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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080109/jsp/frontpage/story_8760934.jsp
India has wound up its guided missile programme 24 years after it was launched, jettisoning the political philosophy of isolated self-reliance in military technology.
The burial of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) founded by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in July 1983 was couched in claims by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that it has delivered all five missile systems that the plan envisaged.
The announcement comes a day before the DRDO celebrates its golden jubilee. Begun with an initial allocation of about Rs 389 crore in 1983, the cost and time overruns have seen more than Rs 2,000 crore being used up in the programme to develop five missile systems. (See chart)
C.K. Prahlada, the chairman of the IGMDP board and chief controller (research and development) of DRDO, declared today that the Akash surface-to-air missile system tested last month was ready for induction by the army and the air force. With this, the IGMDP has been formally wound up.
The winding up of the IGMDP does not mean that all work on the five missile projects is scrapped immediately. It means the government will not make any further investment in the research and development of these missiles over and above what has already been sanctioned.
For example, the Agni III strategic missile that successfully test-fired in April last year can still be fine-tuned and more tests of it are likely on the road to induction in the armed forces.
The government and the DRDO believe that the winding up of the IGMDP means the emphasis is now shifting from research and development to series production.
Prahlada said missile manufacturing capacities have to be expanded. Capacity at a missile facility in Hyderabad will be expanded in the short term to 100 missiles from 40 a year.
The IGMDP’s time actually ran out in December 2007 and were it not for the DRDO’s advertisement of the Akash as the pinnacle of its success, the programme’s burial would have been quiet. Work on the smallest of the missiles under the project — the anti-tank Nag — will be over this summer.
“You must understand the background of the IGMDP,” Prahlada explained. “It was started at a time when there was no help forthcoming from anywhere. That situation is not there now.”
To illustrate, he said there were organisations from as many as 14 countries that were now willing to collaborate with the DRDO in developing missiles. Among these were the US, Israel, Germany, France and Russia.
When the IGMDP was launched in July 1983, India was dependent almost wholly on Russian military technology. But even Soviet supplies and support for the strategic missile programme was niggardly.
Understanding that the US had imposed a technology-denial regime, India offered to devise its own missiles and put Kalam in charge.
The IGMDP was given time till 1995. On Kalam’s insistence, the P.V. Narasimha Rao government gave it a further lease of life for another 10 years.
In 2006, when the defence establishment had all but taken a decision to mothball the Trishul missile programme, the DRDO insisted again — when Kalam was President — and the government granted it another two years.
In these two years, the DRDO — and not only its missile programmes — came in for criticism from the users (the armed forces) and even its former scientists. But last year, the DRDO carried out probably the largest number of missile tests in the rush to meet the December 2007 deadline.
Asked if the IGMDP was going to be replaced by another programme, Prahlada said there would be a general move towards greater collaborative ventures but this would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
He said two possible models were the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile that is a joint venture between India and Russia run on commercial lines, and the Astra, a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile for which the DRDO is tying up with institutions in at least four countries.
But this model, however, will not be adopted for strategic (read long-range nuclear-capable) missiles like the Surya (which is on the drawing board) and electronic warfare systems.
Top
India has wound up its guided missile programme 24 years after it was launched, jettisoning the political philosophy of isolated self-reliance in military technology.
The burial of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) founded by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in July 1983 was couched in claims by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that it has delivered all five missile systems that the plan envisaged.
The announcement comes a day before the DRDO celebrates its golden jubilee. Begun with an initial allocation of about Rs 389 crore in 1983, the cost and time overruns have seen more than Rs 2,000 crore being used up in the programme to develop five missile systems. (See chart)
C.K. Prahlada, the chairman of the IGMDP board and chief controller (research and development) of DRDO, declared today that the Akash surface-to-air missile system tested last month was ready for induction by the army and the air force. With this, the IGMDP has been formally wound up.
The winding up of the IGMDP does not mean that all work on the five missile projects is scrapped immediately. It means the government will not make any further investment in the research and development of these missiles over and above what has already been sanctioned.
For example, the Agni III strategic missile that successfully test-fired in April last year can still be fine-tuned and more tests of it are likely on the road to induction in the armed forces.
The government and the DRDO believe that the winding up of the IGMDP means the emphasis is now shifting from research and development to series production.
Prahlada said missile manufacturing capacities have to be expanded. Capacity at a missile facility in Hyderabad will be expanded in the short term to 100 missiles from 40 a year.
The IGMDP’s time actually ran out in December 2007 and were it not for the DRDO’s advertisement of the Akash as the pinnacle of its success, the programme’s burial would have been quiet. Work on the smallest of the missiles under the project — the anti-tank Nag — will be over this summer.
“You must understand the background of the IGMDP,” Prahlada explained. “It was started at a time when there was no help forthcoming from anywhere. That situation is not there now.”
To illustrate, he said there were organisations from as many as 14 countries that were now willing to collaborate with the DRDO in developing missiles. Among these were the US, Israel, Germany, France and Russia.
When the IGMDP was launched in July 1983, India was dependent almost wholly on Russian military technology. But even Soviet supplies and support for the strategic missile programme was niggardly.
Understanding that the US had imposed a technology-denial regime, India offered to devise its own missiles and put Kalam in charge.
The IGMDP was given time till 1995. On Kalam’s insistence, the P.V. Narasimha Rao government gave it a further lease of life for another 10 years.
In 2006, when the defence establishment had all but taken a decision to mothball the Trishul missile programme, the DRDO insisted again — when Kalam was President — and the government granted it another two years.
In these two years, the DRDO — and not only its missile programmes — came in for criticism from the users (the armed forces) and even its former scientists. But last year, the DRDO carried out probably the largest number of missile tests in the rush to meet the December 2007 deadline.
Asked if the IGMDP was going to be replaced by another programme, Prahlada said there would be a general move towards greater collaborative ventures but this would be decided on a case-by-case basis.
He said two possible models were the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile that is a joint venture between India and Russia run on commercial lines, and the Astra, a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile for which the DRDO is tying up with institutions in at least four countries.
But this model, however, will not be adopted for strategic (read long-range nuclear-capable) missiles like the Surya (which is on the drawing board) and electronic warfare systems.
Top
