Posted on 04/12/2007 2:33:12 PM PDT by knighthawk
BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - India carried out a successful test on Thursday of its longest-range ballistic missile, the Agni III, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead more than 3,000 km (1,900 miles), scientists said.
Defence analysts say the Agni III is primarily designed to counter the military strength of China, which also has nuclear weapons, while shorter-range versions of the missile have been developed with long-time rival Pakistan in mind.
The launch of the longest-range Agni, which means "fire" in the Sanskrit language, came after a failed test last July when the missile plunged into the Bay of Bengal after take-off.
"Yes, the test was absolutely successful," W. Selvamurthy, a senior official of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which designed the missile, told Reuters.
"It took off at 10:50 a.m. (6:20 a.m. British time) and landed at 11:05 a.m.," he said. "We are absolutely satisfied with all the results and we have rectified the errors of last year's failure. It met all the target coordinates."
The missile was launched from Wheeler island off India's eastern coast.
India has around 100 to 150 nuclear warheads and staged tests in 1974 and 1998.
Ping
Crap,
Just where to shoot this sucker off?
Pakistan?
Afganistan?
China?
Or shoot it into some craphole within our own country?
I say hit the Chi-coms.
From an older post:
Surya
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/missile/surya.htm
At least one source has reported that a 12,000-km range, 80,000-kg weight ballistic missile, designated Surya, is also under development, but no confirmatory reports of such activity have as yet been discovered. (1)
The status of the Surya [Sun] ICBM program is extremely unclear, with some report indicating that the development of this system was initiated in 1994. Conflicting reports regarding the Surya’s configuration claim that it will be based on the components of the polar space launch vehicle (PSLV) and the Agni IRBM, and that it will have a range between 8000 and 12,000 kms. (2)
Sources and Resources
1. The Nonproliferation Review, Winter 95, p. 160.
2 Chapter 4 From India to North Africa: Sowing A Missile Crop Exploring U.S. Missile Defense Requirements in 2010: What Are the Policy and Technology Challenges? Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis April 1997
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Given how India’s nuclear tests were known to the world an afternoon after it took place, and that too, through the Indian prime minister’s announcement, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the missile described above is already in India’s possession.
India’s only military defeat was at the hands of the Chicoms in 1962-they still hold thousands of square miles of Indian territory in the North East & Kashmir(gifted by their allies,the Pakis).India’s Prime Minister back then,Nehru gave a go ahead into the feasibility of nuclear weapons a little after the war.Everytime,India mobilised it’s military for war against Pakistan,the Chicoms would mobilise their border divisions or threatened to do so,tying down Indian forces on their borders.
India doesn’t need any ballistic missile for simple deterrence against the Pakis.
This Agni III missile is India’s “China Missile”
NOw I’d like to see Japan, Viet Nam and South Korea show interest in nukes just to contain the Chi-coms.
Why not the Mongols.. That’d be a scary proposition for both China and Russia.
I like Mongolia. Great history and don’t seem too afraid of anybody.
Sure would make for fun in that region.
Besides I don’t think any of them would be less stabelizing then N. Korea or Iran having them.
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