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India follows Pakistan with missile test
The two-stage Agni-IV blasted off from the eastern state of Orissa in the third test for the missile.
n this photograph taken on January 26, 2012, an Agni IV missile is displayed at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi. India on Septeber 19, 2012, has successfully tested its second longest-range missile but insisted the nuclear-capable weapon system was not aimed at any of its regional rivals. PHOTO: AFP
NEW DELHI: India test-fired its second-longest-range missile on Wednesday, a defence official said, two days after Pakistan announced its own missile test.
The two-stage Agni-IV blasted off from the eastern state of Orissa in the third test for the missile, which was first launched in 2010 in a flight marred by technical problems. Its second test last November was declared a success.
“The Agni-IV was tested for its full range of 4,000 kilometres (2,480 miles) and it was a success,” Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) spokesman Ravi Gupta told AFP on Wednesday.
Pakistan, which has fought three wars with arch-rival India since their 1947 independence, test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile on Monday with “stealth features”.
DRDO spokesman Gupta insisted India’s test was not “country-specific”.
“None of our missiles are country-specific. We are a peaceful nation which has never attacked any country in thousands of years,” the DRDO spokesman added.
India unveiled its 5,000-kilometre range Agni-V in April, which was seen as a massive boost to its regional power aspirations and one that narrows – albeit slightly – the huge gap with China’s missile systems.
The Agni-V left India knocking at the door of a select club of nations with inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which have a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres.
Currently only the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – possess a declared ICBM capability.
China and India fought a brief but bloody war in 1962 over a border dispute that remains unresolved despite several rounds of talks between Asia’s two most militarily-powerful nations.
Agni, which means “fire” in Sanskrit, is the name given to a series of rockets the DRDO developed as part of its ambitious integrated guided missile development project launched in 1983.
While the shorter-range Agnis I and II were mainly developed with traditional rival Pakistan in mind, later versions with longer range reflect the shift in India’s focus towards China.
Reader Comments (44)
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India did not follow Pakistan or any other country on this one, when shelf life of a missile is nearing its end, it will be obvious it has to be disposed off.In this case disposing means providing training to personnel who are in charge of firing a missile. The missile gap between India and Pakistan is very large, moreover why do India have to test fire a 4000km missile when all it has to do is just test fire a 350km Prithvi missile enough to reach all cities of Pakistan.
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Waste of money on chicken race of two countries.
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Yeah India never attacked any country…Therefore, they have “very friendly” relationship with all their neighbors from China to Pakistan & Sri Lanka to Nepal & Bangladesh..!
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Permanent militarization of a nation requires a permanent enemy… applies to both Pak and India
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India follows Pakistan with missile test
strange way of reporting news. In India, the missiles to be tested and the missions to be carried out are planned a year in advance,just when the test date was nearing, Pakistan jumped with its missile,making it look like as if India was really playing catching up with Pakistan in missile race. in a few days, another missile will be tested,it was very well reported in Indian media days advance that in September two missiles would be tested,i don’t see how this to be a case of India responding to Pakistan’s missile test.
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Misguiding title!
If anything, Agni 4 with 4000 KM range is China specific not Pakistan specific!
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Just because we tested a cruise missile 2 days ago doesn’t mean India is following us by carrying out it’s own test of a missile that isn’t even in the same league. Just more sensational nonsense from ET.
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ET you for the first time disappointed us with your headline. Was “India follows Pakistan” really necessary ? If you change your headline or accept your mistake, then the future of both of our countries is quite bright.
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Oh! and I thought “VISVAS” was enough! How my fellow citizens have put me down.. sob sob…
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congratz Russia :)
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@Afzaal Khan: On behalf of the government of Russia I accept your congratulations. Thank you Sir.
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Indians Copy Cats!
+++++++++++++++
( just to make my Pakistani happy….)
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How long this tit for tat will continue? Spend money on health, education, creating jobs, infrastructure, roads, etc instead of firing these missiles.
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somethings burnin around here
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Now Pakistan will launch a missile of 400km range, with some “good” sounding words to describe.it. By the way, did the Indian missile blow away the PAF van today?
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To all my indian friends who are offended with the word “India Follows Pakistan” its an AFP headline which ET just coppied :)
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@Pungi:
did u 4get sri lanka…..
wn thay send ur troops back to ur country…for 1 RAJIV GANDHI u attacked whole SRI LANKA
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@Naeem Siddiqui: Not offended my dear friend. Disappointed because ET was so lazy. They know the two tests by our countries were not related.
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What a waste of time and money. Money would have been better spend on education, sewers, sanitation and helping the poor.
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Umteen times Indo Pak talk were conducted unfortunately boat remains where it was.But for Nehru Kashmir problem could have been solved in’48 itself.Indra got a golden opportunity to solve it in 70′s she also did not utilise it.Pl remember born with a single point program of India hate/hindu hate.As long as pak continues talk will not yield any positive result.Our present govt has no courrage to tell Pak what is what These will go on unendinglyRecommend
and when will Pakistan follow India in sending an indigenous satelitte or a space shuttle to Moon???
