India has stuck to its commitment of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons but future policy will depend on the situation, the defence minister said on Friday, which analysts said introduced a level of ambiguity in a core national security doctrine. India had declared itself a nuclear power after conducting underground tests in 1998 and […]

DefenceTalkBy announcing its intent to withdraw from a decades-old nuclear weapons treaty, the United States is targeting Russia, which it says violated the bilateral deal – but also China, which is developing arms that are banned under it. Beijing is not a signatory to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), so it’s Russia that has […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-nuclear-treaty-ultimatum-about-china-as-much-as-russia-71912/

DefenceTalkSouth Korean President Moon Jae-in has embarked on a “dangerous gamble”, analysts said, after he secured only minimal concessions from Kim Jong Un to reboot the North’s nuclear negotiations with Washington. Moon flew to Pyongyang this week for his third summit with Kim seeking a concrete gesture to rekindle the stalled denuclearisation talks between the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/moons-nuclear-diplomacy-a-dangerous-gamble-analysts-71874/

DefenceTalkIran will relaunch its nuclear program and enrich uranium at a higher level than it has previously if Russia, China, and European powers follow the U.S. example and stop honoring Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran’s nuclear agency has warned. “We will not return to previous levels if our counterparts leave the [nuclear deal], but will […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iran-warns-it-will-step-up-nuclear-activities-if-2015-deal-falls-apart-71843/

DefenceTalkRussia’s Poseidon underwater drone currently under development will be able to carry a nuclear warhead with a capacity of up to 2 megatonnes to destroy enemy naval bases, a source in the Russian defense sector told TASS on Thursday. “It will be possible to mount various nuclear charges on the ‘torpedo’ of the Poseidon multipurpose […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russias-poseidon-underwater-drone-to-carry-nuke-warhead-71691/

DefenceTalkThe United States must recapitalize the nuclear triad and accompanying command-and-control system to continue to maintain deterrence into the future, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis wrote in the preface to the Nuclear Posture Review released today. In one of his first acts as president, Donald J. Trump directed Mattis to conduct the review, last conducted […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nuke-review-calls-for-triad-modernization-to-maintain-deterrence-71416/

DefenceTalkThe Nuclear Posture Review released today is a strategy to keep America safe with a deterrent that is modern and credible, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan said today in rolling out the strategy. The NPR reaffirms that the fundamental role of U.S. nuclear policy is deterrence and continues the clear commitment to non-proliferation and […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pentagon-releases-new-nuclear-strategy-71411/

DefenceTalkNorth Korea said Wednesday it had achieved its goal of becoming a nuclear state after successfully testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile that put the “whole mainland of the US” within its range. After watching the launch of the Hwasong-15, the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un “declared with pride that now we have finally realised the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/north-korea-says-it-is-nuclear-state-with-us-in-missile-strike-range-70877/

DefenceTalkRussia on Thursday conducted large-scale military drills to test the combat readiness of its strategic nuclear forces, including launches of multiple ballistic missiles, Russian Defense Ministry said. “Practical combat actions of the personnel of command-and-control centers of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, crews of the nuclear-powered submarines of the Northern and Pacific Fleets, strategic missile […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-tests-combat-readiness-of-its-strategic-nuclear-forces-70709/

DefenceTalkA large number of national representatives currently attending the General Assembly in New York have already signed the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. They seek a world free from “doomsday weapons,” as secretary-general Antonio Guterres put it. Yet the nuclear powers themselves have so far refused to sign on. Who has nuclear […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nuclear-weapons-who-are-the-worlds-haves-and-have-nots-70519/