Rasmussen: NATO doesn’t consider India a missile threat

PanARMENIAN.Net - 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, April 18, RIA Novosti reported.

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.