NuClearly Put - Ballistic Missile Defence in Nuclear Strategy

This was to mark the start of the end of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty, a bilateral agreement that the USA and USSR had concluded in 1972. [...] It limited the deployment of BMD to only one site each in the USA and USSR, leaving the rest of the country vulnerable to each other’s nuclear attacks. [...] Thereafter, the USA has been actively engaged in developing and deploying theatre missile defences for the protection of allies and a limited ground-based missile defence capability for the protection of the mainland. [...] But can a BMD be effective against the kinds of missiles, in quantity and quality, that India’s adversaries possess? What kind of BMD would India need? How should the capability be deployed? How should this be communicated to the adversaries to avoid creating security dilemmas? The following sections examine the nature of India’s missile threat environment and the likely best use of the BMD to mit. [...] Tempering the Lure of the BMD Undoubtedly, the political and technological lure of the BMD is high.