Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal P V Naik on Tuesday said Pakistan’s new tactical nuclear missile or expanding arsenal was of no worry to India.
He said India followed a ‘no-first-use’ nuclear policy but warned its response would be “very heavy” in the event of any nuclear attack on the country.
The IAF chief’s statement came following the news report that Pakistan planned to add 24 nuclear-capable, short-range missiles capable of hitting all major Indian cities to its arsenal this year.
The plan is in line with Pakistan’s official policy of having what is rhetorically called “maintaining a minimum deterrence”, especially against India, the daily quoted sources as saying.
“Our nuclear policy is of no first use. It also talks about a very heavy response in case of a nuclear attack. It talks about a retaliatory and hard response, our policy talks about that,” Naik, who demits office this Sunday, told a press conference.
Naik was responding to a query on the new Pakistani tactical nuclear missile ‘Nasr’ which is touted to be a ‘game-changer’ in future warfare. He did not agree that the new missile will be a ‘game-changer’.
“Tactical or strategic, it is a nuclear weapon. So, obviously our response would be absolutely violent as per our existing policy. I don’t think it is a game-changer,” he added.
Pakistan recently successfully tested ‘Nasr’, a short-range nuclear capable ballistic missile which can hit targets in the range of 60 kms.
Asked if there was any need to be concerned over the assessment in some quarters that Pakistan had an edge over India in terms of the nuclear warheads, the IAF chief said, “There is no need to be worried on this.”
Meanwhile, responding to a query on the role of HAL, Naik said that the aerospace PSU had provided great support to the IAF in the last 50-60 years.
He said already some steps were being initiated by the government to streamline the procedures in the company for “improving the quality”.
