V.K. Saraswat (left) and Avinash Chander with model of the Agni-V missile
The development stage has been completed for India’s Agni-III ballistic missiles, with advances in their production; India hopes for succesful trials of the Agni-V missile to accelerate their development and integration into their BMD program.
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India will for the first time test fire its 5,000-km range Agni-V ballistic missile by the end of this year in what is being seen as a major leap in the country’s missile capability.
Notwithstanding the recent failure of the interceptor missile test, the first phase of the indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence System to intercept and destroy incoming enemy missiles of less than 2,000-km range is expected to be deployed in two years.
Disclosing this to The Hindu recently, V.K. Saraswat, Director-General, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, said the first phase would be made operational through the new concept of ‘capability-based deployment.’ The Air Defence Programme has been divided into two parts — depending upon the threat perception. While the first category of threats pertains to enemy missiles with less than 2,000-km range, the second type belongs to those with more than 2,000 km. Both the phases will have two layers. The aim of the two-tier system is to first destroy an incoming missile, at a higher altitude, in the exo-atmosphere above 50 km. If that does not happen, the endo-atmospheric interception will take place up at the height of 30 km from the earth.
India will be conducting a fourth test of its Ballistic Missile Defense interceptor, the Advanced Air Defense missile, within the next two weeks. The previous three test, November 27, 2006, December 6, 2007, and March 6, 2009, were all successful and on target. Check back in the coming weeks for details on the DRDO’s test.
In less than two weeks, India will test its Ballistic Missile Defence shield again, by launching an interceptor missile to kill an incoming “enemy” ballistic missile mid-flight.
This is the fourth time that the Defence Research and Development Organisation will be testing its interceptor missile.
While the incoming missile will lift off from the Integrated Test Range at Balasore in Orissa, the interceptor will blast off from the launch complex on the Wheeler Island, off Damra village, said V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister.
New director of India’s Defense Research Development Organization, V.K. Saraswat is making plans to bring new technology to India to introduce laser technology into their defense systems. Saraswat expects the system to be operational in approximately 15 years. The recent success of the ABL may be triggering copycat systems in other nations.
According to the newly-appointed Director General of India’s Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO), V.K. Saraswat, India’s new defense strategy priorities will be cutting-edge technologies that were denied to India by the West, and countering terrorism. The scientist, addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Feb. 20, said that in the next 10 to 15 years, laser technology would be introduced into all Indian weaponry, including tanks, airborne weaponry, and guns.
One of the new weapon systems on show was the Shaurya missile – a submarine-launched medium-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying one ton of a conventional, or nuclear armed warhead over a range of 750 km. The Shaurya is specially designed for the new Indian submarines, offering India ‘second strike’ capability, significantly adding to the country’s strategic deterrence. Together with the Agni III missile, that has a range of 3500 km, Shaurya could reach all major cities in mainland China, like Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai, when launched from a submarine off the China coast. It can also cover all the area of Pakistan from off-shore positions in the Arabian Sea. India’s first nuclear-powered submarine, INS Arihant is currently under construction and could be equipped with the new missile. Shaurya was developed in parallel to the K-15 ‘Sagarika’ ballistic missile, built with significant help from Russia.
India's Chief Military Scientist V.K. Saraswat and Program Director AGNI Missile Avinash Chander
India is moving quickly from the success of is most recent missile launch. They announced an ambitious goal of testing a missile with a range of almost 1,100 more miles. We will just have to wait and see if they live up to this goal.
India will test a new nuclear-capable missile with a range of more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) in a year’s time, the country’s top military scientist said Wednesday.
India’s current longest-range missile is the Agni-III missile with a range of 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles), which its military test-fired on Sunday. That missile is already capable of reaching targets not only across historic rival, Pakistan, but also major cities in China and the Middle East.
V.K. Saraswat, India’s chief military scientist, said the new missile, Agni-V, would be a land-based system with a range of over 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles).
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