Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 16 (IANS) Discounting talk of an arms race in the neighbourhood after its successful test of the Agni-IV strategic nuclear-capable missile, India’s defence research chief V.K. Saraswat made it clear Wednesday that New Delhi was “not playing a game” and was “not in a race”, as its missile programme was for defensive purposes.

Saraswat, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) director general, told reporters here that India was not looking at what its neighbours’ missile stock was and was building its missile programme on the basis of what the nation needs to defend itself.

“We are not playing a game. We are not looking at what missile others are having, but what we need to defend ourselves, keeping in view our no-first-use nuclear policy,” he said when asked about a view among strategic thinkers that the missile test by India would lead to an arms race in Asia.

Saraswat said India’s missile programme focused on having a defensive capability in the event of any crisis. “Whether they (neighbours Pakistan and China) have 10 or 10,000 missiles, we are not in any race,” he said.

Referring to the Cold War era when the US and Russia built their nuclear weapon stockpiles to match each other’s numbers and capabilities, the DRDO chief said: “We are not in any numbers game. Our security need is defensive and on the basis of what we need to defend ourselves.”

India Tuesday successfully tested a new generation Agni-IV missile with a 3,500-km range, which is an advanced Agni-II version previously called Agni-II Prime. The earlier test of Agni-II Prime in December 2010 had failed.

Stockholm-based think tank SIPRI had in a report for 2010 released earlier this year pegged India and Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile to be close to 100 warheads each, with Islamabad having an edge by about 10-odd warheads