India yesterday test-fired its longest-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, the Agni III, which can hit targets deep within China, a senior defense ministry official said.
The missile, whose name means fire, has a range of more than 3,000km, and was launched from Wheeler island off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa, said the official, who did not wish to be named.
The test was successful, he added.
PHOTO: AFP
Analysts say the successful test pushed India into a new phase in its long-term nuclear defense strategy.
"This means that India has entered an altogether different league of nations, a new club," Rahul Bedi, India correspondent of Jane's Defence Weekly said.
"We can now reach large parts of northern China making our deterrence capacity stronger. Also, when a country is able to develop a missile which can travel 3,500 km, it is not difficult to make something that can go 5,000 km.
"Very few nations have that capacity," Bedi said.
Relations between India and China have taken off in recent years, powered largely by their booming economies.
But the two countries, who went to war in 1962, still have border disputes and analysts say India's long-term defense strategies focus on its nuclear-armed neighbors, Pakistan and China.
"I think India's missile development and relations with China have been deliberately delinked. Building muscles during peace time is a healthy exercise," Bedi said.
In May defense 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 criticized the announcement, saying testing was being delayed because of pressure from the US. New Delhi and Washington reached a landmark deal in March that will see sanctions lifted on India's access to civilian nuclear technology.
Yesterday's test launch came just four days after North Korea sparked an international outcry by test-firing seven missiles.
A highly-placed Defence Re-search and Development Organisation said scientists had detected a snag in the booster rocket system of the Agni-III two weeks ago and had delayed its test.
"Now we have papered over the problem and hence the launch window was chosen as [yesterday]," he said.
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