Summary

Non-signatory India has acknowledged the humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions, but has not taken any steps to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. India has never participated in a meeting of the convention, even as an observer. It abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.

India produces, exports, imports, and stockpiles cluster munitions, but is not known to have used them.

Policy

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

India has never commented on its position on acceding to the convention. India has acknowledged humanitarian concerns over the “irresponsible use” of cluster munitions, but regards them as “legitimate” weapons if used in accordance with international humanitarian law.[1]

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

India has never participated in a meeting of the convention, even as an observer. India was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.

In December 2021, India abstained from the vote on a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions 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 has expressed regret at the failure in 2011 to adopt a CCW protocol on cluster munitions.[4] The end of CCW negotiations on cluster munitions leaves the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument dedicated to ending the suffering caused by these weapons.

Production

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

The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), within India’s Ministry of Defense, has produced a cargo rocket containing dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions for the 214mm Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher system.[5] In 2015, submunition warheads for the Pinaka system were tested at a firing range in Pokhran, Rajasthan.[6] Other sources claim that warheads containing submunitions were developed for the Agni, Dhanush, and Prithvi ballistic missile systems.[7]

Under an August 2012 agreement with Russian defense manufacturers Rosoboronexport and Splav, the Indian Ministry of Defense manufactured Smerch rockets including the 300mm 9M55K cluster munition rocket.[8]

In the past, the state-owned India Ordnance Factories advertised their capacity to produce for export 130mm and 155mm artillery projectiles containing DPICM submunitions equipped with a self-destruct feature.[9] Purchase order records retrieved in 2019 indicate that the Ordnance Factory in Maharashtra state has provided components for 130mm “Cargo Shells.”[10]

Transfers

Indian companies producing cluster munitions have promoted their products at various defense industry arms fairs abroad. In June 2022, Munitions India Ltd. displayed the cluster munition variant of the Pinaka missile system at the Eurosatory arms fair, in violation of Eurosatory rules.[11] Previously, a private Indian arms manufacturer listed components for cluster munitions in a sales catalog displayed at a 2017 International Defence Exhibition (IDEX) event in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).[12] The same manufacturer displayed components for cluster munitions at the Eurosatory trade fair, held in Paris in June 2018.[13]

International cluster munition producers have also displayed their products at various defense industry events in India. At an exhibition in Bangalore in February 2017, Russia displayed its RBK-500U SPBE-K cluster bomb.[14] At an arms fair in Bangalore in February 2013, Textron Systems displayed its CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed weapon, which meets the definition of a cluster munition.[15]

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 manufactured by US defense contractor Textron Systems.[16] 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.[17]

Jane’s Information Group lists India as possessing United Kingdom (UK)-made BL755, French-made BLG-66 Belouga, and Soviet-produced RBK-250-275 and RBK-500 cluster bombs and KMG-U dispensers.[18] 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.[19]

Stockpiling

India stockpiles cluster munitions acquired from the US and other countries, but has not disclosed information on the quantities or types in its possession.

Use

The Monitor has not documented cluster munition use by India outside of testing since the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008. It is unclear if India used cluster munitions before then.

Previous use allegations

In August 2019, India denied an allegation by Pakistan that it had used cluster munitions in the contested region of Kashmir on 30–31 July 2019, during an attack which reportedly killed two civilians, including a four-year-old boy, and wounded 11 others.[20] The Pakistan Army released photographs showing DPICM-type submunitions from artillery-delivered cluster munitions; while Pakistan’s president, foreign minister, and other high-ranking officials condemned the alleged cluster munition use for violating international law.[21]

In response, the Indian Army issued a statement asserting that “Allegations of firing of cluster bombs by India is yet another Pakistan’s lie and deception.”[22]

At the UNGA in October 2019, Pakistan repeated the claim, stating that “India, which is a State Party to the CCW, recently used cluster munitions in populated areas resulting in deaths and injuries to civilians.”[23] India responded that “Pakistan has once again made a number of baseless and unsubstantiated allegations against India which are not borne out of facts.”[24]

The Monitor has not been able to conclusively determine if cluster munitions were used during the incident, or whether India was responsible for any use.