NATO Says India Poses No Missile Threat

BRUSSELS, April 18 (RIA Novosti)

NATO does not consider India as a missile threat despite the country’s advanced missile development program, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday.

India is all set up to test its domestically-developed Agni-5 ballistic missile with a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), giving it the ability to target most parts of Asia, including the northernmost parts of China, and large parts of Europe.

The three-stage solid-fuel missile will be launched from a site on Wheeler Island in the Bay of Bengal and is expected to reach its target area in southern Indian Ocean.

A successful test of the Agni-5 missile will put India in the elite club of nations having Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM), which includes the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

Speaking at a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Rasmussen said the Alliance does not consider India as a threat to NATO allies and territory.

He also said the upcoming Chicago summit would declare NATO’s interim missile defense capability as part of the so-called Smart Defense strategy.