North Korea failed with its attempted launch of a long range ballistic missile. India, however did not. It’s missile, the Agri-5 was launched successfully yesterday, making its nuclear arsenal more of a threat to Russia, Pakistan and China, and a challenge to US Forces deployed in the Indian Ocean should relations between our two countries ever break down:
Defence Minister A K Antony congratulated the team for “the immaculate success” of the Agni-5, hailing the efforts of “numerous unsung scientists of DRDO who have worked relentlessly years together to bring the nation to this threshold”.
The DRDO chief told Business Standard the Agni-5 was not just a long-range rocket. “This missile incorporates unique technologies that will allow us to have multiple variants. We can achieve short ranges, higher ranges… all with the same missile,” he said.
Although the DRDO calls the Agni-5 an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), its range of 5,000 km puts it — by most conventional measures —in the class of intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), which have ranges of 3,000-5,500 km. The Agni-5’s range is carefully calibrated; it can reach targets anywhere except for America and Australia. This would allow it to strike all of India’s potential adversaries, even as friendly capitals in Western Europe and the US stay out of range. DRDO sources say that, in case of need, the Agni-5 could easily be ramped up into an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), with a range of more than 5,500 km.
The world, facing the challenges of resource shortages, ethnic and religious conflicts, economic problems and climate change just became a more dangerous place. This is not to disparage India, but this technological advance in missile technology combined with its already existing nuclear program automatically makes India a regional military superpower with the ability to threaten the dominance of the US military in the region, as well as its traditional rivals in China and Pakistan.
