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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 12539082" data-attributes="member: 92282"><img src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5h2wuUpJDRV8mxNRV3BFXHIlR82ug?docId=photo_1334814154091-6-0&size=l" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />India on Thursday successfully test fired a new missile capable of  delivering a one-tonne nuclear warhead anywhere in rival China, marking a  major advance in its defence capabilities.Watched by hundreds of scientists, the Agni V was launched from a test site off the eastern state of Orissa.India  views the rocket, which has a range of 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles),  as a key boost to its regional power aspirations and one that narrows --  albeit slightly -- the huge gap with China's technologically advanced  missile systems.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence  Minister A.K. Antony congratulated the nation's defence scientists on  the "successful" launch, with Antony calling the achievement "a major  milestone in India's missile programme".The test leaves India  knocking at the door of a select club of nations with inter-continental  ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which have a minimum range of 5,500  kilometres.Currently only the five permanent members of the UN  Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States  -- possess a declared ICBM capability."I am announcing the  successful launch of Agni V... making history and making our country  proud in the area of missile technology," V.K. Saraswat, head of India's  Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) which made the  missile, said.He said India was now a "missile power".DRDO  spokesman Ravi Gupta insisted the Agni V was a "non country-specific"  deterrent, but analysts noted it extends India's missile reach over the  entire Chinese mainland, including military installations in the far  northeast.Agni, which means "fire" in Sanskrit, is the name given  to a series of rockets India developed as part of its ambitious  integrated guided missile development project launched in 1983.While  the shorter-range Agnis I and II were mainly developed with traditional  rival Pakistan in mind, later versions with a range of 3,500 kilometers  -- are perceived as China-centric deterrents.A team of 800 have  worked on the indigenously developed Agni V over the last three years,  using new materials and technology to build motors capable of increasing  the propulsion and speed of the new missile."Firstly you have a  phenomenal range and so every single significant city -- Beijing,  Shanghai -- will come within its range," retired Air Force officer Kapil  Kak from the Centre for Air Power Studies in India told AFP."Secondly,  it has a very, very high speed compared to previous missiles... But the  key issue is that this missile can be pushed to 8,000 kilometres."The significance there is that India then demonstrates the capability to make an ICBM," he added.There  was no official reaction in China, but the state-run Global Times  newspaper warned India "should not overestimate its strength" in an  editorial published on Thursday."India should be clear that  China's nuclear power is stronger and more reliable. For the foreseeable  future, India would stand no chance in an overall arms race with  China," it added.The two Asian giants, each with a population of  more than one billion, have prickly relations and a legacy of mistrust  that stems from a brief but bloody border war in 1962.In public,  their leaders stress that trade is booming and that the world is big  enough to accommodate both of them as they develop economically.China's  military arsenal is far larger and far more technologically advanced  than India's, which is why the Agni V is so important, according to  Monika Chansoria, a senior fellow at the Delhi-based Centre for Land  Warfare Studies."What this missile does is enable India to  upgrade its present strategic posture towards countries like China from  one of dissuasion to one of credible deterrence," Chansoria said.Shannon  Kile, an expert on nuclear weapons at the Stockholm International Peace  Research Institute (SIPRI) think-tank, said Agni V was partly a  "prestige" development for India, supporting its aspirations to be  global player.The Agni V test came just weeks after India  returned to the elite group of countries with a nuclear-powered  submarine when it inducted a new vessel leased from Russia.<img src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/img/afp_logo.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

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