India planning to test fire 5,000-km range missile soon

[Mohammed Azizuddin]

Buoyed by the string of successes with the intermediate range ballistic missile Agni-III, India is planning to test a missile with 5,000 km range soon.

The test of the next series of Agni missiles will propel the country into the select group of nations which have long range ballistic missiles.

Indicating that planning process for the test launch of such a missile was in final stages, Avinash Chander, Project Director of Agni-III, said on Monday that scientists were awaiting the government nod for carrying out the test which could be anytime by this year-end.

The launching of the 5,000-km range missile would entail strapping a third stage booster rocket on Agni-III missiles powered by a solid fuel propellant.

Along with longer range Agni missiles, India will also carry out further tests of its special naval missile, an acronym used by Defence Research and Development Organisation scientists for a submarine launched ballistic missile, and the second test of interceptor missile which will be undertaken by September-October.

On the special naval missile, DRDO Director General M Natarajan said that his scientists were 'heavily engaged' in the project, but, at the same time, refused to be drawn out on when India's first nuclear submarine would roll out.

"The Advance Technology Vehicle, as the nuclear submarine project is known, is not my project," Natarajan shot back at reporters when asked whether the DRDO would stick to the 2009 launch schedule for the submarine.

On the interceptor missile, Project Director V K Saraswat said this would give India the capability to intercept any incoming missile.

Dismissing suggestions that the development of such a missile could lead to an arms race, he said it would give India a stronger defence.

"With such a missile in our arsenal, we don't have to match the capabilities of our adversaries. On the other hand, they will have to think twice as anything they fire at us can be intercepted," he said.

Saraswat said it would take three to four more tests to develop a robust anti-missile battery system, which could be fielded from the frontline to protect the country's vital assets.

"We are not looking far. If the tests go according to plans, such a system can be deployed in a few years time," he said.

Elaborating on DRDO's future programmes, Natarajan said the primary focus has been the development of strategic systems and technologies.

He said DRDO had concentrated on developing tactical systems such as Akash surface-to-air missile, multi-barrel rocket launcher Pinaka, electronic warfare Samyukta Combat Engineer system and NBC warfare defence system.

DRDO was also developing fuel cell technologies, gas turbine propulsion, ring laser gyros for precision navigations guidance and AB class steel for building aircraft carriers and titanium alloys and carbon composites for aerospace applications.

Source:Rediff.com

 

[IceCold]

So where is India planning to go with a 5000km range missile? India already has china and pakistan within its range, I guess west should be more careful with developments like these.

 

[asaad-ul-islam]

india doesn't need to be careful at all, they've always had it easy. a US official visited India right when they had the K-15 test, what happened? NOTHING!

India was only sanctioned at May 28 when pakistan tested its weapons, not May 13 when their second testing occurred. the world quietly removed sanctions from india in time, but not from pakistan since we had a military ruler.

pakistan has missiles that go up to the 3000km+ range, yet we only admit to 2000km. if we do test our actual capabilities, there will be a lot of ruckus around the world.

as unacceptable as it sounds to everyone, the world cannot live with a powerful muslim country. this goes to show us that pakistan cannot and must not depend on anyone. we have to flip our country right-side up and put it on the map to becoming a great power.

 

[IceCold]

india doesn't need to be careful at all, they've always had it easy. a US official visited India right when they had the K-15 test, what happened? NOTHING!

India was only sanctioned at May 28 when pakistan tested its weapons, not May 13 when their second testing occurred. the world quietly removed sanctions from india in time, but not from pakistan since we had a military ruler.

pakistan has missiles that go up to the 3000km+ range, yet we only admit to 2000km. if we do test our actual capabilities, there will be a lot of ruckus around the world.

as unacceptable as it sounds to everyone, the world cannot live with a powerful muslim country. this goes to show us that pakistan cannot and must not depend on anyone. we have to flip our country right-side up and put it on the map to becoming a great power.

I think its all about interests. Back then during the cold war era none of the countires were muslims ( Russia and USA) but both were sworn enemies and were building WMDs to hit eachother. Same stands for china and USA now.
So imo when india brings the west in its range, there would definately be some eyebrows lifted however the effects of that might not be seen very early unless and untill a huge conflict of strategic interests take place between the two sides.

