New Delhi: India on Wednesday test-fired its most potent nuclear-capable missile Agni-III, which has a range of 3,500 km, indicating its growing strategic reach. There were inferences that India now has a greater capability to deter China.
But the former chief of India's Strategic Forces Command has done a reality check on the missile euphoria. Air Marshal TS Asthana has dropped a bombshell declaring that the Indian armed forces still regard fighter aircraft as the only reliable delivery system for nuclear weapons.
Fighter aircraft are widely considered more vulnerable to being shot down than a missile.
Hence, an aircraft-based nuclear-strike capability is highly suspect.
But the contradictory missile skepticism of the military lies in the minimal nature of India's deterrence posture.
Both Agni-I and Agni-II, believed to be the mainstay of India's deterrence, were declared operational on the basis of just two tests each. So user confidence is still in its infancy.
If the military leadership still believes that fighter aircraft are the only assured mechanism to deliver nuclear weapons on an enemy, perhaps the rigour of testing needs to be increased manifold to address the confidence deficit in India's strategic missiles.
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