Indian Missile News And Discussion

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[size="3"][url="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2499781.ece?homepage=true"]Agni-II missile test-fired[/url]



[/size][indent][size="3"][quote name="The Hindu" date="September 30, 2011"]



[/size] [size="3"]Marking a hat-trick of achievements in the past one week, India successfully flight-tested Intermediate range, nuclear weapons-capable Agni-II surface-to-surface missile for its full range of over 2,000 km from Balasore, Orissa on Friday. [/size]



[size="3"] The missile was fired from a rail mobile launcher by the Army’s Strategic Force Command personnel at 9.30 a.m. as part of a training exercise after it was picked up from the production lot. [/size]



[size="3"] After a 10-minute flight, the 21-metre tall Agni-II reached the pre-defined target in the Bay of Bengal with precision and accuracy, a top Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official told The Hindu from Balasore soon after completion of the mission. [/size]



[size="3"] Two naval ships located near the target point, electro-optical and telemetry systems tracked the missile’s flight path and its final moments. [/size]



[size="3"]Agni-II has been developed by the DRDO as part of the medium and long-range surface-to-surface missiles and is one of the main weapon systems of India’s nuclear deterrence doctrine. The two-stage solid-propelled missile can carry a payload of one tonne and is equipped with an advanced navigation system and anti-ballistic defence counter measures. It has already been inducted into the Armed Forces. [/size]



[size="3"] Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister V.K. Saraswat described it a dream launch and one of the finest copy-book launches of Agni-II. All the performance parameters of the mission such as velocity, terminal phase, trajectory and destruction of the warhead went as per copybook profile. [/size]



[size="3"] Avinash Chander, Chief Controller, (Missiles and Strategic Systems), DRDO said that in the wake of two failures of Agni-II and one of Agni-II Prime earlier, a number of steps were taken to improve the quality. He said a specialist dedicated quality control agency did a good job of overcoming the control problems in the first stage. [/size]



[size="3"] V.G.Sekharan, Director, Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) said the main aim was to ensure that the user could launch and that was achieved. “We always knew that this was a good missile”, he said. [/size]



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