of Agni V, which will
culminate its complete
developmental activity and it will be led to production. Agni
IV is already getting into
production mode. So with this -
Agni I, Agni II, Agni III, Agni IV,
Agni V - getting into production
mode, the next logical corollary as far as the long-range ballistic
missile deterrents capability of
this country is concerned, we
will switch over to force
multiplication. Force
multiplication in the case of ballistic missiles will be by way
of multiple independently
manouevreable re-entry
vehicles (MIRV). NDTV: Meaning one missile
which can carry many war-
heads? VK Saraswat: Carry multiple
warheads. Our design activity
on the development and
production of MIRV is at an
advanced stage today. We are
designing the MIRVs, we are integrating it with Agni IV and
Agni V missiles, and that would
also give us the capability to
cover a vast area plus deliver in
the event any activity requires a
number of payloads at a required place. NDTV: So will the next test be
with a multiple warheads
system or... VK Saraswat: No. The present
task, as I was mentioning, will
be only with the normal
configuration of Agni V. But
there will be an experimental
test in which we will be testing the MIRV capability. NDTV: So that would be what?
Agni VI or... VK Saraswat: No we are not
naming it Agni VI... it will be
Agni V missile with MIRVs. NDTV: So Agni V plus? VK Saraswat: You can name is
Agni V plus or Agni VI, but
certainly it is not Agni VI. NDTV: It is not Agni VI but Agni V
will have multiple warheads so
we can have a single missile
going and hitting several
targets at the same time? VK Saraswat: Yes it will be in
that category. NDTV: OK. Now, you also need a
certain platform for your
nuclear reactor. So what is
happening on the Arihant
project? How soon can we see
criticality and commissioning? VK Saraswat: Arihant
development is at an advanced
stage. Last year, we saw the
culmination of the development
trials of BO5, which was
launched from the pontoon (landing stage) and it
completed all its objectives. It is
under production today. As far
as the platform is concerned, it
is also at an advanced stage
today. I must say, in a couple of weeks, you will see that it will
go into criticality and from
there onwards the commission
exercise will start. NDTV: Criticality meaning, that
the nuclear reactor which is on
board INS Arihant will be started
and the submarine itself will be
powered by the Indian-made
nuclear reactor. Is that what you are telling? VK Saraswat: Yes, absolutely. NDTV: How soon can we see
that? VK Saraswat: I think it should
happen in the next 2-3 weeks. NDTV: In the next 2-3 weeks,
the nuclear reactor will be
started and the nuclear chain
reaction will start working in
INS Arihant. So it will become
like a self-propelled vehicle then? VK Saraswat: See, criticality
means the reactor gets into
operation. And that is the most
important for any nuclear
system, whether it's a reactor or
it's a power plant for a nuclear submarine. It's a very important
event as far as the designers,
the builders of these platforms
are concerned. NDTV: So what next? When can
we see a full-fledged trial? VK Saraswat: After that we get
into the trial mode. We have an
evolved programme in which
many trials of this system will
be done with the submarine
moving into the right operational mode and then also
trying out the weapons and
equipment. There is a series of
tasks that are required to be
carried out. NDTV: So you are happy with
the INS Arihant as it stands? VK Saraswat: We are extremely
happy because it is a major
technological breakthrough for
the country. And as far as the
indigenous capability is
concerned I must say that India has reached one of the major
milestones in the field of
complex technology of nuclear
powered submarines. NDTV: There is a lot of
indigenisation underway now.
That everything should be made
in India, that technology
development should in India. Is
the DRDO in a position to deliver without time delays and cost
over-runs? VK Saraswat: I think a shift in
India's policy as far as
acquisition of defence
equipment is concerned -- from
buy-global to buy-Indian as a
preferential mode of procurement -- is very welcome
and a good shift because it will
give a major boost to the
development and production of
indigenous equipment and
participation of the Indian industry in a big way. Obviously,
as far as DRDO is concerned, it
will have a major role to play. DRDO, under this umbrella of
buy-Indian will have
tremendous opportunities for
tying up with industries, tying
up with academic institutions
and with global players for delivering systems and products
and equipment as desired by
the armed forces. When we
integrate with the industry,
