RAND Corporation

On May 11, 1998, after a hiatus of more than two decades, India conducted a series of nuclear tests that signaled a critical shift in its strategic thinking. Once content to embrace a nuclear posture consisting largely of "maintaining the option"—i.e., neither creating a nuclear arsenal nor renouncing its right to do so—India is now on the threshold of adopting a posture that, while stopping short of creating a ready arsenal, will take as its goal the establishment of a "minimum but credible deterrent," known as a "force-in-being." India's Emerging Nuclear Posture: Between Recessed Deterrent and Ready Arsenal examines the forces—political, strategic, technological, and ideational—that led to this dramatic policy shift and describes how New Delhi's force-in-being will be fashioned, particularly in light of the threat India faces from its two most salient adversaries, China, and Pakistan.