India has joined the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC), a global ballistic missile proliferation regime.
India has joined the Code highlighting its readiness to further strengthen global non-proliferation objectives.
However, India has made it clear that it will not have any impact on the national security as well as country’s missile programmes.
What is Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC)?
- The HCoC is a voluntary, legally non-binding international confidence building and transparency measure that seeks to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles that are capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
- It was established on 25 November 2002 as a result of international efforts to regulate access to ballistic missiles which can potentially deliver WMDs
- The HCOC does not ban ballistic missiles, but it calls for restraining their production, testing, and export. It is the only normative instrument to verify the spread of ballistic missiles.
Ballistic Missile: It is a missile with a high, arching trajectory which is initially powered and guided, but falls under gravity on to its target. Most of its trajectory is unpowered and governed by gravity and air resistance if it is in the atmosphere. In contrasts, cruise missiles are aerodynamically guided in powered flight.