Quote:T. S. Subramanian, Y. Mallikarjun



The launch of Agni-III, the missile with the longest range in India’s arsenal, from the Wheeler Island off Orissa on Sunday was a complete success.



Lifting off majestically at 10.50 a.m., it travelled its entire range of 3,500 km. and came down accurately on its target in the Bay of Bengal. [color="#0000ff"]{Arun_S: Notice the target was in Bay Of Bengal, not Indian Ocean (unlike the first successful test of Agni-III. Bay of Bengal ends when it touches Sumatra Islands @ ~1,900 Km. To cross equator the range has to be 2000 Km. Clearly the stated 3,500 km would go far beyond Bay of Bengal}[/color]



During its 800-second flight, it reached an altitude of 350 km. and its re-entry module sliced into the atmosphere, withstanding searing temperatures of 3,000 deg. Celsius.



The two-stage, surface-to-surface ballistic missile can carry nuclear warheads.



The [color="#4169e1"]nuclear triggering mechanism worked well although the missile carried only chemical explosives as payload[/color].



An elated V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, called it “a fantastic launch and a hat-trick.”



Talking to The Hindu from Wheeler Island, he said, “it shows the maturity of the missile’s design and the quality of its systems because we have had three successes in a row without any blemish.”



“The flight gave us the full range and pin-point accuracy. [color="#4169e1"]The missile travelled accurately its entire range to its last decimal place as we had planned.[/color] ”



Jubilation in the control room



As the nuclear-capable Agni-III missile zeroed in on the pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with copybook precision, anxiety turned into an all-round jubilation in the control room at Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast on Sunday.



There were loud shouts, clapping, hand-shaking and hugging as missile scientists, software experts and other team members congratulated each other.



“It was all about the success of the efforts put in by DRDO scientists and the anticipation of the user agency of the excellent system being acquired by then,” said a top DRDO official in the control room.



Later, the euphoric staff carried V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister; Avinash Chander, Agni Mission Director; and V.G. Sekaran, Project Director, on their shoulders.



Dr. Saraswat congratulated the scientists for scoring a hat-trick of successes with Agni-III.



He urged them to continue with their hard work and make a grand success of Agni-V, which is planned to be launched by the end of the year.



Feb 8, 2010

Quote:KalingaTimes Correspondent

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 7: 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 .



According to a release issued by the Union Defence Ministry, the AGNI-3 missile tested for the full range, hit the target with pinpoint 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 payload capability of 1.5 tonnes.



During the course of flight the [color="#0000ff"]Missile reached a peak height of 350 km[/color] 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 [color="#0000ff"]coast of Odisha[/color] have monitored the path of the Missile and evaluated all the parameters in real-time.



The launch is part of the pre-induction trial. [color="#0000ff"]Indian Army (the user) has carried out the total launch operations guided by the DRDO scientists[/color]. Now the missile system will be fully inducted into the armed forces, the Ministry said.



Mission Director Avinash Chander and Project Director V.G. Sekaran guided and controlled the complete missile integration and launch activities. Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister and Director General of DRDO V.K. Saraswat has over seen the total launch operations.



V.K. Saraswat and Avinash Chander congratulated all the scientists and employees of DRDO and the industry partners on the occasion.

Quote: Josy Joseph / DNA Sunday, February 7, 2010 15:38 IST New Delhi: Agni-3, India’s most powerful nuclear capable missile, was successfully test-fired on Sunday. The 3,500 km-range indigenous ballistic missile is ready for induction into the armed forces.



The missile, that will work as a key nuclear deterrent against neighbours, especially China, was flight-tested from Wheeler island in the Bay of Bengal, off the Orissa coast. It can reach its target in about 15 minutes, and can strike deep inside China and Pakistan from safe bases deep inside the Indian mainland, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said.

“The missile, tested for the full range, hit the target with pin-point accuracy and met all mission objectives,’’ the DRDO said. “The missile system will be inducted into the armed forces,’’ defence ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar said.



The marker pen-like Agni-3 missile is 17 metres in length and two metres in diameter. It has a two-stage solid propellant system and can carry 1.5 tonnes of payload. During the course of flight, the missile reached a peak height of 350 km and re-entered the atmosphere successfully “tolerating the skin temperatures of nearly 3,000 degree celsius’’, the statement said.



The military research agency said the missile has a new state-of-the-art computer system, and an advanced navigation system.

Today’s test was the fourth successful test of the missile. DRDO is presently working on a new version of Agni, with a range of over 5,000 km.

Quote:PTI







[color="#ffffff"][b][size="2"]Prime Minister's Office[/size][/color][/b]



PM congratulates DRDO scientists on successful launch of Agni-III

[size="2"]21:8 IST [/size] The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has congratulated the scientists at DRDO on the successful launch of Agni-III missile. Following is the text of PM's message:



"I convey my heartiest congratulations to the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the Advanced Systems Laboratory, Hyderabad and all members of the Project Team for the successful launch of the Agni III missile today. On behalf of the Nation I commend our scientists and engineers for their dedication, hard work and excellence in our march towards achieving self reliance in high technology areas and meeting the country’s defence needs. Our scientists have always done our country proud and I wish them continued success in their future efforts."



