Air Marshal NS Dhillon | Photo Credit: ANI

New Delhi: Fighter pilot Air Marshal NS Dhillon has been appointed as the new Strategic Forces Command Chief. The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) is tasked to look after the strategic nuclear arsenal of the country and is a part of India's Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) headed by PM Narendra Modi.

Dhillon graduated from the National Defence Academy in Khadakwasla in Pune and later attended Defence Services Staff College in Wellington Cantonment and National Defence College in New Delhi.

The SFC was created on January 4, 2003, by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government and Air Marshal Teja Mohan Asthana became the first commander-in-chief of the SFC.

While Nuclear Command Authority (NCA) is responsible for command, control and operational decisions regarding India's nuclear weapons programme the SFC is behind the management and administration of the strategic nuclear weapons stockpile.

According to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India has an arsenal of 90–110 nuclear weapons and they are believed to be plutonium-based.

“As of 2015 India’s weapons-grade plutonium stockpile was estimated to be between 0.57 and 0.61 tonnes,” the report said.

Both India and Pakistan have never provided any information about the status or size of their arsenals.

In its report titled ‘Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions’ to the United States Congress the CIA said, “India continued to obtain foreign assistance for its civilian nuclear power program, primarily from Russia.”

On Pakistan, the CIA said “Islamabad has a well-developed nuclear weapons program and added that China provided extensive support in the past to Islamabad’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.