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Chinese officials were quick to respond to the recent Indian success in getting their Agni III ballistic missile into active service. This came about after the fourth test of the fifty ton, two stage, solid fuel missile. Agni III has a range of 3,500 kilometers and was built to reach targets in China. Chinese officials pointed out that India was, with the Agni III, still at least a decade behind China in the long range ballistic missiles department. The Chinese introduced the DF-21 in 1999. This missile has a range of over 1,800 kilometers and can haul a 300 kiloton...

With Sukhoi-30 MKI fighters generating sonic booms over the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago on Sunday, even as the 3,500-km Agni-III missile created fireworks off the Orissa coast, India sent a strong strategic message across Bay of Bengal that it is ready to play the role of a security facilitator in the larger Indian Ocean Region (IOR). India might not want to be seen as a regional supercop in the IOR, nor as the prime mover of a naval military bloc in the Asia-Pacific region . But yes, it has legitimate security concerns in the IOR, which falls in its strategic...

NEW DELHI: India on Sunday successfully test-fired its indigenous Agni-III ballistic missile, which has a range of over 3,500 km and can even strike targets deep inside China. This paves the way for induction of the nuclear-capable missile into the armed forces and consolidates India’s position among a select group of nations having intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) capability. The missile, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is capable of carrying warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonne, is 17 metres tall and has a launch weight of 50 tonne with a two-metre diameter. It was tested on Sunday...

The spread of long-range ballistic missiles took a step forward on May 7 with India's successful flight test of its Agni-III missile that can carry a nuclear warhead as far as Beijing. But the difference between this and other missile developments is that India's missiles — like those of the United States, Britain, France and Israel — are not used to threaten others and instead help deter potential aggressors. With nuclear missile-armed neighbors like China, Russia and Pakistan, India needs an effective deterrent. But for years New Delhi concentrated on developing tactical missiles to deter Pakistan, which India fought three...

India tests nuclear-capable missile Sun Jul 9, 3:39 AM ET India successfully carried out its first test of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range of 4,000 kilometres (2,480 miles), defence officials said. The Agni-III missile was launched on Sunday from Wheeler Island, 180 kilometres northeast of Bhubaneshwar in the eastern state of Orissa, they said on condition of anonymity. In May Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the Agni-III, India's longest-range ballistic missile, was ready but that the country was observing "self-imposed restraint" before testing. Opposition parties criticised the announcement, saying testing was being delayed because of pressure from...

After postponing it twice, Indian has finally test-fired successfully the Agni-III ballistic missile. The the longest-range nuclear capable missile was test-fired for the first times from Wheeler's Island off Orissa coast. This has effectively put India on the threshold of an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile capability with over 3,000 km range. So far, India had a proven missile capability over a range of only 2,000 km with the Agni-2.