India to test long-range Agni missile next year
-- New Delhi
A new version of the nuclear-capable Agni ballistic missile with a range
of over 3,000 km will be tested within the next few months, India's top
defence scientist said here on Dec. 31.
V.K. Aatre, chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) and scientific advisor to the defence minister, said two other
versions of the Agni -- that translates into fire in Hindi -- with ranges
of 700 km and about 2,000 km were being produced and inducted into the
armed forces.
"We are slightly behind schedule as we had some technical problem," he
said, referring to the plans to test Agni-III.
Aatre, who was briefing a select group of journalists on the eve of the
46th anniversary of the creation of DRDO, said India planned to begin
some major defence research and development programmes jointly with
Israeli firms in 2004.
This would include the joint production of electronic warfare systems,
sensors for India's home grown light combat aircraft Tejas and unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs).
"We are having a preliminary dialogue on the UAVs. By mid- or end-2004,
we will have two to three joint research and development projects that
will be funded by DRDO and Israeli companies," he said.
BrahMos, the world's first supersonic cruise missile developed jointly by
DRDO and a Russian firm, has been cleared for induction into the Indian
Navy. The missile has a range of 290 km.
Aatre said the BrahMos was currently being modified so that it could be
fitted to the Indian Air Force's (IAF) Su-30MKI jets.
"The navy has cleared the BrahMos and we are drawing up the induction
plan for them," he said.
In another major breakthrough, the DRDO had developed weapon-locating
radar that would be made by state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd. These
radars would be field tested by the Indian Army next year.
For several years, the army had been demanding the induction of
weapon-locating radars, which are used to locate enemy artillery guns by
tracking the trajectory of shells. India last year purchased a limited
number of AN/TPQ-37 weapon-locating radars from the U.S.
Defence scientists said DRDO's weapon-locating radar would be in
competition with the U.S. radar to fill the Indian Army's need for about
40-50 such systems.
Pinaka, a multi-barrel rocket launcher developed by DRDO, had also been
cleared for induction into the army, Aatre said. The launchers for this
system were being made by two private firms -- Tata Power and Larsen and
Toubro.
Orders would soon be placed with the two firms for some 40 Pinaka
launchers to equip two army regiments, he said.
The short-range Prithvi ballistic missile and its naval variant Dhanush
were also being produced for induction, Aatre said.
DRDO would also begin work on several futuristic projects in 2004,
including the development of long endurance UAVs, a subsonic cruise
missile based on the Lakshya target vehicle, multi-spectral stealth
material and autonomous underwater vehicles.
http://www.indianembassy.org/i_digest/2004/jan_15/agni.htm
The article posted above is a few months old (January), it gives good insight into the Agni programme as well as some futuristic projects i.e. like the multi spectral stealth project, and other projects in the pipleline :monkey
