India hits back with Nuke missile test
Pastor Dale Morgan
India hits back with Nuke missile test*
From correspondents in India
March 30, 2007 09:11pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
INDIA successfully tested a nuclear-capable ballistic missile from a
naval ship near its east coast today.
The domestically developed Dhanus missile, with a strike-range of 250km,
was fired from the Indian Naval Ship Subhadra in the Bay of Bengal off
the coast of Orissa, a defence spokesman said.
The Dhanus is a naval variant of India's surface-to-surface Prithvi missile.
The missile, 8.56m long and one metre wide, can carry a 500kg
conventional or nuclear warhead. It uses liquid propellants and has a
launch weight of 4600kg.
On Thursday, India successfully tested an air-to-air missile for the
third time in four days, defence officials said.
Dhanus is part of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Program
(IGMDP) begun in 1983 to develop and produce a wide range of missiles
for surface-to-surface and surface-to-air roles.
The Prithvi was the first missile developed as part of the program.
The Dhanus test came a week after neighbouring Pakistan test-fired a
nuclear-capable radar-dodging cruise missile with a range of 700km.
The neighbours have routinely conducted missile tests since carrying out
tit-for-tat nuclear blasts in May 1998.
Tensions between the rivals have eased since 2004 when they launched a
peace process aimed at ending six decades of hostility and resolving
their dispute over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, the cause of two
of their three wars.