ICBMs: Why is India Showing Its Nuclear Muscle?

India on Thursday tested a nuclear capable intermediate range ballistic missile, named Agni-III, which is 85 per cent indigenously developed.

Indian scientists would now work on squeezing in a third stage into the missile system so that the range was increased from the 3,000 km plus (achieved on Thursday) to 5,000 km [which is the range for an ICBM] over the next three years, says The Hindu.

Now the question: Why India is showing its nuclear muscle? Who will be its main target? Will this lead to nuclear race in this part of the world or elsewhere?

These questions have been answered in detail by Gwynne Dyer in The Hamilton Spectator.

“India is just doing what great powers do. It wants to play with the Big Five, and playing the great-power game means you end up playing the nuclear-war game, too.”

But no one seems to be complaining…including India’s next door neighbours – Pakistan and China. Why?

Please click here to read it all…

Excerpts: “The Agni-III missile failed its first flight test last July, but this one seems to have gone off very well. The missile, which reportedly can carry a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead, was not tested at its full range of more than 3,000 km on this occasion, but that is the number that gets people’s attention.

“India’s main potential enemy is Pakistan, which is right next door, and it already has missiles that can strike anywhere there. The Agni-III gives India the range to strike the Middle East (but it has no enemies there) or southern Russia and Central Asia (likewise) — or China….”

The Times of India has a related story about the progress (or the lack of it) of US-India nuclear deal.