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With Russian help, India to join ICBM big league soon Saturday, 08 October 2011 01:00 Moscow to provide ‘seeker’ tech for Agni-V, capable of hitting target beyond 10,000 km India is all set to join the select group of nations capable of launching nuclear strikes across continent. With Russia ready to provide the cutting-edge “seeker” technology for India’s Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the country is ready to flaunt its nuclear might in a big way by year end when the ICBM will undergo its maiden launch. The development of the ICBM had been delayed because no country was ready...

India’s military might is expected to take a big leap early next year when it test-fires the over 5,000-km-range nuclear-capable Agni-V missile. Agni-V is the country’s most ambitious strategic missile project, and a successful culmination of the test stage will propel the country into an elite club of ICBM-capable nations. ``Work is progressing satisfactorily on the development of Agni-V, which is expected to become a reality next year. With this, the DRDO would have given India a comprehensive indigenous strategic capability, available with only a few nations of the world,’’ DRDO chief V K Saraswat remarked while speaking at the...

New Delhi: With a second successful test of the 3,500 km intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), Agni-III, already in the bag, Indian defence scientists are planning to test a long range 5,000 km, IRBM by the end of the year. According to Aviansh Chander, project director, the planning process for the test launch of the Agni-IV was in the final stages, now that the Agni-III had reached the stage of operationalisation. He indicated Monday that test flights could be scheduled for the end of the year, once government clearance was received. According to Chander, an intercontinental range of 5,000-km would...

The explosion showered debris over the Bay of Bengal The launch of India's heaviest communications satellite has failed after the rocket carrying it veered off course and exploded. The Insat-4C satellite weighed more than 2,000kg and was expected to significantly enhance India's telephone and business communications. It came a day after a test-fire of India's longest-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile ended in failure. The Agni-III surface-to-surface missile crashed into the Bay of Bengal. Setback Television pictures showed the Insat-4C satellite being launched from the Sriharikota Space Research Centre in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Seconds after lift-off, the satellite's...

New Delhi - India's Defence Ministry would 'thoroughly examine' the technical reasons behind the failure of the first-test launch of Agni III, the country's longest-range nuclear-capable missile, reports and officials said Monday. Sunday's launch of the surface-to-surface missile came as a disappointment for the Indian defence establishment as the projectile failed to separate in its second stage and fell into the Bay of Bengal over 2,000 kilometres short of its designated 3,500 kilometre target, defence ministry sources said. India's Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee told reporters that the reasons behind the snag would be explored and the faults would be corrected,...

slamabad, July 10 (IANS) The failure of Agni-III reflected 'incompetence' of the Indian missile designers and planners, said an eminent Pakistani scientist. They would need to go back to the drawing board and take two to three years, unless 'they borrow something from abroad,' said Samar Mubarikmund, chairman of Pakistan's National Engineering and Science Commission (Nescom). Claiming that Israel was involved in developing India's missile programme, Mubarikmund said Pakistan, which had an 'indigenous' programme of its own, retained superiority over all others in the South Asian region. Mubarikmund told The News Sunday that the circumstances narrated by the Indians for...

After postponing it twice, Indian has finally test-fired successfully the Agni-III ballistic missile. The the longest-range nuclear capable missile was test-fired for the first times from Wheeler's Island off Orissa coast. This has effectively put India on the threshold of an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile capability with over 3,000 km range. So far, India had a proven missile capability over a range of only 2,000 km with the Agni-2.

November 1, 2004: Normally, a test of India’s Prithvi short-range (300 kilometers) ballistic missile would not draw notice. However, a recent test launch near Chandipur was notable – not for occurring, but from where the Prithvi was launched – underwater. At present, five nations have ballistic missile submarines: The United States (14 Ohio-class SSBN), Russia (7 Delta IV-class SSBN and 2 Typhoons), France (a total of four SSBNs between the L’Inflexible and Le Triomphant classes – the latter are replacing the former), the United Kingdom (4 Vanguard-class SSBN), and the People’s Republic of China (one Xia-class SSBN). With the successful...

India tests missile days after nuclear talks AFP BHUBANESHWAR, India – India yesterday tested a short range variant of its nuclear capable surface-to-surface Agni missile from a testing site off the country’s east coast, a defence official said. The homegrown missile, with a strike range of 700 kilometres, was tested from a mobile launcher at Wheeler Island off the coast of eastern Orissa state, the official said. The missile, one of the variants of the Agni (Fire) series, can carry a one-tonne payload. Defence Ministry spokesman Amitabh Chakravarty in New Delhi described the test as “a perfect launch”. The test...

India was planning to test a long-range ballistic missile that can hit targets deep inside China, sources said as the United States warned the move would escalate tensions in South Asia. Highly-placed sources from the defence research organisation said Friday the earliest probable launch of Agni-III, with a range of 3,000 kilometres (1,860 miles), would be after the end of the Indian monsoon season in September. "The probable window of launch could be after the monsoons when the weather is perfect for us to read all the parameters and functions of the system," a source said. Agni-III can carry a...

New Delhi, July 24. (PTI): India would carry out one more test of the 700 kms short range Agni missile prior to its production and induction into the Armed forces, Defence Minister George Fernandes told the Rajya Sabha today. Asserting that development work of the shorter range Agni-I missile had been completed, Fernandes, in a written reply, said that Government proposed to go ahead with one more test of the missle before its induction. Asked whether government proposed to conduct more missile tests in view of series of tests by Pakistan recently, Fernandes said, "Design, development and test flights of...