New Delhi: In a significant shift in policy, India has “deployed” nuclear warheads for the first time, it has been revealed in the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
As per the Stockholm-based SIPRI, the world’s leading arms-tracking organisation, India deployed 12 warheads, while China increased the number of deployed warheads to 34 in 2025.
The SIPRI Yearbook 2026, which was made public on Monday, claims this is the first time instance of India ‘mating’ nuclear warheads with delivery systems or placing them at bases with operational forces, the report noted.
India’s arsenal has thus been classified as ‘operationally deployed’, rather than ‘stockpiled’.
So what does this signify?
Deployment of ready-to-fire nuclear weapons in underground missile silos translates to heightened readiness.
The SIPRI report states that India’s nuclear weapons stockpile saw a small increase last year, while deploying a small number of warheads on a ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) and conducting deterrence patrols.
“India was estimated to have a growing stockpile of about 190 nuclear weapons as of January 2026 — a small increase from the previous year. These weapons were assigned to a maturing nuclear triad of aircraft, land-based missiles and SSBNs,” the report says.
“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 elaborates.
This does not deviate from India’s ‘no first use’ policy of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons will only be used in retaliation against a nuclear attack on Indian territory or on Indian forces anywhere.
The reason why India maintains a limited but effective nuclear arsenal is to deter potential aggressors.
The SIPRI says that countries are now “increasingly relying on nuclear weapons as instruments of national power”.
A total of 4,012 nuclear warheads remain deployed with missiles and aircraft across the world.
