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sabya99

Agni-5 stretches Indian ‘reach’
- ‘Inter-continental’ missile successfully tested over a 5500km trajectory

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130917/jsp/frontpage/story_17357296.jsp
New Delhi, Sept. 16: India’s defence research chief has said that Sunday’s test firing of the Agni-5 missile has given the country transcontinental capability to deliver nuclear warheads.
“I have no hesitation in saying that we have ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) capability,” Avinash Chander, chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and scientific adviser to the defence minister, claimed at a briefing here today.
The Agni-5 was tested over its full range of 5,500km along a pre-set trajectory. The missile was launched from Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast. This was the second test launch of the missile — the first was in April 2012 — and demonstrated “repeatability” and the ability to travel longer distances.
“Range is not a problem. We can even go up to 10,000km,” said Chander who himself headed the DRDO’s missile programme before taking over as the outfit’s head. “Our main focus now is to develop warheads”, he said.
The Agni-5 would be tested four more times before being inducted into the armed forces in two years. One or more of these tests would be with multiple warheads. The DRDO is working on a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) that could engage separate targets from a single missile.
Chander said the government had not yet asked the DRDO to develop a 10,000km missile — possibly the Agni-6 — but “range is not a problem”. The Agni-5 was being made more accurate with the DRDO missile project working on reducing its circular error of probability (CEP) to within 15 metres.
Chander said there were plans to share technologies and frame policies to involve the corporate sector in defence production. Currently, he said, the armed forces required between 5000 to 10000 surface to air missiles (Sam) and 10,000 anti-tank missiles. “We need wider industry participation”, to meet the demand, he said.
India’s nuclear submarine, the Arihant, is going through “criticality” currently. The submarine, now in Vishakhapatnam, would head for sea trials shortly. The DRDO plans a test-firing of its K-15 submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from the Arihant in early 2014.
The cabinet had also recently approved the setting up of two semi-conductor fabrication facilities to manufacture missile components.
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Sabya99

sabya99 · Posted: Tue Sep 24, 2013 7:44 pm Post subject:

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-why-every-indian-should-be-proud-of-drdos-latest-missile/20130924.htm

Why every Indian should be PROUD of DRDO

September 24, 2013 08:24 IST

Ajai Shukla
Observers of India's struggle to design and build defence equipment might wonder why the indigenous missile programme has been so much more successful than many other projects that the Defence Research and Development Organisation has taken up.
Even as the ballistic missile programme struck another bulls-eye on September 15 with the successful second test of the Agni V intermediate range ballistic missile, the DRDO's other flagship projects -- the Arjun tank, the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft and an airborne early warning system -- make much more laboured progress.
What began as the modest Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme in 1983, has delivered to the military a range of missiles, both strategic and tactical. The ballistic missiles includes the Prithvi (range of 350 kilometres); its naval version, Dhanush; the underwater-launched ballistic missiles, and the Agni series with ranges between 1,000 and 5,000 kilometres.
The latest arrow in this quiver, the Agni V, will enter operational service as a canisterised, road-mobile missile that can deliver nuclear warheads to targets across south, south-east, central and west Asia, China, most of Europe and large parts of Africa.
Simultaneously, development has begun on Agni V's successor, the Agni VI. This intercontinental ballistic missile, with a range of over 6,000 kilometres, will carry a massive three-tonne payload (current Agni payloads weigh one tonne).
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Sabya99