The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) policy document recently revealed that India has placed roughly 12 nuclear warheads into an operational “deployed” status at the sea leg of its nuclear triad and has expanded its nuclear warhead inventory from 180 in 2025 to an estimated 190 warheads. India’s nuclear buildup at sea, in addition to rapid developments in its land-based nuclear forces and missile force present a significant threat to strategic stability in South Asia. This makes India’s nuclear and missile programme one of the fastest-growing in the region. The operationalization of its sea-based nuclear deterrent also has several implications for nuclear deterrence and strategic stability that merit closer examination.
Both India and Pakistan are believed to have stored their nuclear warheads separately from the deployed launchers during peacetime since 1998, when they overtly became nuclear-weapon states. The SIPRI report states regarding Indian nuclear forces: “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. SIPRI estimates that, as of January 2026, India may have started to deploy a small number of nuclear warheads on a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) conducting occasional deterrence patrols.[1]
