BHUBANESWAR
- India successfully test-fired a new
long-range missile on Thursday capable of delivering a one-tonne nuclear
warhead anywhere in regional rival China and countries outside Asia.
The
17-metre (56-foot) Agni V, with a range of more than 5,000 kilometres (3,100
miles), was launched at 8:05 (0235 GMT) from a test site off the eastern state
of Orissa.
It was
an "immaculate success" and "a major milestone in India's
missile programme", Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in comments released
by his spokesman.
India
views the 50-tonne Agni V 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.
The
successful test leaves India knocking at the door of a select club of nations
with inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with ranges of up to 8,000
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," said V.K. Saraswat, head
of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which made the
missile.
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.
"The
Agni V can strike targets across China, potentially freeing up other short- and
intermediate-range missiles for use against Pakistan and much of west and
south-central China," said IHS Jane's analyst Poornima Subramaniam.
"Extensive
land- and sea-launched missile development programmes have become important
elements in India's nuclear strategy, and in that context the Agni V is a
significant development," Subramaniam told AFP.
Shannon
Kile, an expert on nuclear weapons at the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute (SIPRI) think-tank, said Agni V was partly a
"prestige" development, supporting India's aspirations to be global
player.
At the
same time, its increased range "will also give Indian defence force
planners greater leeway about where missile launchers can be placed," Kile
said.
The
Agni V test came just weeks after India returned to the elite group of
countries with a nuclear-powered submarine when it inducted a new vessel leased
from Russia.
India
has fought three wars with arch-rival Pakistan since independence in 1947, but
it is China that New Delhi increasingly views as the greater long-term
strategic threat.
China's
military arsenal is far larger and far more technologically advanced than
India's, which is why, according to Monika Chansoria, a senior fellow at the
Delhi-based Centre for Land Warfare Studies, the Agni V is so important.
"What
this missile does is enable India to upgrade its present strategic posture
towards countries like China from one of dissuasion to one of credible
deterrence," Chansoria said.
India
and China fought a brief but bloody war in 1962, and 15 rounds of talks on
their frontier disputes have yielded no progress, amid fears in New Delhi that
Beijing is becoming increasingly assertive about its territorial claims.
AFP
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