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 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.
(IANS)
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