Hi,

Source

BHUBANESWAR, India (AFP) – India staged a missile intercept test Friday as part of a plan to build a defence system against incoming ballistic missiles by 2010, officials said.

Military engineers said the test was a success as a "hostile" missile was destroyed in mid-air over the Bay of Bengal off India's eastern Orissa state.

Friday's test was the third successful trial since 2007 of an air defence system capable of detecting, intercepting and destroying medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, officials said in Orissa capital Bhubaneswar.

The shield will be capable of high-speed interceptions of missiles launched 5,000 kilometres (3,000 miles) away, they added.

On Wednesday, India also test-fired a supersonic cruise missile it has jointly developed with Russia since 2001. The latest test near rival Pakistan's borders involved a modified BrahMos with a range of 290 kilometres.

The Indian army has already acquired the missile, which carries conventional warheads but can be fired from mobile launchers.

India, which has also built an array of nuclear-capable missiles, hopes to test-fire an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) before the end of next year. The Agni-V will have an ICBM range in excess of 5,000 kilometres.

The shorter range Agni-I and Agni-II ballistic missiles are being introduced into India's arsenal, although they are not fully operational.

An Agni-III with a 1.5-tonne payload capacity and a range of 3,500 kilometres -- enabling it to strike targets deep inside China -- has been tested successfully three times.

India has fought three wars with Pakistan and one with China since independence from British rule in 1947.

Peace
-=SF-13=-

Considering that the most likely country to launch a nuclear attack against India is Pakistan (short flight time to target, which is very tough to intercept - or they put a warhead on a truck and drive it to the target across their common border) and the next most likely is China (can you spell overwhelming numbers?), this would seem to be, at best, a waste of time and, at worst, a dangerous escalation of things.

Iran can't be dumb enough to attack India, could they? No one else really wants to make trouble on that scale with them that I know of (please correct me if I am wrong).

The US is developing missile interceptors to counter North Korea and Iran, which is, to my mind, something different. I am not saying that India has no right to develop missile interceptors, but I am not sure this will be worth the funds they will have to invest, as this is very difficult to do right.

I guess its to demonstrate that India has the power and technology to make them [With the assistance of Russia].