The 1,000 missiles include Scuds, Rodongs and IRBMs (intermediate-range ballistic missiles), a ministry spokeswoman told AFP. Two years ago, the ministry estimated the total at around 800.

Many of the missiles are deployed near the inter-Korean border and targeted at Seoul or other locations in the South, officials have said.

Yonhap news agency said last week the North has set up a new military division to operate IRBMs with a range of more than 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles), capable of hitting US bases in Japan and Guam.

It is also known to have test-launched three intercontinental Taepodong missiles, which in theory could reach Alaska.

Kim, reiterating earlier estimates, said the North has produced 30-40 kilograms (66-88 pounds) of weapons-grade plutonium from its plutonium programme. Experts say this is enough to build six or seven bombs.

It is not known whether the North yet has the technical capability to create a nuclear warhead.

Pyongyang conducted two underground nuclear tests in October 2006 and May 2009. Recanting its earlier denials, last September it also announced it is running an experimental highly enriched uranium programme.

The North is under diplomatic pressure to return to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks which it quit last April.

As conditions for resuming dialogue, it insists on a lifting of UN sanctions and a US commitment to start talks about a permanent peace treaty.

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"We have proposed to your government and your president sharing the experience of creating a defense system for the state," Lukashenko, visiting Caracas since Monday, told lawmakers. "If your president wants to do so, we will be able to do so very soon."

"And then you can live peacefully, without having to be looking around to see what the rest of the world may do tomorrow, whether they are going to help you or plot against you," argued Lukashenko.

"I am sincerely so very pleased that we have forged a strategic alliance," he added. "Our relations keep getting closer."

Venezuela will from May begin selling 80,000 barrels of oil a day to Belarus, Chavez said earlier after meeting his Belarussian counterpart.

Lukashenko is visiting Caracas to solidify industrial, commercial and diplomatic cooperation between the two nations.

"Even though we have not sold even one barrel of oil to Belarus, we will begin to sell 80,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil to Belarus beginning May 1," Chavez told journalists Monday.

"It will allow us to enter the European market, in the center of Europe, to engage in joint ventures with Belarussian refineries. Belarus is being very generous with us," he added.

Lukashenko arrived in Venezuela Monday for a two-day trip set to include visits to housing built with assistance from his government, as well as Venezuelan gas fields and other petrochemical facilities.

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The test was abandoned when the radars following the target, a nuclear-capable missile, lost track of it after it blasted off from a site 200 kilometres (120 miles) from Bhubaneswar in eastern India.

"The 'hostile' missile went off the radars after it took off and deviated from its trajectory and so the interceptor was not launched," an official from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said, asking not to be named.

DRDO spokesman Ravi Gupta in New Delhi confirmed the seven-metre (23-foot foot) interceptor missile was not launched during Monday's botched test.

India would join Israel, Russia and the United States in developing and possessing such technology if it is rolled out per schedule this year.

The system's tracking and fire control radars have been developed by the DRDO jointly with Israel and France.

Last month, India announced it would test a nuclear-capable missile with a range of over 5,000 kilometres within a year.

India's current longest-range nuclear-capable missile, Agni-III, can travel 3,500 kilometres.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan, with which India has fought three wars since their independence six decades ago, has said India's missile programme could trigger a new arms race in the region.

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Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he supported the idea of partnering with Russia as a way to enhance security against shared missile threats.

"First, it would create a zone of cooperation with Russia [from a military standpoint]; secondly, it could technically add to the early warning time because of the location of the system; and thirdly, it creates confidence-building measures between ourselves and the Russians," the admiral said.

Moscow has earlier offered the use of the Gabala radar station in Azerbaijan and the Armavir radar station in Russia's Krasnodar Territory as alternatives to previous U.S. plans for a missile shield in Central Europe, but Washington has been reluctant so far to accept the proposal.

Stavridis called the new phased-in approach for European missile defense "timely and flexible," and said it will provide "capability that we can step up and be adaptive."

