Click to play videoNew Delhi: It was a programme with which India defied the world in its resolve to emerge as a bigger power.
Twenty-five years after it was doggedly launched, India on Tuesday announced the closure of its Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, declaring it a success.
This literally marks the end of an era. Twenty-five years ago, India was forced to launch an indigenous missile programme because of massive technology denial by the West.
Now that it's spoilt for choice in collaborative ventures, there's a realization that India need not necessarily re-invent the wheel.
"The model today is use our collaborative power of 14 countries to make the system faster," said Dr Prahlada, Chief Controller (Missiles), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Compressing the development cycle for new missiles to under seven years is the new mantra. India has already signed up with Russia, France and Israel.
But the huge time delays indeed marred the balance sheet of the indigenous effort.
Any amount of criticism that Kalam's missile programme may have drawn cannot diminish its enormous significance. It has made India a leading missile power in the world. It has also been the key factor in establishing India as a nuclear weapons power.
But the big question is why is this programme being terminated before India could extend its missile range to give it inter-continental reach?
CNN-IBN had reported earlier that India has decided limit its missile programme to medium-range Agnis. One inference is that this is a trade-off in the context of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
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