nuclear-news

India’s pointless and dangerous nuclear sabre rattling

Nuclear missiles don’t give security The Daily Star, Praful Bidwai, 1 May 12, India’s Agni-V missile launch, followed by Pakistan’s Hatf-IV-Shaheen-1A launch, were greeted with deplorable machismo and sabre-rattling in both countries. But the missile race will destabilise this region.

In India, praise was lavished on Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) personnel for their “scientific achievement,” without asking how replicating a 1950s-vintage technology constitutes something original, and why such “achievements” are confined to
mass-destruction weapons.

Sections of the media euphorically termed the Agni-V a “giant leap”
and a “game-changer.” Even the hostile reaction from China’s
state-owned Global Times didn’t generate sobriety. The paper said
India was being swept by a “missile delusion,” but stands “no chance
in an overall arms race with China. India should also not overstate
the value of its Western allies and the profits it could gain from
participating in a containment of China.”

Clearly, China views India’s missiles as a threat. The Agni-V is
designed to reach Beijing and cities in eastern China. China’s
retaliation will extract a heavy price. But nobody talks about this.
India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, to which the
Agni belongs, doesn’t warrant euphoria. It was launched in 1983 to
develop the Prithvi, Agni, Akash, Trishul and Nag missiles by 1997.

Ten years after that deadline, and with a 400% + cost overrun, only
the short-range Prithvi and three crude Agni versions were ready.
There were serious problems in switching from liquid-fuel to
solid-fuel propulsion. Costs and time-schedules went haywire. Critical
components were imported as indigenisation failed.

The DRDO has never completed a major project on time. It declares that
a missile’s development is complete after two or three test-flights,
however successful. Other powers don’t induct a missile unless 8 or 12
test-flights prove its reliability.

India’s armed forces faced trouble in operationalising several
missiles. Finally, the IGMDP was scrapped in 2008.

Last November, India tested the 3,500-km-range Agni-IV. The DRDO added
a third stage to it, creating the 5,000-km-range Agni-V, and terming
it an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. This still falls short of an
ICBM’s range, generally defined as 5,500 km-plus. The DRDO itself says
the Agni-V is only 80% indigenous.

The claim that the Agni-V can be launched from a truck, giving it
better mobility and protection, is questioned by Chinese experts. They
say India’s roads and bridges cannot handle its 50-tonne weight…..
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=232300

May 1, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized