The Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, is an independent Think Tank dealing with national
security and conceptual aspects of land warfare, including conventional & sub-conventional conflict and terrorism.
CLAWS conducts research that is futuristic in outlook and policy-oriented in approach.
Website: www.claws.in Contact us: landwarfare@gmail.com
No. 283(I) April 2021
Nuclear
Deterrence- Part I
Major General PK Mallick, VSM (Retd),
was commissioned into the Corps of
Signals. The General Officer has wide
experience in CI Ops, Command,
Staff and Instructional Appointments.
The officer has interest in Electronic
Warfare, Cyber Warfare and
Technology. Currently, he holds the
COAS Chair of Excellence at CLAWS.
“Nuclear weapons seem to be in almost
everybody’s bad book, but the fact is that they
are a powerful force for peace. Deterrence is
most likely to hold when the costs and risks of
going to war are unambiguously stark. The
more horrible the prospect of war, the less
likely war is. Deterrence is also more robust
when conquest is more difficult. Potential
aggressor states are given pause by the patent
futility of attempts at expansion”.
—John Mearsheimer
1
Introduction
On 15 June 2020, in a brutal, savage skirmish,
the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) used fists,
rocks, rods, baton, spikes, knuckle-dusters,
nail-studded clubs and wooden clubs wrapped
in barbed wire at a post at Galwan on the
Indian side of Line of Actual Control(LAC) in
Ladakh sector at an altitude of 4,250 meters.
India lost a Commanding Officer of an infantry
battalion and 19 other ranks. China did not divulge its casualty figures. There is a famous
saying that no two nuclear-powered states have ever fought a war. William S. Lind, who
developed Manoeuvre Warfare and Fourth Generation Warfare theories, is sceptical about
two nuclear weapon capable countries ever to fight a conventional war. He writes, "What is
•
In a limited border conflict between
two nuclear weapon power states, the
use of nuclear weapons as a deterrent
is a possibility.
• Out of nine nuclear power states, five
are in Asia and are
most conflict ridden zones.
•
Nuclear armed states find it very
difficult to maximise strategic leverage
in a limited war.
•
China and India are the only two
countries who have a ‘No First Use’
policy.
•
China has no deployed tactical
nuclear we
apons. China has
developed the technology for missile
defence, short-range ballistic missiles
and low-
deployed if required.
