China testing hypersonic missile technology: there is one report and one rebuttal. Recently, the London-based Financial Times (FT) report has claimed that during August 2021, China has successfully tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile.
The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC) has completed ten years of its existence. This code was formally enacted on November 25, 2002, at a conference hosted by the Netherlands at The Hague. This was also known as the International Code of Conduct (ICOC). This code is voluntary and not binding in nature, and the subscribing states are expected to furnish annual declarations on missile policy and the pre-launch notifications (PLNs) of missile test launches.
The dawn of the twenty-first century coincided with an unusual phenomenon in international relations: the emergence of China and India as global powers. The steadily rising rate of economic growth in India has recently been around 8 per cent per year, and there is much speculation about whether and when India may catch up with and even surpass China’s over 10 per cent growth rate. India and China understand the concept of co-existence and growth very well. This engagement has elements of both rivalry and cooperation.
The Pentagon releasing annual reports on Chinese Military Power is not new. However, for all these years, the Pentagon’s basic mandate has been to contextualize the Chinese threat to US interests.
The Indian Navy was recently briefed on the Aegis ballistic missile defence (BMD) system for ships. The US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin had discussions with Indian authorities and reports suggest that they are ‘open to collaboration’ with the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on integrating the Prithvi Air Defence Shield (PADS) with the Aegis system.