India's First Nuclear Test

Date: May 18, 1974 • Location: Pokaran, India

India conducted its first nuclear test explosion at Pokhran, the first confirmed nuclear test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Smiling Buddha was the code name of India's first successful nuclear weapon test on 18 May 1974. The nuclear fission bomb was detonated in the Pokhran Test Range of the Indian Army in Rajasthan. As per the United States military intelligence, the operation was named as Happy Krishna. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described the test as a peaceful nuclear explosion.