India intends to develop defenses capable of intercepting longer-range enemy missiles, the Hindu newspaper reported yesterday (see GSN, March 10).
New Delhi ultimately hopes to be able to counter weapons with ranges as high as 3,700 miles, said V.K. Saraswat of India's Defense Research and Development Organization. The South Asian state is today capable of shooting down missiles with a range of roughly 1,200 miles, he said.
Bolstering missile defenses has taken on special importance for New Delhi as its regional rivals have added to their arsenals of nuclear warheads and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, according to the newspaper (see GSN, May 18).
Saraswat stressed that India maintains a no-first-use policy (The Hindu, June 3).