Click to play videoNew Delhi: For the first time, India has used the Andaman Islands as a missile target. A Brahmos cruise missile was launched from a warship at sea on Wednesday to destroy a target on an uninhabited island.
But the missile test could also open up an environmental debate.
On Wednesday, India sought to validate its navy's land attack capability by pulverising a target on an uninhabited island in the North Andaman.
The weapon was a Brahmos cruise missile, and the launch pad a Rajput class destroyer 300 km away in the Bay of Bengal.
"The naval capability must acquire enough muscle to be able to significantly influence the battle on land," says defence analyst Commodore C Uday Bhaskar."
Never before has India actually tested a naval missile against a target on land.
The problem was the lack of availability of an uninhabited stretch on the mainland.
Hence, the choice of the Andaman as many small islands there are uninhabited and is a place where a missile hit poses perhaps the least visible collateral impact.
And there are international precedents. But even military analysts concede that there's an ecological cost.
"It would be incorrect to suggest that delivery of ordinance will have not have an environmental impact. It always does," Commodore Bhaskar adds.
The Andaman seems set to get a more military colour. It's not just about a missile firing range or a test bed for military doctrine and equipment.
The island territory could well emerge as India's Diego Garcia.
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