Agni-5, INS Arihant to be ready for induction next year
1 min read 07 Feb 2014, 08:17 PM ISTDRDO chief says the development trials of Agni-5 are expected be completed within one year
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New Delhi: India’s indigenous military development programme is set to achieve a major boost as the 5,000 km-range Agni-5 ballistic missile along with INS Arihant nuclear submarine is expected to be ready for induction into the armed forces next year, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) said on Friday.
Addressing a press conference at the biennial Defexpo, DRDO chief Avinash Chander said India has the capability to take out satellites in space through its missile programme but it was in favour of the peaceful use of space.
“It will take two-three more trials for the completion of the development trials and these are expected be completed within one year. We are going to do the trials from canisters this year. After few trials it will be ready for induction," he said.
The three stages, solid propellant missile has already been test-fired twice from a mobile launcher from the launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) and have been highly successful.
The indigenously developed missile Agni-5 is capable of striking a range of more than 5,000 km. It is about 17 metre long and 2 metre wide with launch weight of around 50 tonnes. Unlike other missiles of indigenously built Agni series, the latest one ‘Agni-5’ is the most advanced version having some new technologies incorporated with it in terms of navigation and guidance, warhead and engine.
In the Agni series, India at present has Agni-1 with 700 km range, Agni-2 with 2,000 km range, Agni-3 and Agni-4 with 2,500 km to more than 3,500 km range.
On the trials of INS Arihant, Chander said the vessel will be launched for sea trials within a month or two and these are expected to be completed within this year. Recently, Navy officials had said that after the trials of the INS Arihant are completed, it would be ready for induction into operational service.
Chander said during the sea trial phase, the INS Arihant would be firing the indigenously-developed BO-5 missiles, which have a range of around 700 km, which is fully integrated with the INS Arihant. PTI
