India ends decades-long nuclear peacetime practice

Published 8 June 2026 · india

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Live Events as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Addas a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel In a major shift in its nuclear preparedness, India has deployed at least 12 nuclear warheads, marking a departure from the past practice when India kept its nuclear warheads and delivery platforms like missiles stored separately, according to the latest report by global arms watchdog SIPRI.This is the first time the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's nuclear weapons tracking report has indicated that India has deployed nuclear warheads.

In all past editions, India's nuclear arsenal was classified as stockpiled and not in a state of operational deployment.The newly released report shows that India's total nuclear arsenal has grown to 190 warheads as of January 2026, with the 12 newly deployed warheads representing the first instance of India mating nuclear warheads with delivery systems or placing them at bases with operational forces, altering its decades-old posture of keeping nuclear weapons in separate storage facilities."It has long been assumed that India stores its nuclear warheads separate from its deployed launchers during peacetime. However, the country's recent moves towards placing missiles in canisters and conducting sea-based deterrence patrols suggest that India could be shifting in the direction of mating some of its warheads with their launchers in peacetime," the report says.It adds that India may have started deploying a small number of nuclear warheads on a single SSBN conducting occasional deterrence patrols.It may be noted that India has operationalised two nuclear missile-armed submarines (SSBNs) since August 2024 - INS Arighaat and INS Aridaman.

Both submarines are capable of carrying nuclear missiles and have been cleared for deterrence patrols.Typically, SSBNs equipped with nuclear missiles are sent on long-range deterrence patrols that can last for months, remaining in intermittent communication with military leadership. Given India's No First Use policy, the primary role of these submarines is to carry out second strikes - retaliatory action in the event of a nuclear attack on Indian soil.SIPRI's annual reports, which give an overview of global military spending and nuclear postures, only began indicating that China had deployed nuclear weapons in 2024. In its latest report, SIPRI shows China as having deployed 34 nuclear warheads, while India has 12.