India to test new 5000-km nuclear missile within year

Reuters ^ | 10 Feb 2010 14:34:18 GMT | Bappa Majumdar

[BradtotheBone]

NEW DELHI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - India aims to test a new nuclear-capable missile with a 5000-km (3,100-mile) range, a top military scientist said on Wednesday, a move that could complicate security in a volatile region.

The missile would effectively bring most of China within India's range, as well as more potential targets to the west and east than its existing weaponry.

"Agni-V is out of the drawing board. We are aiming for a flight trial within a year," V.K. Saraswat, India's chief military scientist told reporters.

India successfully tested the Agni-III missile, which has a 3000-km range, at the weekend and is ready to bring it into the military.

Any addition to India's military capability is viewed with suspicion by rival Pakistan and usually touches off tit-for-tat efforts by Islamabad.

India's announcement comes at a time when it is trying to improve relations with Pakistan and has sought to restart a dialogue it broke off blaming the 2008 Mumbai attack on Pakistani-based militants

[RC one]

I wonder who they think they might have to nuke that is that far away.

[johniegrad]

See paragraph #2.

[Little Pig]

Eastern Bengal is within 2000Km of Beijing

[James C. Bennett]

A nuke on a scaled-down version of the vehicle that put their probe on the moon, two years ago, would more than cover the entire planet, in terms of range. This is just political posturing, I’d reckon. Or a test of the technology’s maturity.

[ClearCase_guy]

Not too long ago, there were two real superpowers, the US and the USSR. Each had allies who basically had to toe the line and could act only with some degree of permission. If a war started, there was a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction, and so no big wars were started. Small, proxy wars were fought in out of the way spots where no "real" damage would be done. It wasn't appreciated at the time, but this system had a fair degree of stability built into it -- until the Soviet Union collapsed.

Today, China, North Korea, India, Iran, Russia, Pakistan, and other countries are all scrambling for levels of weaponry which will show the world that they are important players. There is no country on earth that has any ability to rein them in, and we're just moving forward, getting closer to the day when someone, somewhere does something stupid.

Humans always end up doing something stupid.

[BradtotheBone]

Agree. It’s not a case of “if” anymore, but when.

[RC one]

yeah, there’s that. Maybe those mangoes were a good trade after all.