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| Agni-V: China tries to provoke Agni-V fear, says it can hit Europe |
Saibal Dasgupta, TNN | Apr 20, 2012 The Times of India
BEIJING: China's strategic experts and the official media are trying to provoke western countries saying the Agni-V missile has a longer range than India would admit, and it can hit cities in Europe.
The Hindu Agni - V, India's longest range ballastic missile, is loaded on to the road mobile launcher. Photo: V.V. Krishnan
In comments that are obviously authorized by the defence ministry, Chinese experts said the Indian missile actually has a range of 8,000 kilometers and not the shorter range of 5,000 kms, as claimed by India. There are signs China will try to pressure the US and Russia not to sell missile guidance systems to India.
"The missile brings the whole of Asia, 70 per cent of Europe and other regions under its strike range and puts India among a select band of countries in the world to possess the technology of intercontinental ballistic missiles," the official Xinhua news agency said in a dispatch published in dozens of Chinese newspapers. Another paper, the Global Times, even carried a map showing Moscow, Tehran and Jakarta among cities coming within the range of Indian missiles.
An expert at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences said the Agni-V actually has the potential to reach targets 8,000 kilometers away, according to the Communist Party-controlled Global Times. It quoted the researcher, Du Wenlong, saying the Indian government had deliberately downplayed the missile's capability in order to avoid causing concern to other countries.
"According to China's standard, an ICBM should have a range of at least 8,000 kilometers. The Agni-V's range could be further enhanced to become an ICBM," the paper quoted another expert, Zhang Zhaozhong, a professor with the People's Liberation Army National Defence University, as saying.
But some Chinese experts have raised questions about New Delhi's capability to actually use the missile.
"India does not posses high-precision guidance system. To make up for the shortfall, it has to buy it from US and from Russia. These counties may be reluctant to sell their most advanced technology," the official China Central Television quoted some experts as saying.
CCTV even questioned India's infrastructure capabilities. "The missile weighs 50 tonnes. It has no suitable loading vehicle to transport it. Due to India's poor infrastructure, the country's bridges and roads cannot bear the weight of the missile". "So far, it can only be launched from a fixed position. Even though it was successful, it will take a long time to build an operational missile force," it said.
In the Global Times interview, Zhang suggested the Agni-V would help India rise from a regional to a world power. China must work on developing defence systems against the threat of ballistic missile. "It is India's goal to possess an ICBM, as the country seeks to improve its status and become a major world player. Without it, India will remain a regional power," Zhang said.
By itself, the Agni-V will not take away China's superiority in this technology, Zhang said. "But for the sake of regional stability, China should continue to develop defence systems against ballistic missile threats," he said.
The Communist Party's main organ, the People's Daily, ran a commentary, "Risks behind India's military build-up" saying the Agni-V development shows Indian's intention to seek a regional balance of power.
"However, in the context of the eastward shift of global economic power and the changing Asian geopolitical pattern, India should cooperate with neighbouring countries and reduce its own persecution mania," it said.
China successfully conducted its first ground-based mid-course ballistic missile interception experiment in January 2010, becoming the second country in the world to conduct this kind of missile defence test, the local media pointed out.
These views, mostly fuelled by experts connected to China's ministry of defence, were different in tone and content from comments made by the foreign affairs ministry on Thursday. The foreign affairs ministry said China was for "cooperative partnership" with India as it was not a rival.
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Agni-V, India's first ICBM test-fired successfully
Rajat Pandit, TNN | Apr 19, 2012,
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NEW DELHI: India on Thursday test-fired for the first time its most-ambitious strategic missile, the over 5,000-km range Agni-V, in a bid to join the super exclusive ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) club that counts just US, Russia,China, France and UK as its members.
The solid-fuelled Agni-V, which will bring the whole of China as well as other regions under its strike envelope, was tested from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast at 8.07 am.
''We have met all our mission objectives,'' said a jubilant DRD0 chief controller of missiles, Avinash Chander.
DRD0 chief V K Saraswat, in turn, said India had emerged as a major missile power with Thursday's test.
The nuclear-capable, three-stage Agni-V, about 50-tonne in weight and 17.5-metre tall, will become fully operational by 2014-2015 after "four to five repeatable tests" and user trials.
India could have gone for a higher strike range but believes the solid-fuelled Agni-V is "more than adequate'' to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns. The missile can, after all, even hit the northernmost parts of China.
India, of course, cannot match China in terms of its vast nuclear and missile arsenals. But missiles like Agni-V and the 3,500-km Agni-IV, tested last November, will certainly add teeth to its credible minimum nuclear deterrence posture.
With a canister-launch system to impart higher road mobility, the missile will give the armed forces much greater operational flexibility than the earlier-generation of Agni missiles.
"The accuracy levels of Agni-V and Agni-IV, with their better guidance and navigation systems, are far higher than Agni-I (700-km), Agni-II (2,000-km) and Agni-III (3,000-km),'' said the source.
The Agni missiles will get deadlier once MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) payloads for them are developed. An MIRV payload on a missile carries several nuclear warheads, which can be programmed to hit different targets. A flurry of such missiles can hence completely overwhelm BMD (ballistic missile defence) systems. |
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| The Hindu |
Agni-V successfully test-fired
Y. Mallikarjun
, T.S. Subramanian
India's indigenously developed nuclear capable Agni V ballistic missile takes off from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast on Thursday. Photo: DRDO
India demonstrated its Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capability on Thursday by successfully launching its most powerful and longest range missile, Agni-V, from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast.
