Aircraft Potential Special Weapons Delivery Systems

Aircraft Potential Special Weapons Delivery Systems
The current status of delivery systems for Indian nuclear weapons is unclear. India has developed and tested nuclear weapons that could be delivered on the Prithvi and Agni missiles. Since India probably had nuclear weapons prior to the availability of these missiles, it is probable that the current Indian nuclear weapons inventory includes weapons designed for delivery using aircraft. One or more of the following aircraft types might be used for this purpose. There are no open-source reports suggesting which if any of these aircraft have been equiped to deliver air-dropped atomic weapons. The MiG-27 and the Jaguar were originally designed to perform ground attack missions, and would require only modest modification to deliver nuclear weapons. The MiG-29, Su-30 and Mirage 2000 were originally designed to perform air-to-air combat missions, though they could potentially be modified to deliver air-dropped nuclear weapons.
India has leased four Russian Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers, which could carry air-launched cruise missiles. India has reportedly upgraded its Russian-built Tu-142 maritime patrol aircraft to carry air-launched cruise missiles.

Aircraft ----------------Combat Radius-------- Payload ---------Speed--------- Inventory
Tu-142 BEAR - ------------------------------------------------------------------ 10
Tu-22M BACKFIRE -------------------------------------------------------------- 4
Jaguar ----------------   2,600 km--------------- 4,750 kg-------- Mach 1.5-------- 116
MiG-27 ----------------1,100 km--------------- 4,000 kg-------Mach 1.7--------- 200
MiG-29 ----------------1,500km----------------3,000 kg-------Mach 2.35--------74
Su-30 ------------------1,500 km--------------- 8,000 kg-------Mach 2.0--------- 8+
Mirage 2000 -----------1,850 km--------------- 6,300 kg--------Mach 2.2---------42

Jaguar

Mirage 2000

MiG-21

Su-30MKI