India's ICBM Will Carry Multiple Nuclear Warheads

An anonymous reader writes "India is equipping its longest range nuclear-capable missile, the Agni-V, with Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs), The Diplomat reports. A MIRVed Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) carries multiple nuclear warheads on a single missile, which it dispenses towards numerous or a single target after the final stage of the ICBM boosts off. MIRVed missiles destabilized the Cold War nuclear balance and are likely to do so again: 'Because they give nations greater confidence in being able to destroy an adversary's hardened missile silo sites in a first strike by launching multiple, lower yield warheads at the sites.'"

Re:This is the path to madness

[pinkushun]

Undeniably so, but isn't it too late for that already, looking at this animated timeline of nuclear tests between 1945 and 1998 [ctbto.org]. One wonders how the planet is still alive.

Way to go USA! USA!, USA!, USA!

[pablo_max]

Yeah, so maybe the subject is flame bait, but self righteous ass clowns like you really grind my gears.
You have the balls to talk about India spending money on weapons when the 21% of US children live in poverty?
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/ [census.gov]
When there an estimated 500k homeless people living in US cities?
America spends 4.5% on GDP on the military, NOT including the illegal wars being waged.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures [wikipedia.org]
You sir, are a jackass.

Re:Just another way to destroy ourselves

[Nutria]

The purpose is to deter the US.

How, pray tell, does an ICBM with a range of 5,500km deter a country that's 12,500km away?

Re:So why can't Iran have Nukes?

[tigersha]

The US certainly did not give Pakistan nukes. The Chinese did help there.

Re:Just another way to destroy ourselves

[usuallylost]

No purpose at all? China attacked India in 1962. There have been border incursions, by Chinese forces, as recently as May of this year. They have fought several wars over disputed borders with Pakistan. Both China and Pakistan are nuclear powers. Before any government can do anything else, such as providing the plumbing mentioned in your post, they have to maintain the territorial integrity of the nation and assure the survival of the state. Frankly of all the recent nations that have gone for nuclear weapons India has the best argument for why they need them.

Re:So, by that logic...

[GLMDesigns]

WWII was a particularly devastating war. You do realize that more people were killed in the firebombing of Tokyo and Dresdan than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Re:So why can't Iran have Nukes?

[vikingpower]

You may find the following information useful: Chavez is dead. Has been so, as I write this, for several weeks.

Re:So, by that logic...

[GLMDesigns]

Take a look at the number of warheads in the US from 1970 to the present and tell me the US hasn't reduced its stock pile dramatically

see graph [wikipedia.org]

Re:So, by that logic...

[I'm New Around Here]

No, they don't realize that. That is a big part of the problem.

The 'mystique' of nuclear warfare has overshadowed the truth of the Japan bombings. We wiped most of Japan's cities off the map before August 1945, with conventional bombings, using the high explosive and incendiary varieties of bombs. While their factories were modern steel and cement, the 'bamboo-n-rice-paper' style of their houses meant they burnt very well.

So, while the two bombs produced the largest numbers of victims from single weapons, they didn't kill as many people as many other bombing runs before them.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_bombing_during_World_War_II#Conventional_bombing [wikipedia.org]
http://www.ditext.com/japan/napalm.html [ditext.com]