Posted on 05/26/2010 8:07:40 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
India’s military might is expected to take a big leap early next year when it test-fires the over 5,000-km-range nuclear-capable Agni-V missile.
Agni-V is the country’s most ambitious strategic missile project, and a successful culmination of the test stage will propel the country into an elite club of ICBM-capable nations.
``Work is progressing satisfactorily on the development of Agni-V, which is expected to become a reality next year. With this, the DRDO would have given India a comprehensive indigenous strategic capability, available with only a few nations of the world,’’ DRDO chief V K Saraswat remarked while speaking at the National Technology Day awards function here on Wednesday.
Agni-V will be the first canistered road-mobile ballistic missile — with a range of over 5,000-km — in the country’s military arsenal, bringing possible targets in almost the whole of China and Pakistan within striking range. The missile is likely to be tested in the first half of next year.
A successful execution of the project is certain to place India on par with — some say, even ahead of — China in terms of missile capability.
Missiles which are capable of being launched from canisters can be fired from multiple platforms and are easily transportable by road. As a result, Agni-V can reach every continent, with the exception of North and South America, from various places across India.
Agni-V, according to experts, is similar to the Dongfeng-31A missile that raised quite a few eye-brows during China’s National Day Military Parade in Beijing on October 1 last. India’s current long-range missile, the Agni-III, a non-canisterised missile, can only be moved with difficulty from one place to another. The Agni-V, by contrast, is specially tailored for road-mobility, defence scientists pointed out.
(Excerpt) Read more at economictimes.indiatimes.com ...
good for them. Sovereign countries do what is in their interest and we have no right pontificating when we proliferated nuclear weapon to the middle east ourselves.
In truth, these reports are just periodic outbursts. India had a capability to detonate a nuke on any spot on the planet, and beyond, when they launched satellites off of their own launch vehicles. PSLV comes to mind, in use since the early ‘90s.
Hmmm ... covers all of Russia and China and > 90% of the planet’s Muslim population (Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and everything in between).
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