It is surprisingly easy to find things on GE if you know where to look at. I guess now you would understand why I say that India has moved on to an extremely survivable arsenal that can support a pre-emptive counter-force doctrine. There's more than substantial evidence to support the argument.
@The Deterrent
You are actually quite right, one can obtain a lot of information over the years from GE- provided one knows where to look. As for India's doctrine, it is a work in progress. You cant really have a sound survivable arsenal if you lack various sensors- radars are just part of the ABM. A very crucial link in the interception process. It is also one of those areas where Indian industry have had tremendous success- LRDE being the design Lab and various Govt/Pvt company as manufacturing units. If you remember I alluded to 'some radars that are not swordfish/greenpine' in my comments sometimes back when I was talking about changes in Indian doctrine.
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Here is what I said:
K4 is actually not an overkill because of the simple reason that, K4 can potentially go upto 800-1000kms in very lofted trajectories - close to the apogee of all IRBMs and MRBMs. Hence it can facilitate interception of RV at or near itz apogee when the speed is the slowest. But for that, launch detection and tracking of Pakistani BMs is the key and I am pretty sure stuff like VC 11184 is precisely designed for that. There are reports of un named long range radar stations coming up. I'm pretty sure it is for launch detection and tracking. The whole sequence from launch detection till the interceptors are in air should be fully automated
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/the-...-in-february-2019.611423/page-3#post-11335331
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These radars have ranges in excess of 800kms and are especially designed to track BMs. Similarly the interceptors are the other half of the ABM puzzle. I share the same concern about the status of new PDV(not the PDV MK2) interceptor i.e I doubt if it has entered the mass production stage. But even if it hasnt, it sure will in next couple of years. The design and performance has already been established- it just the matter of time when PDV is mass produced. I feel AAD is already under production. This would conclude the phase 1 of the program. For phase-2 though, they might go for optimizing the PDV MK2 as it seems an overkill in it's current configuration or it might mean that back when PDV MK2 was conceived they (DRDL/ASL/RCI) did not have a missile system compact enough to place the KKV of PDV MK2 to it's max apogee of 1000kms. I feel, the new Agni-1* motor as and when it comes online will most probably form the first stage booster of PDV MK2. It has a dia of close to 1m and can house high energetic propellants that can accelerate the missile much faster. This will bring PDV MK2 in the same league as Arrow-3 system from Israel.
As someone keenly observing the research in Aerospace systems, I am anxiously waiting for DRDO's 2m composite rocket motor for 1st stage. This would open up huge possibilities for a long range SLBM in league of M51 etc. India's current state of the art (for 1st stage) is composite motor of 1.4m dia.(A-4/K-4 and PDV MK2) They are actively working on composite first stage of A-5.
Also if you have noticed, India has stopped displaying strategic weapons at national parades. This might be due to the fact that New Delhi doesnt want to draw un necessary attention from certain countries and signal a shift in the nuclear posture. I am compelled to believe that a lot of the 'optimization' programs are not just optimization--but has an inherent first strike capability built into it. A lot of Pakistanis have a very generalized view of DRDO. In reality DRDO has a cluster of labs that are doing phenomenally well and then there are those that are just downright mediocre. The cluster labs in Hyd and Bangalore are the ones doing great and attract the best talent.
Also here is the pic of ASAT with Agni-5 canister in the background:
There are plans to even canisterize Agni-4 and other a few other Pakistan specific missiles.
