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| India-Pakistan |
| India tests nuke-capable missile able to hit China |
| 2012-04-19 |
| India announced the successful test launch Thursday of a new nuclear-capable missile that would give it the capability of striking the major Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai for the first time. The Agni-V missile, with a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), still requires a battery of tests before it can be inducted into India's arsenal. But officials hailed the successful launch as a major boost to the country's efforts to counter China's regional dominance and become a respected world power in its own right. "The nation stands tall today," Defense Minister A.K. Antony said, according to the Press Trust of India. The test came just days after North Korea's own failed rocket launch, but sparked none of the same global condemnation that greeted that test. Video released by the government showed the Agni-V taking off from a small launcher on what appeared to be railroad tracks at 8:07 a.m. from Wheeler Island off India's east coast. It rose on a pillar of flame, trailing billows of smoke behind, before arcing through the sky. The missile hit an altitude of more than 600 kilometers (370 miles), its three stages worked properly and its payload was deployed as planned, the head of India's Defense Research and Development Organization, Vijay Saraswat, told Times Now news channel. "India has emerged from this launch as a major missile power," he said. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #9 The test itself was a huge technological and logistical challenge. After lifting-off from the mobile launcher at the test range, the missile being propelled by the first stage that burnt out and separated in 90 seconds tore into the sky. After heading into space during its parabolic trajectory, reaching an altitude of 600-km, the missile then re-entered the atmosphere powered by the third stage. The missile reached hypersonic velocities of around 7,000-metre per second in the terminal stage before splashing down in the southern Indian Ocean, all along being monitored by shore and warship-based tracking systems. ''All three stages went off extremely well. The re-entry parameters were superb...all terminal events related to detonation of the warhead (it was a dummy payload for the test) happened in textbook style. As missile scientists, we could not have expected anything better,'' Saraswat told TOI. Unlike the earlier largely rail-mobile missiles, Agni-V can be easily stored in hermitically sealed canisters and swiftly transported atop launcher trucks by road. This will give the armed forces the required operational flexibility to pick and choose from where to launch the missiles. Agni-V has a ''highly accurate'' inertial navigation system and will get an even more potent punch with MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles) warheads. An MIRV payload carries several nuclear warheads on a single missile that can be programmed to hit different targets. A flurry of MIRV missiles can hence completely overwhelm an adversary's ballistic missile defences. DRDO has also worked to reduce the radar and other ''signatures'' of missiles like Agni-IV and Agni-V to make them ''much more immune to counter-measures''. |
| Posted by: john frum 2012-04-19 18:49 |
| #8 I wonder if these new Indian missiles are actually more advanced, more accurate and easier to control than American, Chinese or Russian ICBMs due to scientific/technological advances in recent years...a sort of a next generation of ICBMs if you will. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2012-04-19 13:29 |
| #7 Oh dear. Now Europe is going to have to thread between not annoying Russia, not annoying Iran, and not annoying India, as all three have missiles that can reach Europe. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-04-19 13:25 |
| #6 |
| Posted by: John Frum 2012-04-19 13:21 |
| #5 The fireball that erupted when the dummy payload hit the waters of the Indian Ocean was recorded by the cameras on board the ships stationed around the impact point. |
| Posted by: John Frum 2012-04-19 13:16 |
| #4 You see, Pudgy? That's how it's done. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2012-04-19 12:07 |
| #3 For now, more testing lies ahead, says the DRDO chief. “We will have two more test launches of the Agni-5, and then productionise it for induction into field service with the Strategic Forces Command. We will also start working on different variants of the Agni-5, including MIRVs (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles), anti satellite systems, and on making the Agni-5 capable of launching military satellites on demand,” says Saraswat. |
| Posted by: john frum 2012-04-19 06:36 |
#2  |
| Posted by: john frum 2012-04-19 06:34 |
#1  |
| Posted by: john frum 2012-04-19 06:33 |