Nearly 10 days after India conducted a routine test of its nuclear-capable Agni missile, it conducted yet another test of its nuclear-capable missile, Prithvi.
The “successful training launch of a short-range ballistic missile, Prithvi-II” was carried out at 7:30 pm on Wednesday from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Odisha, the government said in a statement.
“The missile is a proven system and is capable of hitting targets with a very high degree of accuracy,” the statement said, adding, “The user training launch successfully validated all operational and technical parameters of the missile. did.”
Prithvi-II is an indigenously developed surface-to-surface missile, which has a range of about 250 km and can carry a one-tonne payload.
India on June 6 test-fired its intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni-IV, which can cover a range of 4,000 km.
Following the “regular user training” launch test of the nuclear-capable Agni-IV, the government had said the successful test “reaffirms India’s policy of having a credible minimum deterrence capability.”
The tests come at a time when nuclear capabilities seem to be improving globally. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on June 13 that the decline of nuclear arsenals around the world was coming to an end after the Cold War.
It said that the nine nuclear-armed states – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – “continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals and although the total number of nuclear weapons remains small.” There has been a decline. Between January 2021 and January 2022, that number will probably increase over the next decade.”
China said it is “in the midst of a substantial expansion of its nuclear weapons arsenal, which satellite images indicate includes the construction of more than 300 new missile silos” and added that many additional “warfare warheads will be assigned to operational forces”. Gaya is believed to be “after the delivery of new mobile launchers and a submarine in 2021.”
For India and Pakistan, the SIPRI report said both countries are “expanding their nuclear arsenals, and both countries will continue to develop and introduce new types of nuclear delivery systems in 2021.”
Russia and the US still have more than 90 percent of all nuclear weapons globally, but “the other seven nuclear-armed states are either developing or deploying new weapons systems, or have their intentions to do so.” has announced.”
According to SIPRI data, India has a total of 160 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has 165 and China has around 350. Russia has 5,977 total nuclear warheads and the United States has 5,428.