25th anniversary of Pokhran-II: India’s journey to become a nuclear power

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On May 11, 1998, India conducted three nuclear bomb test explosions at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range. Two days later, on May 13, two more bombs were tested. Codenamed Operation Shakti (literally, “strength”), these tests would display India’s capability to build fission and thermonuclear weapons with yields up to 200 kilotons, helping India enter the highly guarded club of countries with capability to deploy nuclear weapons. However, Pokhran-II, as the series of tests is more popularly known, was also the culmination of a long journey that began back in the 1940s-50s – a journey replete with difficulties, with failure...