 

[Neo]

Global ambition and building second strike capability is all whats it about.

Pakistan for a long time to come will have no answer for IN's future SSBN armed with nuclear ballistic missiles ready to hit Pakistan from anywhere in the Indian Ocean.

 

[sohailbutt]

Global ambition and building second strike capability is all whats it about.

Pakistan for a long time to come will have no answer for IN's future SSBN armed with nuclear ballistic missiles ready to hit Pakistan from anywhere in the Indian Ocean.

Neo, i agree with u till n extent, but Pakistan will always keep on givin surprises to the world especially India, we haven't recieved any opposition from anyone especially US, when one of our officials told the whole world that we would built a nuclear sub (i think a year ago) on Geo news, i can see with all hope that our SSBN will have vertical launch systems like the ones on Russian, Chinese, British, Americans which can launch Ballistic missiles with a range of approximately 3000Km's that would be enough to keep India at bay n would be give PN a very big presence in the whole region, I think our SSBN shuld have a displacement of more than 4000 tons.

Also, i think Pakistan is waitin for India to test it's 5000Km missile, which would give Pakistan cover to test it's new Tipu missile which i hope would have a range of or more than 5000 Km's. That would be the biggest detterent for the whole world, they would not think to mess with Pakistan.

In my view expect Tipu to come out in 2 years time from now on, n in my view expect Pakistani SSBN to come out with the last U-214 that is approximately 7 years from now if everything gpes fine n if we place order for the U boats this November, with SSBN also expect Pakistan to launch its Sea launched ballistic missile in the next 4 to 5 years.

I'm pretty sure of all the above, NO ONE KNOWS WUT PAK IS COOKIN!!!

 

[asaad-ul-islam]

I think its all about interests. Back then during the cold war era none of the countires were muslims ( Russia and USA) but both were sworn enemies and were building WMDs to hit eachother. Same stands for china and USA now.
So imo when india brings the west in its range, there would definately be some eyebrows lifted however the effects of that might not be seen very early unless and untill a huge conflict of strategic interests take place between the two sides.

icecold, i understand what you're trying to get at. i know my post doesn't hold much ground, yet we can't ignore israel's ambition to de-nuclearize pakistan. not to mention their influence.

let's look at japan, one of the most hypocritical nations out there. they put more pressure on pakistan after it tested its weapons, yet treated india with utmost kindness? on top of that, they have cooperated with the US AND INDIA on ballistic missile defense!

that is openly proliferating missile technology. they are speeding the arms race in the east and south asia.
(yes, india and japan are cooperating on missile defense)
Ballistic Missile Defence: Perspectives on India-Japan Cooperation - Strategic Analysis

uranium is smuggled from india, the us is missing a few nukes, russian nukes were and are all over the black market, UK helped israel in weapons, and so forth.
pakistan and china's records are nothing compared to these big bad proliferators.

as for your icbm and slbm. well, i don't see the need to keep SLBM's anytime soon. since SSBN's are expensive to maintain, not to mention the threat of loosing them. we will have SLCM's pretty soon which can easily be tipped with nukes.

from what I've heard, tipu sultan is a 5,000km+ missile. its rocket motor is being tested right now. we have the tech for an icbm, yet it will take some time to be perfected. most likely pakistan will have an ICBM by 2010-2011.

but remember, we won't test it unless it's absolutely necessary just like the '98 tests.

 

[Goodperson]

Here's how Agni missile can strike farther

May 13, 2008 02:56 IST

Scientists of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore have developed a new innovative technology, which increases the range of Agni type of missiles.

The new technology will increases the range of the inter-continental missile by reducing the drag it encountered during its last flight on Wednesday.

'The drag was the main phenomenon, which dictates the range of the missile for a given amount of fuel, as the thrust generated by the rocket engine must compensate for the drag encountered by the missile in its path,' an IISc release said.

The nose of the missile was essentially blunted in order to reduce the heating problem, but the drag encountered by the blunt bodies when they travel at hypersonic speeds is larger. Hence, one way of increasing the range of the missile is to reduce the drag force, the release said.

Existing techniques for reducing the drag force involve addition of an aero-spike at the nose of the missile or blowing a supersonic gas jet from the missile nose tip. Implementation of these techniques involves major modification to the missile structure and hence cannot be applied to existing missiles which are in stockpile.

