India
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Non-signatory India acknowledges the humanitarian concerns over cluster munitions, but views them as legitimate weapons to be used in accordance with international humanitarian law. India has not articulated its position on accession to the ban convention, but abstained from voting on a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. India has never attended a meeting of the convention.
India produces and exports cluster munitions and imported them as recently as 2013. India is not known to have used cluster munitions. It has not disclosed information on its stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of India has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
India has not attended a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions or made a statement articulating its position on acceding to the ban convention. India has acknowledged humanitarian concerns at the “irresponsible use” of cluster munitions, which it views as “legitimate” weapons as long as they are used in accordance with international humanitarian law.[1]
India has long expressed its preference for cluster munitions to be regulated, rather than banned, through the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) to which it is party.[2] In November 2015, India again expressed disappointment at the failure of states to adopt a CCW protocol on cluster munitions in 2011, but did not proposed any further CCW work on the topic.[3] The failure effectively ended the CCW’s work on cluster munitions, leaving the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument dedicated to ending the suffering caused by cluster munitions.
On 7 December 2015, India abstained from the vote on the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[4] India did not explain the reasons for its abstention on the non-binding resolution, which 140 states voted for, including many non-signatories.
India did not participate in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5]
India has not participated in any international or regional meetings relating to the convention. It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015.
India is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
India produces and exports cluster munitions and has imported them in the past. The Monitor has not been able to verify any use of cluster munitions by India or obtain detailed information on the stockpile of cluster munitions.
India has produced cluster munitions using ground-delivered artillery projectiles, rockets, and missiles. It is not known to have developed or produced air-dropped cluster munitions.
State-owned India Ordnance Factories advertised in 2006 its capacity to produce for export 130mm and 155mm artillery projectiles containing dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions equipped with a self-destruct feature.[6] These ground-delivered cluster munitions were supposed to be produced at Khamaria Ordnance Factory near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh as the result of a transfer of production technology from Israel Military Industries, but there are doubts about whether this capacity has been active in recent years.[7] In response to a Right to Information request, a Ministry of Defence official stated that India does not produce 130mm and 155mm artillery containing DPICM submunitions, but acknowledged a 130mm version was being developed.[8]
The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) of India’s Ministry of Defence has produced a cargo rocket containing antitank/antimaterial submunitions for the 214mm Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher system.[9] In June 2015, a DRDO official told media that submunition warheads for the Pinaka system had been tested at a firing range in Pokhran, Rajasthan.[10] Other sources have claimed that warheads containing submunitions were developed for the Agni, Dhanush, and Prithvi ballistic missile systems.[11]
India has imported cluster munitions from the United States (US) and other countries.
The US announced a sale to India in September 2008 of 510 air-delivered CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons.[12] In December 2010, US arms manufacturer Textron announced that it had been awarded a US$258 million contract to supply India with 512 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons.[13] The Indian air force began receiving the weapons in early 2013.[14] In February 2013, Textron displayed the CBU-105 at an arms show in Bangalore, India.[15]
Jane’s Information Group lists India as possessing KMG-U dispensers, as well as BL-755, BLG-66 Belouga, RBK-250-275, and RBK-500 cluster bombs.[16] In 2006, India bought 28 launch units for the Russian-produced 300mm Smerch multi-barrel rocket launchers fitted with dual-purpose and sensor-fuzed submunitions; it was the third export customer for the system.[17]
According to the 2016 NGO report “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility,” the State Bank of India is involved in investments in the production of cluster munitions.[18]
[1] Statement of India, Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Fourth Review Conference, Geneva, 14 November 2011. India has often made similar statements in the past. Statement of India, CCW Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Cluster Munitions, Geneva, 30 August 2010. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV); and statement of India, CCW GGE on Cluster Munitions, Geneva, 12 April 2010. Notes by AOAV.
[2] Statement by Amb. Hamid Ali Rao, Permanent Mission of India, Conference on Disarmament, CCW GGE on Cluster Munitions, Geneva, 7 July 2008. He said that “until [cluster munitions] can be replaced by other alternatives which are cost effective and perform the required military tasks, [cluster munitions] will continue to find a place in military armories as both point target as well as area target weapons.”
[3] Statement of India, Convention on Conventional Weapons Meeting of the High Contracting Parties, Geneva, 12 November 2015. See also: statement of India, Convention on Conventional Weapons Meeting of the High Contracting Parties, Geneva, 13 November 2014; and statement of India, Convention on Conventional Weapons Meeting of the High Contracting Parties, Geneva, 14 November 2013.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[5] After the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted in May 2008, India sent a representative to a regional meeting on cluster munitions held in Lao PDR in October 2008. For more details on India’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 208–210.
[6] The 130mm projectile contains 24 submunitions, and the 155mm projectile contains 49 submunitions. See India Ordnance Factories website.
[7] “Ordnance Board to produce ‘cargo ammunition’ with Israeli company,” The Hindu (online edition), 2 August 2006.
[8] According to the response, India did not produce any cluster munitions in 2011. Response to Right to Information request submitted by Control Arms Foundation of India from T.J. Konger, Director and Central Public Information Officer, Ordnance Factory Board, Ministry of Defence, 6 June 2012.
[9] Leland S. Ness and Anthony G. Williams, eds., Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2007–2008 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2007), p. 715.
[10] “India’s DRDO tests submunition warheads for Pinaka I weapon system,” army-technology.com, 30 June 2015.
[11] Duncan Lennox, ed., Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 46 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, January 2007), pp. 49–56 and 85–87; and Duncan Lennox, ed., Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems 42 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, January 2005), pp. 85–87.
[12] US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Department of Defense, “India: CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons,” Transmittal No. 08-105, Press Release, 30 September 2008. The US has attached a term to the transfer, in compliance with Public Law 110-161 (26 December 2008), which requires that the submunitions have a 99% or higher reliability rate and stipulates that “the cluster munitions will only be used against clearly defined military targets and will not be used where civilians are known to be present.”
[13] Craig Hoyale, “India signs Sensor Fused Weapon deal,” Flightglobal, 10 December 2010; and Craig Hoyale, “AERO INDIA: Textron launches production of CBU-105 sensor fuzed weapon for India,” Flightglobal, 10 February 2011.
[14] Jay Menon, “IAF To Receive Sensor Fuzed Weapons In 2013,” Aviation Week, 9 November 2012; and “IAF to receive CBU-105 next month,” SP’s Aviation, 4 December 2012.
[15] Photographs from Aero India 2013 sent to Control Arms Foundation of India by a journalist at the event. Email from Binalakshmi Neepram, Director, Control Arms Foundation of India, 6 February 2013.
[16] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 840. While there is no information about specific transfers, the manufacturers are the United Kingdom (BL-755), France (BLG-66), and Russia/USSR (RBKs).
[17] “India, Russia sign $500 mn [sic] rocket systems deal,” Indo-Asian News Service (New Delhi), 9 February 2006. Each Smerch rocket can carry five sensor-fuzed submunitions and either 72 or 646 dual-purpose, high explosive submunitions.
[18] PAX, “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility,” June 2016, pp. 21–27.