India is to test-launch a new nuclear-capable missile that for the first time would give it the capability of hitting the major Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai.
The Agni-V missile, with a range of 5,000km (3,100 miles), will thrust the emerging Asian power into an elite club of nations with intercontinental nuclear defence capabilities and challenge China's regional dominance.
A launch had been scheduled for Wednesday night, but was deferred because of poor weather conditions.
Currently only the permanent members of the UN Security Council China, France, Russia, the US and Britain have such long-range weapons.
"It will be a quantum leap in India's strategic capability," said Ravi Gupta, spokesman for India's Defence Research and Development Organisation, which built the missile.
The longest-range missile that India possesses at present, the Agni-III, has a range of only 3,500km and falls short of many major Chinese cities.
India and China fought a war in 1962 and continue to nurse a border dispute. India has also been suspicious of Beijing's efforts to increase its influence in the Indian Ocean in recent years.
"While China doesn't really consider India any kind of a threat or any kind of a rival, India definitely doesn't think in the same way," said Rahul Bedi, a defence analyst in New Delhi.
India already has the capability of hitting anywhere inside archrival Pakistan, but has engaged in a splurge of defence spending in recent years to counter the perceived Chinese threat.
The Indian navy took command of a Russian nuclear submarine earlier this year, and India is expected to take delivery of a retrofitted Soviet-built aircraft carrier soon.
The new Agni, named after the Hindi word for fire, is part of this military buildup and was designed to hit deep inside China, Bedi said.
Government officials said the missile should not be seen as a threat.
"We have a declared no-first-use policy, and all our missile systems, they are not country-specific. There is no threat to anybody," Gupta said. "Our missile systems are purely for deterrence and to meet our security needs."
The launch window for the missile test, which is being conducted on Wheeler Island off India's east coast, opened on Wednesday evening and closes on Friday, Gupta said.
The Agni-V is a solid-fuel, three-stage missile designed to carry a 1.5-tonne nuclear warhead. It stands 17.5m (57ft) tall, has a launch weight of 50 tonnes and was built at a reported cost of 25bn rupees (£300m). It can be moved across the country by road or rail.
"Agni-V is a game-changer and a technological marvel," VK Saraswat, scientific adviser to the defence minister, was quoted as telling the Hindu newspaper.
The missile could also be used to carry multiple warheads or to launch satellites into orbit.
Even if India's test is deemed a success, the missile will need four or five more trials before it can be inducted into India's arsenal at some point in 2014 or 2015, Bedi said.
Some reports characterised the Agni-V as an intercontinental ballistic missile which would make India one of the few countries to have that capability but Gupta and analysts said its range fell short of that category.
India has no need for such sophisticated weapons, said Rajaram Nagappa, a missile expert and the head of the International Strategic and Security Studies Program at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore.
"I don't think our threat perceptions are anything beyond this region," he said.
India to test nuclear-capable missile that could hit Beijing | World news | The Guardian
The Agni-V missile, with a range of 5,000km (3,100 miles), will thrust the emerging Asian power into an elite club of nations with intercontinental nuclear defence capabilities and challenge China's regional dominance.
A launch had been scheduled for Wednesday night, but was deferred because of poor weather conditions.
Currently only the permanent members of the UN Security Council China, France, Russia, the US and Britain have such long-range weapons.
"It will be a quantum leap in India's strategic capability," said Ravi Gupta, spokesman for India's Defence Research and Development Organisation, which built the missile.
The longest-range missile that India possesses at present, the Agni-III, has a range of only 3,500km and falls short of many major Chinese cities.
India and China fought a war in 1962 and continue to nurse a border dispute. India has also been suspicious of Beijing's efforts to increase its influence in the Indian Ocean in recent years.
"While China doesn't really consider India any kind of a threat or any kind of a rival, India definitely doesn't think in the same way," said Rahul Bedi, a defence analyst in New Delhi.
India already has the capability of hitting anywhere inside archrival Pakistan, but has engaged in a splurge of defence spending in recent years to counter the perceived Chinese threat.
The Indian navy took command of a Russian nuclear submarine earlier this year, and India is expected to take delivery of a retrofitted Soviet-built aircraft carrier soon.
The new Agni, named after the Hindi word for fire, is part of this military buildup and was designed to hit deep inside China, Bedi said.
Government officials said the missile should not be seen as a threat.
"We have a declared no-first-use policy, and all our missile systems, they are not country-specific. There is no threat to anybody," Gupta said. "Our missile systems are purely for deterrence and to meet our security needs."
The launch window for the missile test, which is being conducted on Wheeler Island off India's east coast, opened on Wednesday evening and closes on Friday, Gupta said.
The Agni-V is a solid-fuel, three-stage missile designed to carry a 1.5-tonne nuclear warhead. It stands 17.5m (57ft) tall, has a launch weight of 50 tonnes and was built at a reported cost of 25bn rupees (£300m). It can be moved across the country by road or rail.
"Agni-V is a game-changer and a technological marvel," VK Saraswat, scientific adviser to the defence minister, was quoted as telling the Hindu newspaper.
The missile could also be used to carry multiple warheads or to launch satellites into orbit.
Even if India's test is deemed a success, the missile will need four or five more trials before it can be inducted into India's arsenal at some point in 2014 or 2015, Bedi said.
Some reports characterised the Agni-V as an intercontinental ballistic missile which would make India one of the few countries to have that capability but Gupta and analysts said its range fell short of that category.
India has no need for such sophisticated weapons, said Rajaram Nagappa, a missile expert and the head of the International Strategic and Security Studies Program at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore.
"I don't think our threat perceptions are anything beyond this region," he said.
India to test nuclear-capable missile that could hit Beijing | World news | The Guardian
