Quote: Bhargavi Kerur / DNA Saturday, January 23, 2010



Bangalore: Taking serious note of China’s growing defence capabilities, particularly its anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon system, Air Chief Marshal PV Naik on Friday sought the development of India’s own missile system that can destroy enemy satellites.



“Our satellites are vulnerable to ASAT weapon systems because our neighbourhood possesses one,” Naik said, while delivering the Air Chief Marshal LM Katre memorial lecture at the HAL Convention Centre here.



“We need to develop ASAT technology. It is one of our challenges of future war capability,” he said.



He was referring to the vulnerability of a series of communication, weather and remote-sensing satellites of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), which are in orbit.



If the satellites are targeted, there could be widespread chaos in the country. Indian TV channels would go off the air, satellite communication links would snap, and there would be no updates on weather and climatic data, which is crucial for aviation, shipping and meteorology.



Isro also has the Technology Experiment Satellite, launched on October 22, 2001, in orbit.



The satellite is equipped with a one-metre resolution camera and

is capable of sending images of troop movements and installations.



The first images of this satellite were requisitioned by the United Statesfor its Afghan operations.



“Defending our space-based assets is important and the IAFhas to protect them,” said the air chief.



China demonstrated its ASAT capability in January 2007; the US followed suit the next year. These are the only countries with ASAT capability as of now.



S Chandrashekhar, National Institute of Advanced Studies, who is studying India’s space weaponisation, toldDNA that scientists only need to fine-tune the existing missile and rocket-launching technologies to develop an ASAT system that will act as an effective counter to China’s.

Quote:Paris (AFP) Jan 27, 2010

France successfully test-fired on Wednesday its new M51 strategic missile from a nuclear submarine, the first test at sea after three land-based firings, the defence ministry said. France's newest strategic nuclear submarine "Le Terrible" launched the test at 9:25 am (0825 GMT) from the Audierne Bay in the Atlantic and "everything went as planned" said a statement from the defence ministry.



The M51 has a range of 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) and enjoys better accuracy than the current M45 ballistic missile carried by France's four nuclear-armed submarines.



The M51 Missile

Quote:By Hemant Kumar Rout

01 Feb 2010

BALASORE: The China-specific nuclear capable missile [color="#0000ff"]Agni III will be flight-tested any time between February 6 and 8[/color]. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is planning to conduct the test at the Inner Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast. Sources at the defence base in Chandipur said the surface-tosurface missile, with a strike range of about 3,500 km, would be test-fired in full operational stage.



“Massive preparation is on with more than a hundred scientists camping at the test range. The first test of the missile in 2006 was a failure, though its second trial in 2007 and third in 2008 were successful. Its proposed trial in 2009 was put off for unknown reasons,” the source added.

Agni-III is a new system and can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads. It will be propelled by solid fuels, facilitating swifter deployment compared to missiles using both solid and liquid fuels.



“The ballistic missile [color="#0000ff"]will require two or three more tests before it can go for limited series production (LSP) trials by the armed forces[/color]. However, two more years will be required for its operational deployment. Its successful test will propel India to go for the maiden test of 5,500 km range Agni-V missile, which is being developed now,’’ a scientist said.



Agni-V has been designed keeping in view the credible minimum deterrence against China. The ongoing work on [color="#0000ff"]Agni-V revolves around incorporating a third composite stage in the two-stage Agni-III,[/color] along with some advanced technologies like ring laser gyroscope and accelerator for navigation and guidance.

Quote:Intense preparations are under way on the tiny Wheeler Island, off Damra village on the Orissa coast, for the launch of ballistic missile Agni-III before Sunday.



This will be the fourth launch of Agni-III and it aims at establishing its reliability. “We are doing this flight to demonstrate the robustness of the missile’s systems,” a top missile engineer of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said on Wednesday.



Agni-III, a product of the DRDO, can carry nuclear warheads weighing 1.5 tonnes. It can fly over 3,500 km and even target parts of China. The missile has two stages which are powered by solid propellants. It is 17-metre long, has a diameter of two metres and launch weight of 50 tonnes. The missile re-enters the atmosphere with a high velocity at a temperature of more than 2,500 degrees Celsius. The nuclear warhead is protected by a heat-shield made of carbon-carbon composites.



