While international attention has been focused on North Korea's failed "satellite launch," India last week successfully test-fired a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 5,000 km. This development has the potential to shift the regional strategic balance and introduce new uncertainties into Asia.
The Agni series of missiles — the name means "fire" in Sanskrit — has been in development since the 1960s. The longest range of earlier versions could threaten Pakistan and western China, but was unable to strike most of China's major population centers. The Agni-V, tested on Thursday, is a three-stage rocket capable of carrying a 1-ton warhead and is road mobile.
The successful launch — "immaculate" according to Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony — puts India in an elite club with France, China, Russia, the United States, Britain and possibly Israel, whose members possess long-range nuclear weapons. A deployable missile is still at least two years away, however.