Hoping to join a select group of countries with
intercontinental missiles:
India to test new long-range missile this week
INDIA: India hopes this week to join a select group of countries with
intercontinental missiles by holding the first test flight of a new
long-range nuclear-capable rocket, officials said Monday.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said it
plans the maiden launch of the Agni-V missile, which has a range of more
than 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles), between Wednesday and Friday.
The exact launch date has not yet been set “because this is our
longest-range missile and there are many logistics issues and hence we
don't plan for one (particular) day,” DRDO spokesman Ravi Gupta told
AFP.
In the latest display of India's growing military might, the test of
the indigenously developed Agni-V will be carried out from a coastal
range in the eastern state of Orissa.
“Agni-V is a 5,000-plus kilometre range missile and it is to meet our
present-day threat perceptions, which are determined by our defence
forces and other agencies,” Gupta said from the test site.
The Agni-V would in theory be able to strike targets across Asia and
some parts of Europe. Only China, Russia, France, the United States,
Great Britain and Israel are thought to have such long-distance
missiles.
The weapons system was not developed to threaten any particular
country, said DRDO spokesman Gupta.
“This is a deterrent to avoid wars and it is not country-specific,”
he said. “Besides, India has a no-first-use policy,” he said, calling
the country's missile development programme “purely defensive.” The
planned test flight comes after India launched last November the Agni-IV
missile that can travel 3,500 kilometres and is capable of carrying a
one-tonne nuclear warhead deep inside China.
India is among the world's top 10 military spenders, with Jane's
Defence Weekly forecasting its total purchases between 2011 and 2015
will top $100 billion.
India has fought three wars with arch-rival Pakistan since
independence in 1947, but China is now viewed as the main focus of
India's military concerns.
The border between India and China has been the subject of
inconclusive diplomatic talks since the 1980s after the two nations
fought a brief, bloody war in 1962.
Indian military analyst Afsir Karim said since the country already
has potential to strike China with the Agni-IV, the utility of the
latest missile was unclear.
“I do not see any strategic value in developing this system except
for upgrading India's military prestige,” Karim, a retired army
lieutenant-general, told AFP.
India staged a string of atomic detonations in 1998 and declared
itself a nuclear-weapons state but it refuses to sign the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The country's test plan has not attracted the international criticism
aimed at reclusive North Korea, which last week carried out a rocket
test that ended in failure.
AFP
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