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NEW DELHI: With active help from China and North Korea, Pakistan has surged well ahead of India in the missile arena. The only nuclear-capable ballistic missile in India's arsenal which can be said to be 100% operational as of now is the short-range Prithvi missile. Though the 700-km Agni-I and 2,000-km-plus Agni-II ballistic missiles are being "inducted" into the armed forces, it will take "some time" for them to become "fully-operational in the numbers required". Defence sources said the armed forces were still in the process of undertaking the "training trials" of Agni-I and Agni-II to give them the requisite capabilities to fire them on their own. Of the two, the progress report of Agni-I, tested for the first time in January 2002 to plug the operational gap between Prithvi (150-350 km) and Agni-II missiles, is much better. The Army has already conducted two "user training trials", one in October 2007 and other in March 2008,...

India's foreign minister and army chief don't know what they're talking about. Bravado aside, this country does kick ass. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Pakistan can fire missiles on a ten-minute notice on all the major Indian cities. Part of this capability is the result of geography: the lack of geographic depth also means that it would take less time for Pakistani missiles to enter Indian air space. The launch and travel time is short. India needs 30 minutes for initial ignition, partially due to the country's size, response time across the chain of command, and other reasons. There is also the question of the quality of Pakistani and Indian missiles, the quality of the delivery systems, and the speed with which nuclear weapons can be loaded and launch pad readied. Pakistan has also not committed itself to no-first use. This means that Pakistan can use nuclear weapons for self defense whenever its chain of command deems the action necessary and not just as a last option. T...