DTN News: China Dismissive Of India’s Missile Power

DTN News: China Dismissive Of India’s Missile Power *Source: TibetanReview.net (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 15, 2010: China has claimed to be far ahead of India in missile technology despite what the top Indian military scientist has said about the greater accuracy of the latter’s missiles, according to People's Daily online, mouthpiece of the Communist party of China, Feb 12, citing its Beijing-based international edition Global Times. It also cited Chinese military strategists as dismissing media claims about India being far ahead of China in developing interceptor technology. The Chinese report came as India’s 3,500-km Agni-III nuclear-capable missile cleared tests and became ready for induction. India is also to test within a year an Agni-V nuclear-capable missile with a range of more than 5,000 kilometres. Both the Agni-III and Agni-V will add muscle to India's "dissuasive deterrence" position on China, the Times News Network (India) had reported Feb 11. "We feel our accuracy is better than China's DF 21," The Telegraph (India) Feb 11 quoted India’s chief military scientist, VK Saraswat, as saying of Agni-III. The People's Daily report cited Chinese Rear Admiral Zhang Zhaozhong, a professor at the Chinese National Defense University, as saying India was still 10 to 15 years behind China in terms of missile technology. He was also not sure whether Agni-III was really ready for use as claimed. “And it might take at least another five years to ready the Agni-V," Zhang was quoted as saying. Zhang has also dismissed Saraswat’s claim, reported by the Hindustan Times Feb 11, that India was ahead of China in the ballistic missile defence (BMD) system technology. "India's technology for its measurement and control system, which is used to trace launched missiles, remains at a very low level, and they are unable to constitute a complete and reliable missile defence system," Zhang was quoted as saying. The Chinese report noted that Beijing had test-fired its first missile interception system in Jan’10, and successfully tested its anti-satellite system in 2007. It noted that the United States and Russia were the only two countries that had actually deployed missile-interceptor technology so far. Disclaimer statement Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied herein, DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Unless otherwise indicated, opinions expressed herein are those of the author of the page and do not necessarily represent the corporate views of DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News.