What was tested today was a 10-metre long K-15/B-05 solid-fuelled SLBM with a 700km-range. Its R & D had begun in 1998 by an Indian Navy-led team, since at that time the DRDO has only some 200 missile scientists & engineers, none of whom had any experience in developing solid-fuelled rockets. The R & D project, known as Sagarika/PJ-08, saw the development of various sub-systems of the K-15 that were tried out between 2004 & November 2008 in 10 different test-firings at various shore-based establishments off Balasore. The first fully-integrated test-firing of the 10-tonne K-15/B-05 was conducted in January 2010 followed by another one in January 2011, another one in January 2012 & todays test-firing, in all totalling 4 test-firings of a fully functional SLBM from an underwater pontoon. Two more test-firings are due in future, these being conducted from the Arihant SSBN sometime next year. Todays test-firing saw the K-15s first-stage solid-fuel rocket booster being ignited inside a pontoon-based silo 20 metres under water & being lifted up to an altitude of 7km. Then the second-stage solid-fuel rocket ignited & lifted the K-15 to an altitude of 40km, following which the K-15 adopted a depressed trajectory flight-path.
Being developed now is the follow-on 20-tonne 10-metre long K-4 SLBM which will have a 3,500km-range. This will be followed by an enhanced 12-metre-long version of the K-4 SLBM with a 5,000km-range.
