India; one of the big boys
Posted: May 4th, 2012 | Author: Tom van der Made | Filed under: Asia-Pacific, Military, Nuclear Dispute
On Thursday the 19th of April, India launched the so called “Agni-V” missile with a range of 5,000km. Next to the UN Security Council its permanent members, namely the USA, France, UK, China and Russia, India now demonstrated to be the sixth nation of the world openly capable to develop, produce and build long-range ballistic missiles.
As India is a rising power, it seems naïve to think that India can continue to develop as a global economic power without also brining its defence capabilities up to standards. Can this be stated as the logical next step and the reason for this military development? Or is it that India wants to catch up to China. Or is India sending out a message, as this new missile is able to reach major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. CBC news reports that Ravi Gupta, a spokesman for the Defence Research and Development Organization, states however that “there is no threat to anybody” and that “our missile systems are purely for deterrence and to meet our security needs. Read the rest of this entry »
