Rasmussen: NATO Doesn't See India as Threat

NATO Secretary General, Danish, Anders Fogh Rasmussen gives a press briefing at the start of arrivals for a Nato Defence Council in Brussels , Belgium 18 April 2012. EPA/BGNES

NATO does not consider India as a missile threat despite the country's advanced missile development program, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has declared.

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, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reminds.

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, the news agency adds.

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

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

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