On Wed, 20 Jun 2001, Alberto Monteiro wrote:
> Gautam Mukunda wrote:
> > While I can no longer actually remember JDG's definition,
> > developing ICBMs is too high a standard, I think. India
> > is certainly developing (and indeed already has tested
> > successfully) IRBMs, Intermediate Range
> > Ballistic Missiles (The Agni, if I remember the name
> > correctly - been a while since I looked at Jane's for India).
> >
> India has recently launched a satellite; and an ICBM is much
> simpler than a satellite.
>
> Alberto Monteiro
Are you sure? I'm not a hundred percent certain that is the case. Didn't
the Soviets launch Sputnik before they had ICBMs? For that mattter,
there's the question of miniaturization. I'm not sure what the status of
Indian nuclear technology is, but it's at least possible that they haven't
miniaturized enough for practical use in ICBMs. Certainly the Indian
nuclear tests that caused such a stir a few years ago were not entirely
successful - most were fizzles, I believe. Finally there's the question
of reentry, right, which is something that satellites don't have to deal
with. I always had the impression that satellites launch capacity was a
step on the road to ICBMs, but not necessarily the whole way there.
Gautam
