Another Day, Another Successful Missile Test for India
A few weeks back, we posted that Asian nations are becoming evermore affectionate with the notion of acquiring their own stockpiles of medium and long-range missiles.
“Asia is increasingly becoming the focus of the prevailing global realignment. Many Asian nations are busy testing and building their own missile systems, while the West and Russia struggle to contain this Asian explosion of missile obsession.” | Read more…
In that same post, we also wrote that . . .
“India’s successful test of the Agni-III brings it closer to the big (ICBM) leagues and makes it a more credible deterrent to a nuclear China.”
The successful test this week of India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile marked yet another milestone in New Delhi’s quest to improve its missile forces.
The BrahMos missile, which is jointly developed by India and Russia, was successfully tested from a range at Chandipur near Balasore in Orissa on Sunday.
This was the 14th launch of the missile. The last test was conducted at the ITR on February 4.
Sunday’s test was the fourth launch from land of the BrahMos and was carried out from a mobile launcher – an indigenously built Tatra truck.
. . . Top defence ministry officials in Delhi said the missile is expected to be inducted into the Army from August after two more validation trials. The missile has already been inducted into the Indian Navy.
BrahMos will be the third missile to be inducted into the land forces. The Army has raised missile groups armed with the Prithvi surface-to-surface missile with a range of 150-250 km and the 700-km medium range Agni missile. | Read more…
Is Asia already engaged in regional proxy arms race?
While speculation is rife of an eminent arms race between Russia and the West over America’s proposed missile shield, another more regional arms race may already be well under way. India’s recent spate of successful missile tests – coupled with New Dehli’s deepened nuclear cooperation with the U.S. – has certainly caught the attention of its regional neighbors, namely China. It is well understood that India’s growing missile capabilities are certain to play a role in hedging China’s own rising military and economic presence in Asia (and the world).
The flurry of activity surrounding the development of missile technology in Asia over the past few years certainly lends increasing credibility to the claim that a regional proxy arms race is already well underway.
The Washington Times has more on this . . .
Buoyed by the successful test of a missile that can hit China, India says it can extend its nuclear range beyond Asia, but analysts say it is unlikely to take such a step for fear of upsetting the West.
The launch on April 12 of the intermediate-range Agni-III missile capped New Delhi’s drive to produce a device capable of striking targets 2,170 miles inside China, which has an unresolved border dispute with India.
The government’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) now says it has the technology to build intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that would extend nuclear-armed India’s reach beyond Asia.
“We have achieved the capability to make missiles with a range of 5,500 kilometers but the decision to develop an ICBM has to be taken by the political leadership,” DRDO chief M. Natarajan told reporters in New Delhi April 13. | Read more…
India says its nuclear ambitions are regional, not global (for now)
India started working secretly on nuclear weapons after China conducted its first atomic test in 1964 — two years after Beijing fought a brief but bloody border war with its neighbor.
New Delhi detonated its first atom bomb in 1974 and, 24 years later, declared itself a full-fledged nuclear weapons state following a series of tests including that of a 46-megaton-yield thermonuclear device.
Former DRDO chief K. Santhanam said while India was capable of building an ICBM, production of one “would unnecessarily affect ties” between India and the United States, which in 2005 agreed on a historic civilian nuclear energy deal.
“Even in its wildest dreams, India does not plan to be a global superpower but in the regional perspective a 3,500-plus-kilometer range IRBM is enough to deter adventurism from across our two borders,” Mr. Santhanam said, referring to Pakistan and China. | Read more…
In the meantime, India-Russia military cooperation deepens
While Russia and India continue to work toward developing joint missile technology, the two nations are also heavily engaged in military cooperating on other fronts.
ITAR-TASS has the details of these exercises . . .
Russian-Indian antiterror exercises opened in the Pyotr Veliky Bay on Tuesday.
The Russian Pacific Fleet’s public relations service told ITAR-TASS that a main goal of the exercises was to drill shipping protection, combat of sea piracy and antiterrorist action. The maneuvers envisage the landing of helicopters on board Russian and Indian ships, the landing of antiterror groups and action to free a ship seized by terrorists.
Antisubmarine ships will jointly search for a token foe submarine. The exercises will engage Russian plane Il-38, jet fighters S-27 and helicopters Ka-27PS and Ka-27PL. The Indian Air Force’s helicopter Sea King will land on board the Russian submarine chaser The Marshal Shaposhnikov.
A major episode of the joint exercises will be a live fire practice. The ship artillery is to destroy a “boat of terrorists” and sea mines spotted by trawlers in a shipping fairway. The ships will also practice shelling submarines.
The exercises will be finished by rescuing a “foundering ship” with the help of a tugboat. | Read more…
As RIA Novosti notes, joint India-Russia military cooperation goes back decades.
Military cooperation between the two nations goes back nearly 50 years, with India accounting for about 40% of Russian arms exports. Eighty percent of India’s Armed Forces, the second- largest in the region, are equipped with Russian weaponry.
The countries have signed a host of arms deals, including most recently an agreement on the transfer of Russian technology to build RD-33 jet engines in India and to develop a military transport plane together – seen as a move to secure a contract for 126 MiG-35 jet fighters against the backdrop of fierce competition from the U.S., Sweden and France. | Read more…
More about Near|Abroad.
7 March, 2008 at 3:58 am
[...] lastest testing of the BrahMos has led to renewed speculation of an imminent regional arms race, particularly with [...]
21 March, 2008 at 3:37 pm
[...] This system joins two others – the Prithvi and the Agni systems – that have made near-to-equal forward progress in development (see “Another Day, Another Successful Missile Test for India“). [...]