Changing Nature of Warfare in the Second Nuclear Age
SESSION I: FOUNDATIONS
Opening Remarks
Ruhee Neog
Director, IPCS
What are the key challenges that define the second nuclear age? How is the polycentric and devolved interest that characterises this age different from the bipolarity of the Cold War?
Tanvi Kulkarni
PhD candidate, Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies (SIS), JNU
What are the doctrinal implications of these technological developments for India? How have other nuclear-armed states dealt with these changes?
Dr Manpreet Sethi
Senior Fellow, and Head, Nuclear Security Project, Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS)
What are the operational implications of these technological changes for strategic forces around the world? How are governments and militaries coping?
Lt Gen (Retd) Balraj Singh Nagal
Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), and former Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command of India
SESSION II: EXISTING AND EMERGENT FIELDS
What is the role of existing weapons and technologies (such as Pakistan's Nasr, nuclear-tipped cruise missiles mounted on conventional submarines, tactical nuclear weapons in Europe, changes in US nuclear policy as announced in the 2018 NPR) in national security strategies? How has the loosening of the nuclear taboo through the availability of smaller yield, 'flexible' and 'usable' nuclear weapons impacted deterrence?
Professor R Rajaraman
Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics, JNU, Distinguished Fellow, IPCS, and former Co-Chair, International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM)
What are the enabling space technologies, trends and norms that characterise the second nuclear age? What are the political contours of the debate? How do these developments impact India?
Dr Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
Senior Fellow and Head, Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative, Observer Research Foundation (ORF)
Perhaps the single most important development of the last two decades has been the ubiquitousness of information technology, including algorithms that analyse big data, and artificial intelligence. New vulnerabilities have developed as a consequence. What is India's level of preparedness to deal with cyber security? What are the threats facing the country's Critical Information Infrastructure, such as its nuclear installations?
Saikat Datta
South Asia Editor, Asia Times, and author "India's Special Forces"