Publication

This paper argues that India entered the ranks of the nuclear weapon states a quarter century earlier than commonly believed. The author states that not the nuclear tests on 11 and 13 May 1998 but rather those on 18 May1974 with their 'peaceful nuclear explosion' in the deserts of the Pokharan firing range were the beginning of India's status as a nuclear power. He furthermore examines the critical decisions and technical parameters that led to those first tests in Pokharan.