Pakistan has come out with a claim that India has developed missile capabilities exceeding 12,000 kilometres, even as it claimed that Islamabad's capabilities are purely defensive in nature.
Responding to United States Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's recent testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee that Pakistan's long-range ballistic missile development could include missiles capable of targeting the US, Pakistan's foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said his country's strategic capabilities were exclusively defensive in nature, aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and maintaining peace and stability in South Asia.
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Gabbard had said Pakistan's long-range ballistic missile development potentially could include ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) with a range capable of striking the US.
Rejecting such claims by the US, Andrabi said, "Pakistan categorically rejects the recent assertion by a United States official alleging a potential threat from Pakistan's missile capabilities."
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He said Pakistan's missile programme, which remains well below intercontinental range, is firmly rooted in the doctrine of credible minimum deterrence vis-a-vis India, while "in contrast, India's development of missile capabilities exceeding 12,000 kilometres reflects a trajectory that extends beyond regional security considerations and is certainly a cause of concern for the neighbourhood and beyond."
How true are Pakistan's claims of India's missile potential?
While Islamabad's claim that India has missile capabilities exceeding 12,000 kilometres may sound desirable, India's operational Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), primarily the nuclear-capable missile Agni-V, has a range of only over 5,000–8,000 km. ICBMs, meanwhile, have a minimal range of over 5,500 km. While initially India had called Agni-V, which is among India’s most advanced long-range missiles, ICBM, it later reverted to classifying it as IRBM.
Meanwhile, the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is reported to have a range of more than 8,000 km, it is still less than the tall claims made by Pakistan about India's ICBM capabilities.