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Eyeing China, India to enter ICBM club in 3 months NEW DELHI: The countdown has begun. Within three months, India will gatecrash the super-exclusive ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) club, largely the preserve of countries like the US, Russia and China that brandish long-range strategic missiles with strike ranges well beyond 5,500 km. However, it will become a full-fledged member of the club only when its most ambitious nuclear-capable Agni-V ballistic missile, which will be able to target even northern China if required, becomes fully operational in 2014. Gung-ho a day after the successful test of the new-generation 3,500-km Agni-IV missile, senior defence scientists on Wednesday declared that Agni-V, with a strike range of over 5,000-km, would be test-fired within the December-February time-frame. The three-stage Agni-V is undergoing integration at the moment...its on schedule, DRDO chief V K Saraswat said, adding that both Agni-IV and V were comparable to the best missiles in their class, including Chinese ones, as far as the technology was concerned. Agni programme director Avinash Chander said his team was confident of offering the 17.5-metre-tall Agni-V for induction to the armed forces by 2014. The much-lighter two-stage Agni-IV will be operational by 2013 after two to four more repeatable tests. Our aim is to take just two to three years from the first test to the induction phase, he said. Once deployed, the 20-tonne Agni-IV and 50-tonne Agni-V will add the much-needed muscle to Indias nuclear deterrence posture against China, which has a huge nuclear and missile arsenal like the 11,200-km Dong Feng-31A ICBM which is capable of hitting any Indian city. With higher accuracy, fast-reaction capability and road mobility, unlike the earlier largely rail-mobile Agni missiles, Agni-IV and V will give India the required operational flexibility against China since they will be capable of being stored and swiftly transported. If launched from the north-east, for instance, they will be able to hit high-value targets deep inside China. India, however, is not in an arms race or numbers game like the US-Soviet rivalry of the Cold War era. We are not looking at how many missiles China or Pakistan has. With a no first-use nuclear weapons policy, we only want a sufficient number of missiles to defend the country in the event of a crisis. Ours is a defensive-mode strategy, even if others have offensive postures, Saraswat said. The DRDO chief added that indigenous content in Indias strategic missiles had gone up to such a level, with ring-laser gyros, composite rocket motors, micro-navigation systems and their ilk, that no technology control regime could derail them any longer. Back |
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