The new technology developed by Prof K P J Reddy and his team involves a radically different technique in the sense that no additional device or power is required for controlling the aerodynamic drag in the proposed technique during the actual hypersonic flight, the release said.


The release said a patent application has been filed on this technology. The technique was to coat the nose portion of the missile with a thin layer of a material like chromium. This metal coating evaporates due to the heating of the nose during its hypersonic flight and the evaporated metal particles in atomic form react exothermically with the oxygen atoms surrounding the body to release additional heat into the air in front of the missile.

This heat addition reduces the drag force up to about 47 per cent.

This method would ensure that without spending any additional energy the overall aerodynamic drag of the vehicle can be controlled and this in turn would improve the efficiency of the hypersonic flight of the vehicle.

The main advantages of this innovative hypersonic drag control techniques are it is a completely passive device that is non-intrusive and does not need any additional power during the actual flight to control the aerodynamic drag of the missile flying at hypersonic speeds and the amount of heat energy released into the shock layer of the body can be altered to suitably control the aerodynamic drag of the hypersonic.

Here's how Agni missile can strike farther

 

[Mohammed Azizuddin]

Even if India tests the 3,000KM Missile, or for that matter even if India tests the future Surya range of long range missiles, do not expect a lot of eyebrows to rise, the Usa and the west and all the major powers of the world will actually approve of India testing the weapons, that I am very sure about.But, do not expect they will give the same response to Pakistan.Today, Pakistan is in a fragile position, the more missiles it will test, the more international pressure will be exerted on it, thats what we need to understand now.... Pakistan will do well not to anoy the west, especially the USA. That will be the only drawback for future Pakistani missile projects.

 

[vish]

The reason why we are keen on testing a 5000km+ missile is to enable us to hit almost any part of China from any part of India. The point is Agni-III has a range of 3500km, and we can only hit China from northern and eastern India. The hinterland is where the Army wants the missiles to be placed for obvious reasons.

Note that the Agni-III had a payload of 1.5 tons. What would be its range if it is fitted with a 0.5 ton (weight) nuclear warhead? My guess is 4500km+...

I could be wrong.

Frankly, if Pakistan wants an ICBM, there is nothing wrong with it. Also, I don't see any anti-Muslim bias in the world. The problem is Pakistan is increasingly perceived as fundamentalist, and the coups aren't really helping much to change that image.

And guys, your country needs to get its economy on the track before thinking about big-ticket defense expenditures.

Also, Pakistan already enjoys parity with India. We can't invade you... the N-factor... so chill...

 

[Muradk]

So where is India planning to go with a 5000km range missile? India already has china and pakistan within its range, I guess west should be more careful with developments like these.

Ice: I dont think we need to worry about this Missile, In the last 10 years what has DROD produced which actually works, but we need to make a phone call and tell them please make sure it fall in your side or your part of the sea. The last thing we want is missile falling over Islamabad and the excuse is Sorry the guidance chip malfunctioned.

 

[Bushroda]

Ice: I dont think we need to worry about this Missile, In the last 10 years what has DROD produced which actually works, but we need to make a phone call and tell them please make sure it fall in your side or your part of the sea. The last thing we want is missile falling over Islamabad and the excuse is Sorry the guidance chip malfunctioned.

Sir!!! Is it really you? or has your account been hacked?

 

[EagleEyes]

Ice: I dont think we need to worry about this Missile, In the last 10 years what has DROD produced which actually works, but we need to make a phone call and tell them please make sure it fall in your side or your part of the sea. The last thing we want is missile falling over Islamabad and the excuse is Sorry the guidance chip malfunctioned.

 

[IceCold]

Ice: I dont think we need to worry about this Missile, In the last 10 years what has DROD produced which actually works, but we need to make a phone call and tell them please make sure it fall in your side or your part of the sea. The last thing we want is missile falling over Islamabad and the excuse is Sorry the guidance chip malfunctioned.

Lol sir! well said and i guess that is the reason why we dont hear much of a response from our side after the induction of such tests from the indian side. I meant it should be the West thats suppose to worry about it not us or for that matter china, both are already in the range.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

MuradK,

Sir,

Good that you believe that!

It does help!