****



AD

Quote: 7 Feb 2010, 1729 hrs IST,

Economic Times



NEW DELHI/BHADRAK: India on Sunday successfully test-fired its indigenous nuclear-capable Agni-III missile with a range of over 3,000-km and

which can hit targets deep in China, paving the way for its induction in the armed forces.



The successful test-firing of the Agni-III consolidates India's position among a select group of nations that have intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) capability.



The Sunday test was its fourth and last pre-induction trial. "Now the missile system will be inducted in the armed forces," an official said in the national capital.



The missile, which is capable of carrying warheads weighing up to 1.5 tonnes, was tested from the Inner Wheeler Island at Dhamra, a launch site in Bhadrak district, about 200 km from Orissa capital Bhubaneswar, at 10.50 a.m. Two ships located near the target tracked and witnessed the missile reaching the target accurately.



This is the fourth test of the country's most powerful missile which has the capability to hit deep inside China, bringing cities like Shanghai and Beijing within its potent reach.



The missile has a two-stage solid propellant system. During the course of flight, the missile reached a peak height of 350 km and re-entered the atmosphere successfully, tolerating surface temperatures that reached nearly 3,000 degree Celsius.



"The test was highly successful. It met all the mission objectives. All the events took place as expected," S.P. Dash, director of the Integrated Test Range (ITR), told IANS from the site after the test.



"The launch is part of the pre-induction trials. The Indian Army (the user) has carried out the total launch operations guided by the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) scientists," an official said.



The first test, from the same defence base on July 9, 2006, was unsuccessful. The second stage of the rocket had failed to separate from the missile quickly enough and the missile had fallen short of its target.



The DRDO-developed missile was tested again on April 12, 2007 and May 9, 2008, and both the tests were successful.



Agni-III, one of the Agni series missiles, has a length of 17 metres, a diameter of 2 metres and a launch weight of 50 tonnes.



While Agni-I is a 750-800 km short-range missile, Agni-II has a range of more than 1,500 km. Both have already been inducted into the armed forces.



Defence Minister A.K. Antony termed the test of Agni-III as a remarkable achievement and congratulated DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat and other scientists for making it a success.



More than a hundred defence scientists witnessed the Sunday test. They included Saraswat and Avinash Chandra, director of the Agni-III programme.

Quote:Press Trust Of IndiaBalasore/New Delhi, February 07, 2010India on Sunday successfully test-fired its indigenous Agni-III ballistic missile with a range of 3500 kms from the Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa, making the nuclear-capable platform ready for induction into the armed forces.



"The fourth test-firing of the Agni-III missile was carried out at 1050 hours today. It was for the full range and it hit the target with pin-point accuracy and met all the mission objectives," Defence Ministry spokesman Sitanshu Kar said in New Delhi.



Two Navy ships located near the target tracked and witnessed the missile hitting it accurately, he said.



During today's launch, the missile was fired from a mobile rail launcher, sources in Balasore said.



Defence Minister AK Antony congratulated DRDO chief VK Saraswat and the scientists involved in the Agni-III project on the "remarkable success" of the missile test.



The defence spokesman said the launch was part of the pre-induction trial and "now the missile system will be fully inducted into the armed forces."



A number of radars and electro-optical tracking systems along the coast of Orissa monitored the path of the missile and evaluated all the parameters in real-time, Kar said.



Equipped with a state-of-the-art advanced computer, [color="#0000ff"]the navigation system[/color] used for guiding the missile to its target is the [color="#0000ff"]"first of its kind"[/color], he said.

Quote:2. Has A-III been ever tested on a max -Q trajectory ?

Quote:3. So, it is ready for induction. Which means that unlike in the A-II case, people should hopefully not make the mistake of avoiding production trials when production shifts to BDL.

Quote:4. As of now, A-III has a better record than A-II. 3/4 vs 3/5. Even the failed trial was a partial success. Of course, development trials only validate the design. Hopefully, after A-II lessons are learnt and appropriate quality control is instituted, A-III production trials will be smooth.

Quote:5. A-V is likely to have the same first two stages an extra 3rd stage and probably the same guidance hardware, right ? Given this, would A-V trials help in further proving A-III reliability ?

1. [url="http://www.indiaresearch.org/WayToACredibleDeterrent.pdf"]WAY TO A CREDIBLE DETERRENT, © Arun Vishwakarma[/url]
2. [url="http://www.indiaresearch.org/Shourya_Missile.pdf"]Shourya/Sagarika Missile © Arun Vishwakarma[/url]