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@1984
Our moon is New Delhi and Mars is Bombay……
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Assembled in india missile……congrats
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“None of our missiles are country-specific. We are a peaceful nation which has never attacked any country in thousands of years,”
if India is peaceful enough; are missiles being built for making pickle ‘Shakarpuri Achar” !!!
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@Very Good … Excellent Progress … We may see tomo even srilanka putting a satelitte in space, but pakistan is content with Bombay , Delhi..
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@Pungi:
Life is terrible to the kind-hearted, isn’t it?
Out of all the countries you mentioned, two have fought with India, and both were the perpetrators. So there.
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@Qazi:
Alexander,Ghazni,Ghori,Timur,Mughals,British….
Ring a bell???
Indians are peaceful and we learn from our history in order to repeat itself…We will not be sitting ducks this time just like during 1965,71 and 1999
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Indias missiles are lack the “pin point” accuracy that pakistans missiles have. I am indian myself with the right research one can gather that pakistans nuclear missile programe is the “fastest growing” in the world they have more nukea then france and catching up to britain just imagine the capability if they was to be launched they would turn any country to ashes.
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Congrats India for testing. Please keep on testing so that we can make Pakistan to also keep testing and finally Pakistan will go bankrupt.
It is because of India’s economic stature that Pakistan is now bending over backwards to make peace with India to such an extent that it is practically begging PM Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan.
Wars are won these days not by empty stomach but by strong economy. Pakistan is still eating grass but for how long?
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@Raaj:
You are 100% correct Mohammed Raaj.
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Very misleading headline which is also similar in another respected Pakistani newspaper “the dawn”. Also, the article mentions that the Agni V was tested at 5000km which is actually incorrect. Even the Chinese have admitted that the Agni V is actually an 8000km missile, but not to disturb the harmony with important allies such as Japan,France, Russia, UK & Australia, India pulled a fast one by capping it to 5000km & getting the media to call the Agni V as a “China killer” missile.
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These tit for tat missile tests are Dal specific, dal will rain down across South Asia to feed the masses.
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@Pungi:
dont talk about other countries talk about pakistan..Recommend
Congratulations Russia. Good paint job indians
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Jat
“ET you for the first time disappointed us with your headline. Was “India follows Pakistan” really necessary ? If you change your headline or accept your mistake, then the future of both of our countries is quite bright.”
Freedom of expressions!.
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Oh subcontinent! people need first, food, education. health,shelter justice
Then think about abdali, pirthavi ,ghaznavi,agni,shahin,trishol.Neighbours should live like neighbours, like USA and canada live as good neighbours.Our commen enemy is poverty.Don’t fight to snatch but learn to give your own shares. On both sides live humans who enjoy same culture same past one civilisation, indus civilisation.If different religion then so what.mazhab nahi sikhata apas mai bair rakhna.
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@Vikas:
lol man…i dont usually give credit to Indians but this was good….on the other hand we dont need ICBMs…1500 km is more than enough for us…we make nuke material with extra cash
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@ghostrider Its not an extra cash, Pakistan doesn’t have a surplus.It’s begged cash or loan taken from IMF. Moreover whats the use you have made an enemy of USA. If you use nukes, India is not only going to retaliate but also it will be followed by nukes from US and the international community is only going to encourage destruction of Pakistan. This weapons are simply useless to say the least, it can’t be used in a split second decision.
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@ FU
Our strength is un-predictability and u know better than any other nation of the world….
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@FU
So you admit ur under US protection? Whether we get money from IMF or from double shah, why it hurts u? We are not taking money from ur pocket. I don’t understand you indians why you are on pakistani site if you have so much hate for pakistan. My country is 10x better then yours ET is a living proof of this, which allows even rabid haters like you to post freely unlike the so called biggest democracy and secular country of yours.
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@vikas ..Super comment man ..
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@1984:
Sending all those stuff up in space won’t help you and rest of 800 million below poverty line indians. Set your priorities right
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@Pakboy:
You’re totally deluded if I’ve to say it mildly..
We’ve set the priorities right…i.e. Growth of science and technology.
The so called 800 million have been benefited more by sending satellites to space than any other thing we’ve done
The satellites helped in irrigation,telecommunications,disaster management,remote sensing….
They played an important part in our Green Revolution
Besides,our efforts is space has paid off and its now a profitable industry sending the satellites of other countries using our launch vehicles at a cost…Maybe Pakistan could get a discount if they asked for it….Oh yeah,for that you need to build a satellite first(which is not something A.Q.Khan can steal from other country)
As I read in internet ” Your country has a moon on their flag,and we have a flag on the moon”Recommend
@1984 Bingo bro
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