obviously it acts as force
multiplication -- in terms of our capability and capacity. This will
also reduce the time to develop
things and also maybe control
costs. NDTV: So in effect you are
saying that DRDO and India are
ready for this huge push on
indigenisation? VK Saraswat: It's a beginning. I
must say that it's a beginning
because a shift from buy-global
to buy-Indian requires the
readiness of the industry to
participate in this kind of venture. Obviously, there will be
some time required for
industries to gear up for these
challenges. What is required is
investment in the Indian
industries, in the major areas of technologies, which would
ensure that when DRDO goes to
these industries, they are
capable to absorb and produce
in large numbers. Or tomorrow
if they tie up with global players, because that is also a
mode of operation, then they
should be in a position to
absorb that technology. NDTV: But DRDO is known for
delays... VK Saraswat: No, DRDO will use
this as an opportunity for
cutting down delay. Also, by
using the industry as our
extended arm, we can control
delays, can control the development of technologies,
can control production and we
will also be able to use our
technology to augment the
capability and capacity of the
Indian industry. NDTV: There is a lot of concern
about incursions by the Chinese.
We have certain technologies
like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs). Did we use them? Why
did we not learn about these incursions? Is there something
under DRDO, which can help
India learn ahead of time or
when an incursion is
happening? VK Saraswat: We have a number
of technologies and we are
using our UAVs, we are using
our surveillance systems. In fact,
we have kept a few UAVs in our
labs in the Leh area and we are in a position to see what is
happening in that system. In
case of land incursions, we can
use UAVs, we can use our radars,
we can use our battlefield
surveillance radars, and we can use our border security radars
to find out what is happening.
Incursions are not new, they
have taken place earlier. But the
way this incursion has taken
place is certainly an alarm bell for us. NDTV: You are deploying your
technology for this current
incursion also to learn more... to
do surveillance on it? VK Saraswat: Yes, we have our
UAVs in that area. NDTV: They are operational
even as we speak? VK Saraswat: We can utilise
them today. We are not
integrated with our armed
forces today because they are
experimental UAVs, which are
for our application but, certainly, it can generate the
required data for the purpose of
surveillance activities. NDTV: There is some concern
that India's nuclear deterrence
is more a political statement
than actually a statement of
fact. DRDO was involved in the
Pokharan II blast in a very big way and you are developing
many technologies. What do
you have to say? Do we have the
capability or is it all bluster? VK Saraswat: I think all the
statements are made out of
ignorance. India has a very
robust and a systematic
deterrence capability, both in
terms of weapon platforms as well as in terms of the required
payloads. India has industry to
support it, has the mechanism
to control, mobilise and also use
it whenever needed. Plus India
has a very robust doctrine on these matters. It is a structured
system, which controls the
entire deterrence activity that
starts from the highest body in
the country to all the
operational units, which are essential for exercising
deterrence. The notion that many analysts
have are purely based upon
their perception of things and
comparison with other
countries. I think every country
has deterrence capability based upon its capacity, based upon
evolving threats and also (takes
into consideration) the
ecosystem and the environment
in which this deterrence has to
work. So one need not compare whether country A has a better
one (deterrence) or country B
has a better one. It is what India
needs. Do we have that? I can
assure that India has the
required deterrence capability in all forms. The triad is getting
completed and I have no doubts
that we will match with the best
in the world. NDTV: So DRDO, Department of
Atomic Energy, Indian armed
forces together can protect
India if there is a nuclear threat
to India? VK Saraswat: I can assure you of
that. NDTV: A hundred percent? VK Saraswat: One hundred
percent! NDTV: Average citizens need not
worry? I can sleep well? VK Saraswat: You can sleep well.
The country can sleep well.
Indian scientists, industries,
armed forces and deterrence
mechanisms are fully in place
and we have nothing to fear.

 

[peaceful]

cheap talk, so cheap.

tell me what is the delivery mechanism? GSLV? that could lead to something funny: nuclear your own nation.