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India Prepares To Test Long-Range Nuclear Missile
New Delhi (AFP) Feb 07, 2003 India was planning to test a long-range ballistic missile that can hit targets deep inside China, sources said Friday as the United States warned the move would escalate tensions in South Asia. Highly-placed sources from the defence research organisation said the earliest probable launch of Agni-III, with a range of 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles), would be after the end of the Indian monsoon season in September. "The probable window of launch could be after the monsoons when the weather is perfect for us to read all the parameters and functions of the system," a source said. Agni-III can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead, according to the sources who did not elaborate on the nature of the weapon or its possible yield in terms of megatons. India in early 1999 reportedly began developing Agni-III and reports suggest that a planned variant of the ballistic missile will be able to achieve a range of 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles). On Thursday, India's chief defence scientist V.K. Atre made a similar announcement but without giving details. "Hopefully, we will test the missile by the end of this year," Atre told reporters during an international airshow in the southern Indian city of Bangalore. He also said India would also soon kick off a sub-sonic missile project and added that his experts could increase the range of India's only cruise missile BrahMos, being developed jointly with Russia.
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