While the first Agni-III launch on July 9, 2006 failed, the second and third launches on April 12, 2007, and May 7, 2008, witnessed copy-book flights.



K-15 missile



The coming weeks/months will be hectic for the DRDO with one more launch of K-15 missile this month from a submerged pontoon off the coast of Visakhapatnam. The pontoon will simulate the conditions of a submarine. K-15 had been launched earlier from submerged pontoons, but this is a different version. The first version, called Mark-1, is being fitted into the indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine named Arihant.



After the K-15 missile clears the water medium, it climbs 20 km into the air and can destroy targets 700 km away. The missile forms part of the DRDO’s Sagarika project.



Shourya, which is the land-version of the underwater-launched K-15 missile, will have its second flight around June from the Integrated Test Range at Balasore, Orissa.



The fourth flight of India’s interceptor missile, which can knock out adversarial ballistic missiles at an altitude of 130 km, is scheduled for September. The DRDO has already scored a hat-trick with three of its interceptor missiles confronting incoming “enemy” ballistic missiles in a “hit-to-kill” mode.

Quote:According to your figures for Agni III SLBM



5500 km @ 1400 kg



10,000 km @ 750 kg



18,000 km or above @ 350 kg



If we use FBF warheads instead of TN, are we looking at 350 kg FBF warhead which can yield 150 kilotons ?? Even if we use 550 kg FBF warhead, Agni III SLBM can go a long distance !!

Quote:If we use 350 kg FBF warhead (may be 150 kilotons yield)



5500 km @ 1400 kg (4 x warheads)(takes care of China and Pakistan)



10,000 km @ 750 kg ( 2 x warheads)(Takes care of Europe and Middle east)



15,000 km @ 350 kg to 500 kg ( 1 warhead)( takes care of the US)

Quote:Do you think Agni V SLBM would have better payload vs range configuration?

Quote:February 5, 2010: A year after ordering 16 Akash anti-aircraft missile launchers for the military, India has ordered 750 of the missiles. Each launcher is self propelled, carrying four missiles, costs $2.2 million and will be delivered by early 2012. India plans to buy 3,000 Akash missiles over the next two decades.



Akash is modeled on the older, but successful, Russian SA-6 system, and is meant to replace some very old Russian air defense systems India is still using. Each 1,543 pound Akash missile has a 132 pound warhead, a range of 27 kilometers and can kit targets as high as 49,000 feet, or as low as 66 feet. Each Akash battery has three launcher vehicles, a radar vehicle and several support vehicles.



India wants to build a version of Akash for use on ships, and is already looking into a longer range (60 kilometers) version. India spent over $250 million developing Akash, a project that began in the early 1980s

Quote:T. S. SubramanianY. Mallikarjun The Hindu Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister, V.K. Saraswat. File photo: K. Gajendran With three consecutively successful flights of Agni-III, the missile technologists of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have raised the bar: they will now busy themselves with realising Agni-V which will have a range of 5,000 km.



The success of the Agni-III flight on Sunday, according to them, sent out several signals: it has become a proven missile; [color="#9932cc"]the decks have been cleared for its induction with nuclear warheads, into the Army[/color]; it established the maturity of India’s nuclear deterrence programme and its second-strike capability.



It was the Army which conducted the successful flight. With this, the induction process of the missile has commenced. “This launch is a stepping stone to the DRDO realising its next intermediate range ballistic missile, Agni-V,” V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, said.



Dr. Saraswat, who is also Director-General of the DRDO, said the flight proved that the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which aimed at denying missile technologies to India, “has not affected our programme.”



“The development of the Agni-III took place independent of the MTCR. About 80 to 85 per cent of the components were indigenous. The indigenisation has gone to such a level where we are independent of any embargo,” Dr. Saraswat said.



W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller (Life Sciences and Human Resources), DRDO, described the flight as “a milestone in strengthening our defence and developing our second-strike capability.”



