‘Pokhran test ensured national security’: Jaishankar recalls 1998 nuclear test | India News

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday recalled the the Pokhran nuclear test done in 1998 saying that the “momentous decision has since ensured our National Security.”
In a post on X, Jaishankar further said, “The current NDA Government has built on that foundation, robustly countering terror and building our border infrastructure.”
“The country must know who stands where when it comes to National Security issues.Our political choices are eventually choices about the future of Bharat”, he added.

Twenty-six years ago, NDA government under PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee conducted the Shakti series of nuclear tests at Pokhran.
On May 11 and 13, 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests of advanced weapon designs at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan’s desert. The first three detonations occurred simultaneously at 3.45pm on May 11.
These consisted of a 45 kt thermonuclear weapon, a 15 kt fission device, and a 0.2 kt sub-kiloton (less than 1 kiloton) device. On May 13, two nuclear weapons detonated simultaneously, both in the sub-kiloton range (0.5 and 0.3 kt).
According to a press release issued on September 15, 2009, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was briefed on the technical aspects of the tests during its meeting on May 21, 1998. The Commission met on March 26, 1999 and November 18, 1999, to deliver the results of the radiochemical study of bore-hole samples, which confirmed the estimated yields.
“AEC has thus no reason to doubt the yield of the thermonuclear test carried out on May 11, 1998”, the release said.