Guest Editor’s Introduction

May 11, 2018, marks the twentieth anniversary of the Shakti-series of tests. In 1998, India conducted five nuclear tests on May 11 and 13. The government stated that in the five tests, advanced weapon designs had been tested. On May 11, declared as the National Technology Day, the three tested devices were of 45-kilotons thermonuclear, 15-kilotons fission and 0.2 sub-kiloton yields. On May 13, India continued the testing of nuclear devices. Both the tests were of the sub-kiloton yields—0.5 and 0.3. These tests heralded India as a nuclear weapon state. More importantly, it accomplished the feat indigenously.