Dr. Selvamurthy said that since India was wedded to the doctrine of “no-first-use” of its nuclear weapons, it needed to have a robust second-strike capability. If any country were to use nuclear weapons against India, the country should be able to retaliate in kind. “India should be able to deploy them [Agni-III missiles] in places where they cannot be detected,” [color="#0000ff"]{Arun_S: Thick forest cover of tropical island in mainland as well in Andman island make is extremely difficult to figure out where the mobile launcher is. The abelity to hit ou irrespective of where in Indian land it is deplyed is teh main value that AGni-III brings to table compared to all other Indian missiles. }[/color] he said.



Both the stages of Agni-III are powered by solid propellants. It is 17 metres long, has a diameter of two metres and a launch weight of 50 tonnes. It can carry payloads weighing 1.5 tonnes.



The missile was equipped with a sophisticated computer system, navigated with an advanced navigation system and guided with an innovated guidance scheme. Several radars and electro-optical tracking systems, along the coast of Orissa, monitored its path and evaluated its parameters in real-time. Two ships tracked and witnessed the missile reaching its target.



Avinash Chander, Mission Director, called the flight “a thrilling experience,” with all the mission objectives met. “It was a copy-book flight with [color="#800080"]all the events listed in the flight being executed accurately[/color],” he said.



The missile was tested for its full range and [color="#9932cc"]its integrated strategic command network was fully proved,[/color] said Mr. Chander, who is also Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Hyderabad. The ASL designs and develops the Agni variants. [color="#0000ff"]{Arun_S: The claim of tested to full range is dubious, and anyone who has military common sense knows that Agni-III range with 1.5 tonne payload is not just 3,500 Km. With 2,500 - 3,000 Kg payload yes that max range is reasonable}[/color]



According to A. Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, BrahMos Aerospace, the success brought big credit to the DRDO.



[color="#800080"]Lt. Gen. B.S. Nagal, chief of Strategic Forces Command, witnessed the flight[/color] from the Wheeler Island.



V.G. Sekaran, Agni-III Project Director, coordinated the entire integration and launch activities.



While the first flight of Agni-III on July 9, 2006 failed, its second and third flights on April 12, 2007 and May 7, 2008 were successful.

Quote:[center]Press Information Bureau

Government of India



[/center] Sunday, February 07, 2010 [color="#ffffff"]Ministry of Defence[/color] [color="#ffffff"] [/color]

[url="http://www.pib.nic.in/release/rel_print_page1.asp?relid=57681"]FOURTH TEST FLIGHT OF LONG RANGE MISSILE AGNI-3 SUCCESSFUL[/url] 16:31 IST [size="2"] [/size] The fourth flight of the Indian long range missile AGNI-3 with a range capability of 3500 km was tested successfully by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) at 10:50 this morning from the Wheeler Island, in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Odisha. The AGNI-3 Missile tested for the full range, hit the target with pin-point accuracy and met all the mission objectives. Two down range ships located near the target tracked and witnessed the Missile reaching the target accurately.



The marker pen like AGNI-3 Missile is 17 meters long and 2 metres in diameter. The Missile is a two stage solid propellant system with a pay load capability of 1.5 tons. During the course of flight the Missile reached a peak height of 350 kms and re-entered into the atmosphere successfully tolerating the skin temperatures of nearly 3000 degree Celsius.



The missile is equipped with a state of the art computer system, navigated with a most advanced Navigation system and guided with an innovative guidance scheme. The Navigation system used for guidance is first of its kind. Number of Radars and electro optical tracking systems along the coast of Odisha have monitored the path of the Missile and evaluated all the parameters in realtime.



The launch is part of the pre-induction trial. Indian Army (the user) has carried out the total launch operations guided by the DRDO scientists. Now the Missile system will be fully inducted into the armed forces.



[color="#9932cc"]Mission Director Sri Avinash Chander and Project Director Dr V.G. Sekaran have guided and controlled the complete Missile integration and launch activities.[/color] Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and Director General, DRDO Dr V.K. Saraswat have over seen the total launch operations.



Dr V.K. Saraswat and Sri Avinash Chander congratulated all the Scientists and employees of DRDO and the industry partners.



***



Sitanshu Kar