In his prepared statement for the Armed Services Committee the admiral also outlined NATO's view on overall military cooperation with Russia.

"Working with Russia is about balance and seeking to find the potential for cooperation, while maintaining an honest and open dialogue about all aspects of our relationship, including where we disagree," the statement said.

"We at European Command are ready to pursue military-to-military communication, engagement, and even training and operations with Russia where and when appropriate."

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"The SMF are conducting command-and-staff drills on March 10-12 in line with the annual training program," Col. Vadim Koval said.

According to the official, the SMF will practice operations control in scenarios involving conventional and nuclear warfare under guidelines outlined by Russia's new military doctrine.

"A total of more than 2,000 servicemen and 150 theater- and tactical-level command-and-control centers take part in the drills," Koval said.

Russia plans to complete the modernization of the SMF's command-and-control systems by 2016 in order to improve their ability to overcome missile defenses and increase the survivability of delivery vehicles.

The SMF conducted a total of 11 large-scale exercises and two test launches of strategic missiles in 2009.

The Strategic Missile Forces reportedly have a total of 538 ICBMs, including 306 SS-25 Sickle missiles, 88 SS-18 Satan and 56 SS-27 Topol-M missiles.

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The report showed stacks of compact white and blue missiles, emblazoned with the name Nasr 1, and it offered footage of a brief launch sequence.

Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi painted a glowing picture of the new missile. He says the missile is very accurate, is powerful and is able under variable maritime conditions to hit its target with accuracy.

Vahidi says the missile is capable of destroying targets of up to 3,000 tons and that it will be modified from its current surface version so it may be fired from helicopters and submarines.

Analyst Meir Javedanfar of the MEEPAS center in Tel Aviv says he thinks the Iranians are concerned by reports of recent Israeli military activities.

"The Iranian government is currently very worried about unconfirmed reports regarding the passing of two Israeli warships in the Suez Canal," Javedanfar said. "This is in addition to other reports in the Tehran-based Asr Iran publication, which talks about Israeli officials saying that they have got permission from other Arab countries to launch an attack against Iran if they decide to do so, and I think the Iranians want to create some kind of deterrence against Israel in order to dissuade Jerusalem from launching an attack."

Editor Alex Vatanka of Janes' Islamic Affairs Analyst thinks the Iranians are probably using the series of recent defense announcements to scare their Gulf State neighbors more than anyone else.

"The message here really is not (aimed) at the United States, because the Iranians are not stupid, they know there is a massive disparity when it comes to armed forces capabilities between the United States and Iran. Their targeted audience is particularly the Gulf States. They are saying to them, 'We have a capacity to hit any of our neighbors who might decide to collaborate with the United States," Vatanka said.

Iran said last month it had launched a satellite into space carrying several worms, a mouse and a turtle.

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"A Sineva missile was launched on March 4 at 7:50 am Moscow time (0450 GMT) from the Tula rocket-carrying submarine in the Barents Sea. The launch was successful," the agency said in a statement.

The Sineva is an intercontinental missile capable of carrying up to 10 nuclear warheads.

The missile, whose NATO reporting name is the SS-N-23 Skiff, has been in service with the Russian military since 2007.

The successful test-firing of the Sineva comes after a series of embarrassing failures of another submarine-launched missile that Russia is developing, the Bulava.

Russia has announced plans for a large-scale rearmament and renewal of its nuclear missile arsenal.

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The initial contract, which calls for the delivery of 23 munitions for testing and evaluation, is expected to lead to a production contract in 2011. With follow-on options, total DAMTC deliveries could reach 11,000 units and the total contract value could exceed $91 million.

“The non-developmental Laser JDAM has proven performance on today’s battlefield,” said Debbie Rub, vice president, Boeing Weapons. “DAMTC will provide enhanced moving and maneuvering capability beyond current Laser JDAM capability when it counts the most.”

