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India-Pakistan

India will not test Agni-III missile

2006-05-15

Ruling out any political pressure against test firing of India's longest-range surface-to-surface Agni-III missile, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday that it was "self-imposed restraint" not to go ahead with it.

"We have no pressure on us. Nor are we putting any political pressure. It is just we have decided to have self-imposed restraint," he told reporters.

"As responsible members of the international community, we want to keep our international commitments on non-proliferation," the Defence Minister said when asked why India was not going ahead with testing of the Agni-III missile.

Self-restraint does not mean that Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) can't go ahead with cold bed tests for the sub-systems of the missile, Mukherjee said on the sidelines of a function to mark the three day conference of Chief controllers and controllers of Defence accountants here.

The Defence Minister's comments come after assertion by the country's top Defence Scientist M Natarajan on Sunday that DRDO had cleared all technical parameters for the test of the Missile, which will give New Delhi capability of hitting targets more than 4,000 kms away.

In his inaugural address to the conference, Mukherjee said his ministry planned to delegate powers on capital acquisitions to lower levels to speed up the process of weapons induction.

"Naturally, there would be a limit prescribed," he said, while calling on defence accountants to float think tanks for better defence financial management.

He said under his stewardship, he hoped to achieve almost fifty-fifty parity in distribution of defence budget on capital outlay and revenue as the new UPA Government had a commitment to step up armed forces modernisation.

Mukherjee disclosed that internal consultations within his ministry had started for finalising the 11th defence plan and he hoped to complete the exercise in time and not repeat past mistakes, when 10th Defence Plan had not even been drafted even after three and a half years.

Mukherjee told the Defence accountants that they should speedily get acquainted with the new life cycle support system being offered by the US and other Western Nations as part of weapons system sales.

He also told them that there should be no laxity and efforts be made to ensure that there was 100 per cent utilisation of Defence budgetary grants.

"Whatever resources are allocated, they should be spent full. There should be no surrender of funds as it would not be acceptable," Mukherjee said.

Posted by:john

#4 INDIA> We are responsible members of the international community, a bulwark against international terrorism and possible chinese expansion, though we like and respect our chinese neighbours.

REST OF WORLD> Ok, good luck to ya, hows that 8.4% growth doin?

INDIA> Peachy thanks, best wishes.

Posted by: pihkalbadger 2006-05-15 20:44

#3 This article alleges US pressure

New Delhi, May 15: United States pressure on India to adhere to "international norms" to get US Congress approval for the civilian nuclear energy agreement has worked. Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, on the sidelines of a defence accountants conference on Monday, admitted for the first time that the government had stayed the test-firing of the Agni-III missile because "as responsible members of the international community, we want to keep our international commitments on non-proliferation." His remarks clearly indicate, sources said, that the government has abandoned the programme altogether.

Mr Mukherjee told reporters: "We have no pressure on us. Nor are we putting any political pressure. It is just that we have decided to have self-imposed restraint." Agni-III has been ready for test-firing since January, with the chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Mr M. Natarajan, announcing this with a cautionary: "When it will be fired, how it will be fired and where it will be fired is a decision to be taken at a higher level." He repeatedly made it clear that the missile was now ready insofar as the DRDO was concerned, and that he was optimistic that the political leadership would give the expected nod.

This has not happened, with the defence minister now finally admitting that the green signal to test-fire was not given by the government because of its commitment to non-proliferation. Sources wanted to know why this commitment was not expressed before, when the UPA government came to power, and why the DRDO was allowed to move ahead on this long-pending project at considerable cost if this indeed was the new governments policy. The governments refusal to move ahead in this crucial area of missile testing, sources said, is making a "mockery" of Indias independent nuclear programme.

Significantly, no such limitations have been imposed by the "international community" on Pakistan, which test-fired its surface-to-surface Hatf-VI (Shaheen-II) missile from an undisclosed destination just last month. Prime Minister Shauqat Aziz witnessed this with Hatf-VI being described as Pakistans longest-range ballistic missile system with a 2,500-km range. This is a two-stage solid fuel missile which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with high accuracy. It elicited no adverse response from Washington or, for that matter, the world community.

Mr Natarajan, a day before, had again sought to remind the nation that Agni-III was ready and that the DRDO had cleared all technical parameters for the test. Defence scientists have been pointing out that a decision to abandon the Agni-III programme, which now appears to be the case, might prevent India from ever acquiring a credible nuclear deterrent. The Americans have always been uneasy about Indias Agni programme, and in 1994 persuaded it to suspend the testing of the missile afer three test flights. Agni-III is the third member of the family and has been developed with a 3,000-km range as against Agni-I, with a 800-900 km range, and Agni-II, with a 2,000 km range. The test-firing of this missile has been postponed twice, and might have been aborted altogether. Agni-III was developed as a surface-based, solid and liquid propellant ballistic missile.

Posted by: john 2006-05-15 17:41

#2 The Defense Research and Development organization (DRDO), which built the missile system, has put off tests of the solid-fuel Agni-III several times since November 2004.

Mukherjee, however, said self restraint would not prevent India from carrying out other tests on the Agni-III, which many experts say has an inter-continental reach of almost 6,000 kilometers.

Self-restraint does not mean that DRDO cant go ahead with cold-bed tests for the sub-systems of the missile, Mukherjee said.

The comments came as DRDO scientists said they could launch Agni-III in less than three weeks.

We are all ready to go and in two-three weeks we can assemble it and launch. In fact, we have a schedule for three tests including one with the end user, a missile scientist from the DRDO told AFP.

Once ready, the two-stage missile, which can carry a one-ton warhead, will be handed over to the army for deployment.

Posted by: john 2006-05-15 17:38

#1 The Indian Defence Minister is visiting China next month.
Since this missile is China specific, looks like they don't want to rock the boat.

Posted by: john 2006-05-15 17:27

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