Pakistan often fails to realize that while it’s nuclear arsenal is almost at par, India nuclear weapons are far more superior and advanced. India has thermonuclear weapons or hydrogen bombs in its arsenal.
India nuclear weapons: India and Pakistan came dangerously close to a potential nuclear conflict during their recent military confrontation, which was triggered by the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that was followed by Operation Sindoor– a series of precision strikes by Indian armed forces on terror targets inside the enemy country.
Pakistan, as usual, played the nuclear bluff, asserting that it would be forced to use the nuclear option if its “existence” came under threat. However, amid the nuclear sabre-rattling, Pakistan often fails to realize that while it’s nuclear arsenal is almost the same size that of India, its nuclear weapons are far less advanced and inferior.
According to recent reports, India and Pakistan have almost the same number of nuclear weapons in their respective arsenals (180 and 170, respectively), but India’s nuclear weapons are far more superior and advanced than those possessed by its arch enemy. For example, Pakistan is believed to have only the atomic bombs in its arsenal, while India has thermonuclear weapons or Hydrogen bombs, which are reportedly a 1000 times more lethal than any conventional nuclear weapons.
What makes the Hydrogen Bomb more destructive than Atom Bombs?
The atom bomb, like the ones which devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards the end of the second world war in 1945, was the first nuclear weapon ever made by humankind, and works by producing a sudden burst of enormous energy when atoms inside the fissile material separate violently by a process known as nuclear fission.
This process releases a burst of energy which causes a blast wave, leveling vast swathes of surrounding area, with the level of destruction depending upon the yield.
However, a Hydrogen bomb also known as a thermonuclear bomb is a multi-stage weapon, with plutonium or uranium atoms undergoing nuclear fission in the first stage, producing the initial blast. The hydrogen gas in the bomb makes blast more powerful, that triggers the fusion of atoms in the second stage, in which an exponentially much larger amount of energy is released, which could be over 1000 times more than an atomic bomb.
Only six countries have thermonuclear weapons
India, along with the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France, are the only countries on the planet that are believed to have tested thermonuclear weapons, according to a Washington Post report. In 1998, India tested five nuclear weapons, one of which was reportedly a hydrogen bomb.
It is believed that Pakistan does not have thermonuclear weapons in its arsenal, but this could be mere speculation as nuclear weapons are highly-classified, and not much is publicly known about the nuclear capabilities of nuclear-armed nations.
Castle Bravo, a 15 megaton hydrogen bomb developed by the US, is the largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested, and caused a blast wave estimated to be over 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Tsar Bomba, which was built by the erstwhile USSR, and currently in Russia’s arsenal, is believed to be the most powerful thermonuclear bomb in existence with a 50 megaton yield.
Why thermonuclear weapons are limited to few countries
According to nuclear scientists, atomic bombs are ‘easier’ to build, as they work on the ‘simple’ principle of nuclear fission with enriched uranium being the fissile material used to trigger the nuclear reaction.
In contrast, splitting plutonium atoms in the first stage, and later triggering a fusion reaction in the second stage in a hydrogen bomb is much more complicated, and only a few nations have achieved this capability, says Professor Alex Wellerstein, a nuclear weapons expert at the Stevens Institute of Technology.
The first hydrogen bomb was developed by the United States, seven years after it built the world’s first nuclear weapon by spending an estimated $39 billion (according to 2023 estimates) for nuclear research, development and testing. The US built four atom bombs, one was used for testing, two were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while the fourth remained unused.
The atomic bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ dropped on Hiroshima contained 140 pounds of uranium and had a 15 kiloton yield, while the 13-pound ‘Fat Man’ atom bomb with plutonium fuel that razed Nagasaki was caused a 21 kiloton blast.
