Page 12 - ADT JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 Online Magazine

tunnels and is capable of testing speeds of up
to Mach 13, the report adds.

India is also developing its nuclear weapons
capabilities as part of its strategy to keep China [ REPORT ]
and Pakistan in check. In October, the country
successfully tested the Agni-5 intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM) that is capable of strik-
ing targets at ranges up to 5,000 kilometers
with a “very high degree of accuracy.” Agni, a
three-stage, solid-fueled system launched from
a canister, is said to have a full range of 8,000
kilometers with a 1.5-ton warhead. India, which
is also developing submarine-launched ballistic
missiles and considering the idea of creating
a new rocket force to oversee and control its
missile forces, has all along maintained that it
would develop only the nuclear weapons capa-
bilities needed to deter adversaries, in line with
speeding ahead, Australia, India, France, Germany, and Japan also its policy of “credible minimum deterrence.”
are developing hypersonic weapons technology. BrahMos-II, the
Mach 7 hypersonic cruise missile that India is developing with Russia, Some of the newly acquired weapons are
is scheduled to achieve initial operational capability between 2025 already being put to use. In the backdrop
and 2028. According to the latest US Congressional Research of the lingering border row in Ladakh, India
Service report presented to the U.S. Congress, India is developing has deployed the BAE Systems-made M777
an indigenous, dual-capable hypersonic cruise missile as part of ultra-light howitzer in the region, with CH-47F
its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle program and had Chinook helicopters standing by to transport
successfully conducted tests of a Mach 6 “Scramjet” in June 2019 the M777 and troops across the mountain-
and September last year. India operates about 12 hypersonic wind ous terrain. An upgraded version of the L-70

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