Summary: Non-signatory India acknowledges the humanitarian concerns associated with cluster munitions, but views them as legitimate weapons and has not taken any steps to join the convention. India has never attended a meeting of the convention. It abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2018.

India produces and exports cluster munitions. It has imported cluster munitions, but is not known to have used them. India 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 never made a statement detailing its position on acceding to the ban convention. It has acknowledged humanitarian concerns at the “irresponsible use” of cluster munitions, but views them as “legitimate” weapons if used in accordance with international humanitarian law. [1]

India did not participate in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions. [2]

India has never participated as an observer in a meeting of the convention. It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018.

In December 2018, India abstained from the vote on a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.” [3] India has never explained why it has abstained from the vote on the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

India is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

India is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. [4] India still regrets the 2011 failure by states to adopt a CCW protocol on cluster munitions. [5] This concluded CCW deliberations on the matter, leaving the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument dedicated to ending the suffering caused by these weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

The Monitor has not been able to verify any use of cluster munitions by India, but it imports, produces, and exports cluster munitions.

Production

India has produced cluster munitions delivered by ground-launched artillery projectiles, rockets, and missiles. It is not known to have developed or produced air-dropped cluster munitions.

India is one of the few countries currently manufacturing cluster munitions and production appears to be ongoing in 2019. Purchase order records retrieved from a publicly accessible online government transaction database list at least one company providing components for 130mm “Cargo Shells.” Components were produced under contract and supplied to the Ordnance Factory Chandrapur in Maharashtra state. [6] Orders indicated that production may continue until June 2021.

State-owned India Ordnance Factories continue to advertise their capacity to produce for export 130mm and 155mm artillery projectiles containing dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions equipped with a self-destruct feature. [7]

It had been previously reported that 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. [8] In response to a Right to Information request, a Ministry of Defense official stated in 2012 that India does not produce 130mm and 155mm artillery containing DPICM submunitions, but acknowledged a 130mm version was being developed. [9]

The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) of India’s Ministry of Defense has produced a cargo rocket containing antitank/antimaterial submunitions for the 214mm Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher system. [10] 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. [11] Other sources claim that warheads containing submunitions were developed for the Agni, Dhanush, and Prithvi ballistic missile systems. [12]

Transfer

India has imported cluster munitions from the United States (US) and other countries. The US announced a sale to India in 2008 of 510 air-delivered CBU-105 Sensor-Fuzed Weapons. [13] In 2010, US arms manufacturer Textron announced a US$258 million contract to provide India with 512 CBU-105. [14] In May 2019, Indian Air Force Jaguar aircraft used at least two CBU-105 bombs during tests at the Pokhran Test Firing Range in Jaisalmer. [15]

Jane’s Information Group lists India as possessing KMG-U dispensers, as well as United Kingdom (UK)-made BL755, BLG-66 Belouga made in France, and Soviet-produced 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 with rockets equipped with dual-purpose and sensor-fuzed submunitions. [17]

A private Indian arms manufacturer listed components for cluster munitions in a sales catalog displayed at a February 2017 IDEX defense event in Abu Dhabi. [18] In June 2018, the same manufacturer displayed components for cluster munitions at the Eurosatory defense event in Paris. [19]

In February 2017, Russia displayed its RBK-500U SPBE-K cluster bomb, which contains 15 SPBE-K sensor-fuzed submunitions, at a military exhibition in Bangalore called “Aero India 2017.” [20] In February 2013, Textron displayed the CBU-105 at an arms fair in Bangalore, India. [21]

According to NGO PAX’s December 2018 report “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility,” the Indian investment firms Housing Development Finance Corporation, Industrial Development Bank of India, State Bank of India, and Yes Ban are involved in investments in the production of cluster munitions. [22]