Indian Missile News And Discussion

[Arun_S]

Some useful histornics albiet from the man who joined the dark side and wrong side of history.



The last two paragraphs he is selling snake oil by perporting that handful of missiles with 10kt yld will suffice. Someone should ask teh naked emporer, how come his massa does not subscribe to his snake oil doctrine and eliminate all assembled and dis-assembled nuke (and burn the fuel in civil reactors), and just go nude with handful of 10 kt bums !!



He is parroting his masters voice. So much of the self proclaimed India's missile man <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



K. Subramaium should not have soiled his own name by co-writing an article with this slithering snake, in last years of his illustrious life.



[url="http://www.deccanchronicle.com/360-degree/agni-mrs-g%E2%80%99s-wish-fulfilled-india%E2%80%99s-missile-man-603"]Agni, Mrs G’s wish fulfilled: India’s missile man[/url]

April 22, 2012 By Dr V.S. Arunachalam



The caption of this piece should actually read 'mission accomplished' but for the bloomer President George Bush made in 2003 when he claimed victory well before the skirmishes in Iraq died down! But the missile story is really one of accomplishment of a mission that DRDO embarked three decades back.



In 1982, DRDO embarked on a major transformation transitioning from working on minor innovations that brought in no recognition, to major hardware development. A portfolio of missiles, Light Combat Aircraft, main battle tanks are the products of this transformation. There were also a few more top secret projects.



It was an audacious move when we were not even sure whether we had the competence and wherewithal to execute the programmes. But then we recognized that if we did not cash in on the opportunity that the political leadership, most notably the Defence minister Venkataraman and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, provided we would have lost a window of opportunity to become a self reliant nation in military technologies.



We took our proposals to Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs for the sanction. For the missile programme, we chose four projects, two surface-to-air (Trishul, Akash) missiles, one a short range tactical missile (Prithvi) and the last one was an anti-tank missile (Nag). We took a deliberate decision not to propose a long range missile as a hardware project.



Instead, it was going to be a technology demonstrator where we would develop a number of technologies that go into the making of ICBM.



When Mrs Gandhi was curious to find out what technologies we were not confident of, I replied, “every subsystem”! She smiled saying that she was happy to hear at least once, an acceptance of ignorance, but wanted us to build the advanced systems that could stand in competition with other countries’ hardware. She said that she was tired of buying military systems from other countries that were not willing to either sell state-of-the-art systems or share the technology know-how.



Even before that approval we were quietly circulating photographs of long range missile models to people at South Block. The photographs of the models were impressive and I suspect either Arun Singh or Rajiv Gandhi had seen the designs and photographs and briefed the PM of our audacious aspirations!



Our programmes began in the frostiest years of Cold War. Even the import of desk-top computers with some special features invited export clearances and bureaucratic oversight. Quoted products suddenly vanished from supply. Attendance at technical conferences was denied. But we persisted forming a consortium approach where all the nation’s laboratories and industries became our technology partners. With the firing of Agni-5, DRDO has arrived developing all the technologies, the wish that Mrs Gandhi expressed many years ago.



A guided missile is a conglomerate of thousands of complex technologies. Complex technologies are primed to perform a well defined activity efficiently and reliably.



Unfortunately, if they fall short of performance, the results can be failures, often with unacceptable consequences. Reliability is therefore all too critical. In Agni-5 we used solid propellant in all three stages and with a guidance system using ring lasers along with strap down inertial navigation system. Ring laser gyro is considered most efficient and accurate for detecting angular rotation and enables stabilization. It was used even during the testing of Agni-3, but this time it provided the extra redundancy that has enabled the accuracy of trajectory and stability of the guidance system.





The terminal system used carbon-carbon compositesfor the structure that could withstand the burning reentry temperatures keeping the payload cool. In addition to very high temperatures, the missile in its terminal phase would experience very high acceleration due to free fall known as the g force that can break any poorly built system. The results show that while impacting at the designated area, the missile successfully withstood both the re-entry temperatures and very high g force.



Agni-5 has proved and validated solid propulsion system, stage separation, accurate guidance and met the range requirements.



Actually, we have done slightly better than China in the sense that some of Chinese ICBMs ( DF-5) for instance, are liquid fueled with its attendant disadvantages.



We learnt the tricks of the trade with no past to educate us through. And the investments we have made in all these technology are modest. Now we have learned how to develop and build new systems faster than in the past. But by delaying the sanction of new projects, I fear we will lose the corporate memory and the experiences of precious human resource. It is this human resource that has brought us this far. And the country salutes them for the competence and commitment it brought into the programme.



DRDO may fire a few more missiles to prove their reliability in performance. When it comes to strategic systems it is not necessary to manufacture hundreds. A [color="#4b0082"]handful[/color] will do as they carry nuclear weapons that can inflict unacceptable damage on adversaries.



Even a single 10 kilo ton bomb, within 0.8 km radius of a city would completely wipe out the population in that area. In a medium city with a population of a few lakhs, about 50,000 people would die with unacceptable radiation inflicted injuries. Strategic deterrence that would prevent unilateral nuclear attacks is therefore necessary.



With a successful test, Agni-5 has ensured this security for India.



Dr Arunachalam is former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister of India)