Summary: Non-signatory India acknowledges the humanitarian concerns over cluster munitions, but views them as legitimate weapons if used in accordance with international humanitarian law. It has not commented on its position on accession to the ban convention. India abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2017 and 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 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 in an international or regional meeting of the convention. It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Seventh Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2017.

In December 2017, 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 abstained from votes on previous resolutions promoting implementation and universalization of the convention in 2015 and 2016.

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 expresses regret at the 2011 failure of the CCW to adopt a protocol on cluster munitions, which effectively ended the CCW’s deliberations on the matter, leaving the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument dedicated to ending the suffering caused by these weapons. India has not proposed any further CCW work on cluster munitions since 2011.[5]

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.

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 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.[8]

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.[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 claim that warheads containing submunitions were developed for the Agni, Dhanush, and Prithvi ballistic missile systems.[11]

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.[12] In 2010, US arms manufacturer Textron announced a US$258 million contract to provide India with 512 CBU-105.[13]

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.[14] 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.[15]

In February 2017, a private Indian arms manufacturer had components for cluster munition weapons listed within their sales catalog on display at the IDEX military trade event in Abu Dhabi.[16] In June 2018, the same manufacturer displayed components for cluster munitions at the Eurosatory defense trade event in Paris. Event organizers requested that they alter their display, but the caption “Cargo Ammunition for 130 & 155mm Gun - bomblet assembly” remained visible at the event.[17]

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.”[18] In February 2013, Textron displayed the CBU-105 at an arms fair in Bangalore, India.[19]

According to NGO PAX’s 2017 report “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility,” the State Bank of India is involved in investments in the production of cluster munitions.[20]