Laser JDAM is currently in the Navy inventory. Additional quantities procured for the DAMTC mission will ensure an ability to engage stationary, fast-moving and maneuvering land targets. Laser JDAM combines a precision laser seeker to acquire and track laser-targeted signals and a JDAM guidance tail kit to engage the target.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

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"We still have serious questions regarding the true purpose of the US missile system," a ministry spokesman, Andrei Nesterenko, told reporters in televised remarks.

"Therefore we will continue to consistently oppose any dubious unilateral actions in relation to missile defence that can negatively affect international security."

His comments were Russia's strongest statement of concern after Romania said it would hold talks with Washington on hosting US missile interceptors and Bulgaria showed interest in taking part in a US missile shield.

Until now, the foreign ministry had only said it was concerned and was analysing the issue.

Nesterenko said: "We are again becoming witnesses to a hasty anti-missile arrangement for Europe when the fragile architecture of European security essentially becomes hostage to imaginary missile threats that are defined unilaterally."

Nesterenko voiced regret that Moscow was learning about the new US missile plans for Romania from media reports rather than directly from Washington and Bucharest, noting that it ran counter to Russia's idea of "equal partnership."

Last year Russia applauded US President Barack Obama's decision to shelve an initiative by his predecessor George W. Bush to place an anti-missile radar facility in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland.

But the apparent involvement of former Communist states Bulgaria and Romania in the Obama administration's replacement plan has irked Russian officials.

Earlier this month, Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov warned that Moscow could revive plans to base missiles in its western Kaliningrad exclave, located on NATO's doorstep, if the threat warranted such a move.

However, the Kremlin indicated on Friday that a central element of Obama's efforts to improve US-Russian relations -- the push to replace a key nuclear disarmament treaty that expired in December -- was still on track.

President Dmitry Medvedev's top foreign policy aide, Sergei Prikhodko, said that Moscow believed a replacement treaty for the 1991 START pact could be agreed within the next two months.

"We still consider March-April to be a realistic timeframe," Prikhodko told reporters.

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The contract covers:

• A long-term order for 3,400 AASMs, including an initial firm order for 680 units.
• Development and integration of a latest-generation GPS module.
• Qualification and production engineering for the inertial/GPS/laser terminal guidance version.

Developed and produced by Sagem, the AASM weapon comprises a guidance kit and range augmentation kit integrated on a standard 250 kg bomb. The AASM family also includes 125, 500 and 1,000 kg bombs.

Fired from standoff distance by day or night and in all weather conditions, the AASM offers a range exceeding 50 kilometers. The AASM can be released at low altitude, and can also be fired off-axis, in relation to the aircraft’s flight path. It offers very high precision and strikes its target vertically, a feature suited to asymmetrical conflicts. This makes it the perfect weapon for combat in difficult terrain or urban environments, for both planned missions and opportunity fire.

The new inertial/GPS/laser-guided version expands the AASM family, which already includes two versions qualified on the Rafale multirole combat aircraft, with inertial/GPS or inertial/GPS/infrared guidance. In particular, the new version enables precision strikes against moving targets.

This latest order follows the initial contract won by Sagem for 750 AASMs to be delivered to the French air force. The AASM has been deployed on Rafale fighters in Afghanistan for the last two years.

The AASM is also marketed by MDBA as part of its broad offering of weapon system meeting the requirements of armed forces in international markets.

Sagem, a high-tech company in the Safran group, holds world or European leadership positions in optronics, avionics, electronics and safety-critical software for both civil and military markets. Sagem is the No. 1 company in Europe and No. 3 worldwide for inertial navigation systems (INS) used in air, land and naval applications. It is also the world leader in helicopter flight controls and the European leader in optronics and tactical UAV systems.

Operating across the globe through the Safran group, Sagem and its subsidiaries employ 6,700 people in Europe, Southeast Asia and North America. Sagem is the commercial name of the company Sagem Défense Sécurité.

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