The May 1998 Pokhran tests: scientific aspects

Abstract

On 11 and 13 May 1998, India conducted five carefully planned and fully successful nuclear tests, including that of a two-stage thermonuclear device with a fusion-boosted fission trigger as the first stage and with all the features needed for integration with delivery vehicles at the controlled yield of 45 kt, and of three sub-kiloton fission devices from the point of view of developing low-yield weapons and of validating new weapon-related ideas and sub-systems. These tests also established the computer simulation capability to predict the yields of nuclear weapons (fission, boosted fission and two-stage thermonuclear) of designs related to the designs of the devices tested by India.