India

The Republic of India has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In November 2011, India stated, “We share the international community’s concerns about the humanitarian impact of the irresponsible use of cluster munitions” but “believe that the use of cluster munitions is legitimate if it is in accordance with international humanitarian law.”[1]

India has called for “effective regulation rather than the prohibition on the use” of cluster munitions.[2] It has long expressed its preference for cluster munitions to be tackled through the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

India did not participate in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but attended a regional meeting on cluster munitions in Lao PDR in October 2008.[3] India has not attended any international or regional meetings related to the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008. It was invited to, but did not attend, the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011. It did not participate in intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in June 2011 or April 2012.

In August 2011, Indian campaigners organized a panel discussion and film screening on the second anniversary of entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and called on India to cease production of cluster munitions and accede to the convention without delay.[4]

India is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Convention on Conventional Weapons

India is party to the CCW and actively participated in CCW work on cluster munitions, where it supported a United States (US)-led effort to secure a new CCW protocol on cluster munitions.

At the outset of the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, India said “[W]e support the negotiation of an instrument in the CCW that will strike a balance between humanitarian and military concerns” and “look forward to concluding our negotiations on the draft protocol during this Review Conference.”[5]

During the negotiations, India expressed “mixed feelings” over the chair’s draft text “tinged with some disappointment” and requested the deletion of certain sections of the text that “go beyond what we have discussed.”[6] Yet toward the conclusion of the negotiations, India said that the chair’s draft text had been “strengthened in past days” and that it would be a pity to “reject it rashly” and “let the best be the enemy of the better.”[7]

The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions. India described the lack of consensus on the proposed CCW protocol as “an unhappy outcome.”[8]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

The Monitor has not been able to verify any use of cluster munitions by India. The size and precise content of India’s stockpile of cluster munitions is not known.

As recently as 2006, the India Ordnance Factories had advertised the capacity to produce for export 130mm and 155mm artillery projectiles containing dual purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions, which are equipped with a self-destruct feature.[9] These projectiles are the result of a transfer of production technology from Israel Military Industries and were slated to be produced at Khamaria Ordnance Factory near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.[10]

However, new information from June 2012 raises doubts about whether this capacity has been active in recent years. In response to a Right to Information request, an official in the Ammunition Division of the Ordnance Factory Board stated that India did not produce any cluster munitions in 2011 and said that India does not produce 130mm and 155mm artillery containing DPICM submunitions, but that a 130mm version is under development.[11]

In addition to artillery projectiles, the Defense Research and Development Organization of the Ministry of Defense has produced a cargo rocket containing anti-tank/anti-material submunitions for the 214mm Pinaka multi-barrel rocket system.[12] Other sources have claimed that warheads containing submunitions were developed for the Agni, Dhanush, and Prithvi missile systems.[13]

India has also imported cluster munitions. 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.[14] In February 2006, India bought 28 launch units for the Russian-produced 300mm Smerch multibarrel rocket launchers fitted with dual-purpose and sensor fuzed submunitions; it was the third export customer for the system.[15]

The US announced in September 2008 that, at the request of India, it was intending to sell 510 CBU-105 air-dropped Sensor Fuzed Weapons.[16] 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.”[17] In December 2010, the manufacturer of the Sensor Fuzed Weapons stated it had been awarded a $258 million contract to supply India with 512 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons, and in February 2011 the manufacturer announced that it had started production of the weapons to meet the order.[18]