http://www.hindustantimes.com, Six years after it entered the nuclear club with Pokhran-II, India is still not ready with its missile-based nuclear delivery systems, the outgoing chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), V.K. Aatre, confirmed on Tuesday.
The upshot of Aatre's admission at a press conference is that India is still a long way from acquiring credible nuclear deterrence. On his last day in office, he said the Sunday launch of the Agni-II intermediate-range ballistic missile was “to train the army” to fire the nuclear-capable weapon.
The Agni-II is India's most potent nuclear delivery vehicle, which, going by Aatre's disclosure, is not operational. The army, which will be handling the Agnis, had never fired this missile before. Similarly, the July 4 launch of the 700-km Agni A-I too was to tutor the army in firing the missile. “At present, we are handing over the Agni series missiles to the army,” Aatre said.
The army has created two missile groups to handle the Agni A-I and Agni-II respectively. When asked if the DRDO was part of the groups, Aatre said: “We will be part of the missile groups if necessary.”
Sources also conceded that the 3,000 km-plus Agni-III missile was still “six months to a year away from its first test-firing”.
This means that, at present, India's only option for nuclear retaliation is air-delivered glide bombs from the IAF's Jaguar, Mirage and Sukhoi-30 fleets. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles
