With eye on China, India tests new long-range missile
‘A key boost to its regional power aspirations which
narrows huge gap with China’s missile systems’:
INDIA: India yesterday successfully test fired a new missile capable
of delivering a one-tonne nuclear warhead anywhere in rival China,
marking a major advance in its defence capabilities.
Watched by hundreds of scientists, the Agni V was launched from a
test site off the eastern state of Orissa.
India views the rocket, which has a range of 5,000 kilometres (3,100
miles), as a key boost to its regional power aspirations and one that
narrows -- albeit slightly -- the huge gap with China's technologically
advanced missile systems.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A.K. Antony
congratulated the nation's defence scientists on the “successful”
launch, with Antony calling the achievement “a major milestone in
India's missile programme”.
The test leaves India knocking at the door of a select club of
nations with inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which have a
minimum range of 5,500 kilometres.
Currently only the five permanent members of the UN Security Council
-- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- possess a
declared ICBM capability.
“I am announcing the successful launch of Agni V... making history
and making our country proud in the area of missile technology,” V.K.
Saraswat, head of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) which made the missile, said.He said India was now a “missile
power”.
DRDO spokesman Ravi Gupta insisted the Agni V was a “non
country-specific” deterrent, but analysts noted it extends India's
missile reach over the entire Chinese mainland, including military
installations in the far northeast.
Agni, which means “fire” in Sanskrit, is the name given to a series
of rockets India developed as part of its ambitious integrated guided
missile development project launched in 1983.
While the shorter-range Agnis I and II were mainly developed with
traditional rival Pakistan in mind, later versions with a range of 3,500
kilometers -- are perceived as China-centric deterrents.A team of 800
have worked on the indigenously developed Agni V over the last three
years, using new materials and technology to build motors capable of
increasing the propulsion and speed of the new missile.
“Firstly you have a phenomenal range and so every single significant
city -- Beijing, Shanghai -- will come within its range,” retired Air
Force officer Kapil Kak from the Centre for Air Power Studies in India
told AFP.
“Secondly, it has a very, very high speed compared to previous
missiles...But the key issue is that this missile can be pushed to 8,000
kilometres.“The significance there is that India then demonstrates the
capability to make an ICBM,” he added.
There was no official reaction in China, but the state-run Global
Times newspaper warned India “should not overestimate its strength” in
an editorial published on Thursday. AFP |