India tests nuclear capable missile

India successfully test-fired today a nuclear-capable missile that can reach Beijing and Eastern Europe, thrusting the emerging Asian power into an small club of nations with intercontinental nuclear weapons capabilities.

Footage showed the rocket with a range of more than 5,000km blasting through clouds from an island off India's east coast. The defence minister said the test was "immaculate".

"Today's launch represents another milestone in our quest for our security, preparedness and to explore the frontiers of science," India prime minister Manmohan Singh said in a congratulatory message to the scientists who developed the rocket.

The Indian-made Agni V is the crowning achievement of a programme developed primarily with a threat from neighbouring China in mind. It will not be operational for at least two years, the government says.

Only the UN security council permanent members - China, France, Russia the United States and Britain - along with Israel, are believed to have such long-range weapons.

Fast emerging as a world economic power, India is keen to play a larger role on the global stage and has long angled for a permanent seat on the security council. In recent years it has emerged as the world's top arms importer as it upgrades equipment for a large but outdated military.

The launch, which was flagged well in advance, has attracted none of the criticism from the West faced by hermit state North Korea for a failed bid to send up a similar rocket last week.

But Chinese media noted the test with disapproval.

"The West chooses to overlook India's disregard of nuclear and missile control treaties," China's widely read Global Times tabloid said in an editorial published before the launch, which was delayed by a day because of bad weather."

India should not overestimate its strength," said the paper, which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party's main mouthpiece the People's Daily.

India has not signed the non-proliferation treaty for nuclear nations, but enjoys a de facto legitimacy for its arsenal, boosted by a landmark 2008 deal with the United States.

Yesterday, Nato said it did not consider India a threat.

The US state department said India's non-proliferation record was "solid", while urging restraint.

"India says its nuclear weapons programme is for deterrence only. It is close to completing a nuclear submarine that will increase its ability to launch a counter strike if it were attacked.

India lost a brief Himalayan border war with its larger neighbour, China, in 1962 and has ever since strived to improve its defences. In recent years the government has fretted over China's enhanced military presence near the border.

It is buying more than 100 advanced fighter jets, likely Rafales built by France's Dassault, in one of the largest global arms deals.

Even so, slow procurement procedures and corruption scandals mean its army, the world's second biggest, relies on critically outdated guns and suffers ammunition shortages.

Today's launch may prompt a renewed push from within India's defence establishment for a fully fledged intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programme, with weapons capable of reaching the Americas, though some of India's allies may bridle at such an ambition.

The Agni V is the most advanced version of the indigenously built Agni, or Fire, series, part of a programme that started in the 1960s. Earlier versions could reach old rival Pakistan and Western China.

The three stage rocket is powered by easier-to-use solid rocket propellants, can carry a 1-tonne nuclear warhead and is road mobile.