KIRAN SHARMA, Nikkei staff writer
NEW DELHI — India has joined a select group of countries — the U.S., Russia and China — which have hypersonic missile capabilities. The homegrown, advanced technology gives a boost to India’s efforts to gain a strategic advantage over regional rivals, and to make China “sit up,” according to one expert.
Developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the missile is “designed to carry various payloads for ranges greater than 1,500 kilometers for the [country’s] armed forces,” a government statement said after the “successful flight-trial” of its first long-range hypersonic missile off the coast of eastern Odisha in mid-November. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh described the test as a “stupendous achievement” and “major milestone.”
Hypersonic missiles travel at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound with significant maneuverability, making their flight path and target difficult to predict. Because they fly at lower altitudes than ballistic missiles, they are also harder to detect.
N.C. Bipindra, a defense and strategic affairs expert and editor of online defense news site Defence.Capital, said the hypersonic missile test is another step in India’s efforts to attain a strategic advantage over two strategic rivals in the neighborhood, China and Pakistan. “This capability enables India to overcome the air defense capabilities of Pakistan, apart from matching similar capabilities of China.”
Hypersonic missiles can be a game changer in any conflict due to their speed, precision, range, low response time and the difficulty of intercepting them, said Raj Kumar Sharma, a senior research fellow at NatStrat, an independent think tank working on India’s national security and foreign policy. “They are used to target an adversary’s defenses, like air defense systems, through their high speed and unpredictable flight paths.”
However, Bipindra added, “All nations, including India, have more work to do on hypersonic technology, and the work is progressing.”
Russia claimed the first use of a hypersonic missile, called the Oreshnik, or “Hazel,” in the Ukraine war. It was used to hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November. That makes it imperative for the U.S. to speed up its hypersonic missile programs, he said. “With India demonstrating its hypersonic capability, it sends signals to China, which has a [more] advanced hypersonic missile program than India, to sit up and take notice.”
According to Uma Sudhindra, an advisory board member of the Pune-based Strategic Research and Growth Foundation, India has been investing in its hypersonic missile program since the 2000s. “India’s hypersonic systems development program has been going on for more than two decades,” she said. “The way the U.S., Russia, …and China have developed their advanced hypersonic systems, we too have focused on the same.
“India’s test launch indicates its move toward diversifying its strategic capabilities and strengthening its deterrent by enhancing traditional warfighting advantages.”
Although China and India buried the hatchet in their dispute over India’s northernmost territory, Ladakh, earlier this year, ending a military faceoff that lasted over four years, New Delhi “will continue to develop military capabilities aimed at countering Beijing,” Bipindra said.
“India cannot trust China, and the present thaw in their ties is only a stopgap arrangement,” he said, adding, “China will attempt another adventure, particularly [as long as President] Xi Jinping is at the helm, and India needs to be prepared with the best military technologies to counter any Chinese misadventure.”
Sharma of NatStrat told Nikkei Asia: “China may also help Pakistan in developing this technology. Pakistan and China’s territories are with the striking range of this missile, and this capability will strengthen India’s deterrence as it regularly faces hostility on its land borders.”
The fact that China already has this capability and does not share a comfortable relationship with India “means New Delhi cannot ignore this aspect,” he said.
India’s test comes as several countries seek to acquire hypersonic weapon systems, and just days after China showcased its new stealth fighter jet, the J-35A, at an air show in Zhuhai in southern Guangdong province.
Upon commissioning the radar-evading combat plane, China will become the second country after the U.S. to have two types of stealth fighter jets in active service, according to Chinese state-run media. It said that the country’s air force has already deployed J-20 heavy-duty stealth combat aircraft.
source : asia.nikkei.com