India may have to upgrade missile programme significantly: Mulayam
Union Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav says India may have to upgrade its missile programme significantly.
Disclosing this to the media in Bihar recently, Yadav said, ''We will not waste even a moment in taking the right decision
if our threat perception and the prevailing security scenario
warrants such a step.''
Asked about the doubts over Pakistan's claim that it had successfully test-fired Hatf-III missiles, the defence minister said, ''We can't shy away from taking suitable counter-measures because of such aspersions.''
National security is the government's paramount concern and all steps necessary for the purpose -- including the upgradation of the missile programme will be taken and funds made available
liberally -- the defence minister said.
Yadav's observations assume significance because of two reasons. First, his statement was preceded by his announcement to a parliamentary committee that India's ambitious 2,500-km-range Agni missile project had not been shelved. Second, Yadav's disclosure was followed by an identical statement by Prime Minister I K Gujral who also asserted that India's nuclear options were open.
According to defence sources, the statements indicate a significant shift in the government's stand on the intermediate range ballistic missile project.
Till now the government had consistently maintained that
Agni was a technology demonstration project which had been
completed successfully and the development of a missile was not
envisaged immediately.
An indication that India's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile
Development Programme is poised for a big leap forward is
also evident from the fact that allocation for it has been more than
doubled to Rs 5.04 billion during the Ninth Plan (1997 to 2002) period. The IGDMP comprises the development of four missile systems -- Prithvi, Akash, Trishul and Nag -- and the technology demonstrator Agni.
UNI
EARLIER STORY: Mulayam takes Washington to task for motivated 'leaks'
|
