when did india conduct her first nuclear test
18 May 1974
title: Smiling Buddha text: Smiling Buddha Smiling Buddha (MEA designation: Pokhran-I) was the assigned code name of India's first successful nuclear bomb test on 18 May 1974. The bomb was detonated on the , Pokhran Test Range (PTR), in Rajasthan by the Indian Army under the supervision of several key . "Pokhran-I" was also the first confirmed nuclear weapons test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Officially, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) claimed this test was a "peaceful nuclear explosion", but it was an accelerated nuclear programme. India started its own nuclear programme in title: CIA activities in India text: in character — what is today known as `back channel diplomacy' — but RAW's special operations and SIGINT/IMINT unit, the Aviation Research Centre, received technical assistance from the U.S. in return for information on China. India's first nuclear test, on India's May 18, 1974, was a surprise to the Intelligence Community, although the overall nuclear program and incentives to build a bomb had been discussed. "India conducted an underground nuclear test at a site in the desert at Pokhran - making it the world's seventh nuclear power and the sixth to test (Israel having achieved nuclear status in 1966 without title: Project-706 text: Salam, a senior scientist and Ahmadi, left Pakistan for Great Britain in protest. After the departure of Salam Munir Ahmad Khan continued the organizations. The Nuclear Engineering Division, under Bashiruddin Mahmood set up a U production facility and the construction began under Munir Ahmad Khan's direction. On 22 May 1974, three years after Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani conflict, India carried out its first nuclear test, code named Smiling Buddha, near Pakistan's Eastern Border of Sindh. The nuclear test came as a surprise and caused a great alarm at the Government of Pakistan. On 19 May 1974, in a title: Nuclear warfare text: world, had been living with the concept of mutual assured destruction (MAD) for about a decade, and it became deeply ingrained into the psyche and popular culture of those countries. On May 18, 1974, India conducted its first nuclear test in the Pokhran test range. The name of the operation was Smiling Buddha, and India termed the test as a "peaceful nuclear explosion". The Soviet Duga early warning over-the-horizon radar system was made operational in 1976. The extremely powerful radio transmissions needed for such a system led to much disruption of civilian shortwave broadcasts, earning it the nickname "Russian Woodpecker". title: History of the Republic of India text: war taking place in Pakistan's Bengali half, after millions of refugees had fled the persecution of the Pakistani army. The clash resulted in the independence of East Pakistan, which became known as Bangladesh, and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's elevation to immense popularity. Relations with the United States grew strained, and India signed a 20-year treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union - breaking explicitly for the first time from non-alignment. In 1974, India tested its first nuclear weapon in the desert of Rajasthan, near Pokhran. In 1973, anti-royalist riots took place in the Kingdom of Sikkim. In 1975, the Prime