---
title: "Pokhran-II (Operation Shakti) 1998 Nuclear Tests"
description: "Pokhran-II (Operation Shakti) refers to India's 1998 nuclear tests that established its no-first-use doctrine and reshaped regional security dynamics."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/shakti-nuclear-tests-1998"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- Pokhran-II was India's series of five nuclear weapon tests conducted at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan in May 1998, formally codenamed Operation Shakti.
- How did Pokhran-II differ from the 1974 Pokhran-I test?
- Why is the thermonuclear yield of Pokhran-II disputed?
- What international response followed Operation Shakti?
- How did Pokhran-II shape India's later nuclear diplomacy?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

Pokhran-II was India's series of five nuclear weapon tests conducted at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan in May 1998, formally codenamed Operation Shakti.

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## Timeline

1. 13 May 1998

   Pokhran-II, conducted under the codename Operation Shakti ("power"), comprised five underground nuclear explosions detonated at the Pokhran Test Range in the…

2. 18 May 1974

   The tests built on India's first nuclear detonation, the so-called "Smiling Buddha" device of (retrospectively termed Pokhran-I), which the Government of In…

3. 11 May 1998

   On , designated Shakti-I, Shakti-II and Shakti-III, three devices were detonated simultaneously: a fission device, a thermonuclear (hydrogen) device, and a s…

4. 30 May 1998

   Pakistan responded within weeks, conducting its own tests at Chagai in Balochistan on 28 and (Chagai-I and Chagai-II), crystallising an overt South Asian nu…

5. 6 June 1998

   The G-8 and the UN Security Council, through Resolution 1172 of , condemned the tests and urged both states to accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

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Example

In May 1998, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced India's five Operation Shakti nuclear tests at Pokhran, prompting Pakistan's Chagai tests later that month and US sanctions under the Glenn Amendment.

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