The 17-metre-long surface-to-surface ballistic missile lifted off majestically from a rail mobile launcher at 8.04 a.m. After a flight time of 20 minutes, the missile re-entry vehicle impacted the pre-designated target point more than 5,000 kms away in the Indian Ocean with a high degree of accuracy.
V. K. Sarawat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister told The Hindu immediately after the success of the mission, “With this missile launch, India has emerged as a major missile power. We have joined a select group of countries possessing technology to design, develop, build and manufacture long range missiles of this class and technological complexity.”
It was a flawless flight and the three stages jettisoned on time. The third stage fired the re-entry vehicle into the atmosphere at perfect angle at an altitude of 100 kms. The pay load withstood the searing temperatures of around 3000 degree Celsius.
This is the first time India has test fired a three-stage, all solid-fuelled missile. Many new technologies including the state of art navigation system and carbon composite rocket motor casings were tested in the missile. All the radar telemetry and electro optical stations along the coast besides three ships tracked the flight trajectory of the missile and final terminal event at the impact point.
The fireball that erupted when the dummy payload hit the waters of the Indian Ocean was recorded by the cameras on board the ships stationed around the impact point. The missile weighed 50 tonnes and is capable of carrying a nuclear war head weighing 1.1 tonne. However, in this mission, a dummy payload simulating the weight of war head was carried.
Defence Minister A. K. Antony congratulated all the scientists in the mission for the great achievement. Avinash Chander Chief Controller (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO called it a major achievement and said no other missile in India has achieved more than 5,000 km range. V.G. Sekaran, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), which designed and developed Agni-V, described it an overwhelming success.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Dr. Saraswat and Mr. Avinash Chander, and congratulated all the DRDO scientists and other employees involved in the mission. “You made the nation proud,” Dr. Singh told Dr. Saraswat.
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| A 'political missile,' say Chinese media |
| The Hindu, Ananth Krishnan |
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The Chinese government has said India and China should “cherish” and push forward cooperation, downplaying the impact of Thursday’s launch of Agni-V, which the official media here hit out at as a “political missile”.
The Foreign Ministry said both countries “are not rivals but cooperative partners”, striking a different note from a series of commentaries published in recent days in the official media, describing the launch of India's first intercontinental ballistic missile, which has the capability of reaching any part of China, as a strong political message from New Delhi.
“We should cherish the hard-earned momentum of cooperation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin said. “The two countries have a sound relationship. During the fourth BRICS meeting [in New Delhi last month], the leadership of the two countries agreed on a consensus to further strengthen cooperation.”
Thursday's launch was described variously in commentaries in several State-run newspapers in recent days as "a political missile" aimed at China and a "reminder" to Beijing to be ready to confront "more complicated security challenges".
Several newspapers close to the Communist Party, including the official People's Daily, The Global Times and the Guangzhou Daily, all published articles that struck a similar note. Analysts said the articles reflected a growing sense of distrust and mutual suspicion on account of a continuing military build-up on both sides of the border, despite commitments from both countries to address differences peacefully.
The Global Times, known for its strong nationalist views, in an editorial, warned India not to “overestimate its strength,” saying it would be “unwise for China and India to seek a balance of power by developing missiles” and both countries needed to be “wary of external intervention.”
“Even if it has missiles that could reach most parts of China, that does not mean it will gain anything from being arrogant during disputes with China,” the paper said.
“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.”
“Missile poses threat to China, Pakistan”
India's Agni-V missile is “an intended design” that posed a threat to China and Pakistan, said the Guangzhou Daily. Ye Hailin, a prominent South Asia scholar at the official Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said the missile “has nothing to do with Pakistan, and is mainly targeting China.” Speaking in an interview with the China Business Daily he did, however, downplay the threat saying that China's own ICBM, the Dongfang DF-31, was “more stable and reliable.”
The People's Daily, in one commentary, warned that recent progress in relations marked by growing cooperation on multilateral fora such as the BRICS grouping could be “easily disrupted” as “China and India have remained suspicious of each other.”
It pointed to the development of Agni-V, “which will bring the whole of China under its strike envelope” as a “constant reminder” that recent “charm diplomacy,” such as President Hu Jintao's visit to New Delhi, was “probably not enough to ease and finally eliminate all suspicions.”
The paper said India “should cooperate with neighbouring countries instead of being hostile to them and should reduce its “persecution mania” to play a role on the world stage in the future.”
The commentaries were a reflection that “some people take this missile test as being aimed at China,” Ma Jiali, executive deputy director of the Centre for Strategic Studies of the China Reform Forum, told The Hindu. “Our hope is that this is not directly aimed” at China, he added.
Mr. Ma, an experienced India hand who is on the more moderate end of the spectrum of Chinese strategic opinion on India, said it was important for both countries to address distrust by “increasing military contact at the highest level, have more mutual visits and hold more joint exercises.”
More hawkish views called for a stronger military response from China. One popular unofficial portal on strategic affairs that is known for its nationalistic views claimed that the “shadow of western countries” and India's “accumulated anger” towards China were behind the test, which was, along with recent differences over the South China Sea, an indicator of India “looking to challenge” China.
It welcomed recent moves by the People's Liberation Army to boost military preparedness by holding two major drills in Tibet near the border with India — an operation in October comprising Air Force and artillery units and a recent live-fire drill by the PLA Air Force. The commentary urged Beijing to “not be careless and naive and think that India is militarily weak.” |
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