India has managed to burn indigenous belt ballistic missiles with test fuel that can carry nuclear warheads to geopolitical rival territory, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has prepared for visits there for many years.
The AGNI-5 will be launched in East Odisha, India and “has verified all operational and technical parameters,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Wednesday.
The missiles are over 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), according to the Missile Defense Project Center, Strategic and International Research Center. This will help Indian rivals like China and Pakistan do well within their arms.
India and China are trapped in a fierce battle for influence across the Asia-Pacific region. Both navigated a chilling relationship after a fatal conflict at the Himalayan border shared in 2020, at any time in decades, that left the two more apart.
As the PLA expands its arms, India is catching up, and tensions continue to simmer along conflict-based borders. A report released in June by the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI) estimates that China currently has around 600 nuclear warheads and India has 180.
The AGNI-5 test will take place immediately after a visit to New Delhi by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This is a trip to set the stage for Modi’s own visit to China for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security group that includes Russia and Pakistan.
The bond shows signs of warming as Modi met Chinese leader Xi Jinping and bystanders at the BRICS summit in Russia last October.
India and China have agreed to reopen direct commercial flights that were cancelled in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Stable, predictable and constructive links between India and China will greatly contribute to regional and global peace and prosperity,” Modi said in a statement after his meeting with the King on Tuesday. He also acknowledged his imminent trip to the SCO Summit in Tianjin.
Meanwhile, India’s relations with the US are tense after President Donald Trump threatened New Delhi with 50% tariffs as punishment for Russian oil purchases.
Washington, who has courted India as a strategic counterweight to China, has mistakenly pushed the two Asian giants closer together with economic policy, analysts say.
The AGNI-5 missile is also part of India’s defense strategy against nuclear-armed rival Pakistan.
The two neighbors engaged in a short but fatal conflict earlier this year – the worst conflict in decades – have both sides drilled a deep hole in their territories. The conflict sparked an international diplomatic scramble to stop the hostility between the two escalating nuclear armed forces.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif is also expected to be in Tianjin for the SCO meeting. China and Pakistan have deepened relations in recent decades, with Islamabad participating in XI’s signature infrastructure project, The Belt and Road Initiative.
According to Sipri data, China is also a major supplier of weapons in Pakistan, providing 81% of imported weapons to the country.
