The Agni III

India on 7^th May, 2008 test-fired the 3,500-km range “surface-to-surface nuclear capable” Agni-III missile from the Wheelers' Island in Balasore off Orissa coast.

This was the third test of this long-range ballistic missile. The first test in 2006 had failed when shortly after lift off, the missile plopped into the Bay of Bengal, but the second test carried out on April 12, 2007 was successful.

• The Agni III has a velocity of 5,000 metres per second, and is a totally new system from the 700-km-range Agni-I (12-tonne) and 2,500-km-range Agni-II (17-tonne) missiles inducted by the armed forces.
• Unlike its predecessors, it is a fully solid propellant fuelled surface-to-surface missile, has a range of over 3,000 kms and is nuclear-capable. So it can easily act as a deterrent to Chinese missiles.

The test fire was a move to bridge the stark strategic imbalance in terms of nuclear and missile arsenals.

• The Agni-III is being seen as one of India's answers to China's growing military capability.
• Since China already has a wide array of missiles, ranging from the fully-operational 8,500-km CSS-4 to the new 11,270-km DF-31A inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), India needs an operational Agni-III missile as soon as possible.
• China is also the only country in Asia to have Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) like JL-1 and the almost-ready JL-2, with a strike range in the region of 8,000 km.
• The Chinese have been reported to having built secret bases a stone's throw away from the Andaman and Nicobar islands, near the straits of Mallacca. China's arsenal of nuclear tipped missiles can hit any city in India.

India has tested a SLBM (Submarine-launched ballistic missile)

India has tested a SLBM (Submarine-launched ballistic missile) on Tuesday (Sept 11, 2007)which can be capped with a nuclear war-head and which has a range of 1500 km (According to Television news channel 'Times Now'). Submarine launches are tricky, and technologically challenging but India has managed to do it.

The tests which were conducted jointly by the DRDO & the Navy are said to be a much bigger technological achievement than even the successful test of Agni 3 missiles. The SLBMs are considered the safest missiles, which make them hard to locate & difficult to destroy.

These latest tests, that were conducted in secret, comes on the heels of 3 other tests that India has conducted in the last one year, taking India closer to possessing the nuclear triad - land based missiles, bombers & Submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

India doesn't have a nuclear submarine yet, to launch the SLBMs, in fact the DRDO used a pontoon, or a long tube, in the Bay of Bengal to conduct the test. Government officials have said that the tests have met all key parameters.